Don’t let the authoritarian hype fool you: we live in an era of inclusiveness, one where transgender artists like Shawna Virago are finally able to receive the attention that they’ve arguably always deserved. Shamefully, from the time that Virago first…
Seven years have passed since Karen Elson’s debut record first wowed audiences with its blues-tinged ballads of murder and desolation. Unfortunately, this was a time where Elson met celebrity not for her music, but rather for the one she was…
Joan Baez is an artist who needs no introduction. Often lauded as the greatest folk artist to ever grace our planet Earth—and often sparking debate with Cohen and Seeger diehards who would argue otherwise—Baez has made a name for herself…
A growing trend of the modern folk music era has been albums wildly introspective in their craft to the point that their aural cosmetics are best described as something that has strayed far into the realm of melodic experimentation. We…
Folk and rock singers have strummed their way through this common theme through eras come and gone for so long that it’s become a timeless sentiment: the working class are underprivileged at best and oppressed at worst. Such has been…
Long past are the days of the outlaw, or so it had seemed. The country and Southern rock music scene have seen a revival of that respective subset of the genres recently, characterized by bluesier, grittier, and altogether more substantive…
It comes across romantically, much like the Shakespearean works that have made the majority of his career leading up to this moment—D.G. Adams, actor by day and quiet student of music all the rest of the time. For those who…
Innovation is, thankfully, the key to great success in the new age world of roots music. This innovation, of course, crops up in different forms, though we have seen it in the way that Sturgill Simpson wrapped his way around…
No matter what our parents might tell us, long-distance relationships have existed for hundreds, if not thousands, of years. Yet, in this new age, we don’t need to rely on handwritten mail whether it be delivered by plane, train, carrier…
Few things in this world can sway this writer into even partially believing that there is such a thing as a fate that wasn’t malleable, but the story of how Sam Levin got into music is one such tale that…