NAKIA Austin’s Nakia was a favorite SXSW discovery from nearly 20 years ago. I caught two sets towards the close of SXSW – a fitting way to round out the week. The Wednesday afternoon set at C-Boys, in particular, brought me right back to that first encounter — the voice, the energy, the songs, all […]
Folk Alliance Int’l 2026 – Mayer’s Picks, Part 1
Folk Alliance International isn’t your typical music conference. Held this year in New Orleans, days include industry panels, seminars, and public showcases in hotel ballrooms, but the real magic happens late at night when up to 100 hotel rooms transform into intimate “private showcases”—artists who normally fill 500-seat theaters performing for 20 people at a […]
Chip’s Best of 2025
As seems to be the case every year, selecting a top 25 was difficult task for 2025. There are so many good albums not on the list, that I liked almost as much as what was included. However, selecting the top album was not hard this year. Wednesday – Bleeds was an obvious choice to […]
Mayer’s Picks, More 2025 Favorites
Here, in no particular order, are more favorites from 2025.
Mayer’s Picks – Best Songs of 2025, Part 2
I posted my list of favorite from the first half of 2025 back in July (here). Rather than replicate that list for my full year review, consider this a continuation — the best songs from the second half of 2025. Permission, Alex Wong featuring MILCK (from the Shamus Records release Permission) “Permission” is a defiant sing-along anthem that […]
Colin Gilmore of West Texas Exiles on Freeze-Dried Skittles and His High School Punk Band
Colin Gilmore of West Texas Exiles talks about who in the band breaks the most strings and a teenage day job getting to jump out of a grain silo dressed as Freddy Kruger.
AmericanaFest 2025, Todd’s Take
When I saw Daniel Lanois announce he was playing a couple of shows in Nashville during AmericanaFest my excitement level hit a 10 out of 10, only to be eclipsed by my excitement level of 11 when I was actually watching him play with his trio at Dreamland on Tuesday. It was a perfect display […]
AmericanaFest 2025, Mayer’s Picks (Part 2)
SOPHIE GAULT Sophie Gault kept busy at AmericanaFest this year. I managed to catch her three times—solo, with the SiriusXM house band, and with her own crew—each performance more electrifying than the previous. There’s something about an artist finally making music on her own terms, and the new songs she previewed suggest her 2026 album […]
Readers’ Pick: West Texas Exiles – 8000 Days
You picked West Texas Exiles – 8000 Days as your favorite new release for the week of September 12, 2025.
West Texas Exiles – 8000 Days
If you laid the resumes of Marco Gutierrez, Trinidad Leal, Daniel Davis, Eric Harrison, and Colin Gilmore side by side you’d pretty quickly figure they were going to play together in a band, if not in this timeline in another. Turns out it is in this one, and the west Texas native sons have just […]