Ben Stalets has seen his songwriting renaissance with Everybody’s Laughing. The album, due 27 August, was based less around a sound and more around a saying: “Collective suffering allows us to collectively suffer less.” It finds beauty both in irreverence,…
Wise John was already living through a personal dystopia during the opening thrushes of the COVID-19 pandemic. Bed-ridden by a chronic illness in late 2019, a series of unfortunate events came to follow—including knocking his front teeth out, being dumped…
It’s been one whirlwind of a year for Molly Murphy. At its start, the Fairfield, CT-gone-Nashville songstress released What You’re Living For. Her debut EP, its five tracks stand as instantly identifiable as Murphy gels into accessible, varied music with…
Louise Aubrie grew up in London and adopted New York City as a second home. Altogether, she embodies the electrifying moment-to-moment spirit of both. Since beginning her route riding the indie rock electric, the songstress has emblazoned her stamp upon…
The Silence Collective are an improvisational ensemble whose faces and instruments do not always remain the same, but whose righteous mission does. From Songs of the Future to RiverChants, their efforts often highlight scary inequities that are present in our…
For Folk’s Sake fave Trae Sheehan is back again. The innovative singer-songwriter is offering us a moving taste of his forthcoming album, Hello from the End of the World. ‘Sleeveless Hearts’ is an exercise in becoming and maintaining vulnerability, its…
Though born in Holland, Ad Vanderveen has Canadian parentage. It shows through in his musical influences—one can trace touches of Neil Young or Jackson Browne in the strum of Vanderveen’s guitar, or in his earnest croon. He’s got a rich…
Pioneering trans artist Shawna Virago is back again with more electrifying alt-country. In a press release, she states, “I’d been a little depressed from the non-stop level of hate aimed at trans people, and needed to write something that gave…
In 2019, Van Plating returned from a nine-year musical hiatus with her self-titled LP. Influenced by folk traditions and contemporary Americana alike, she wasn’t quite sure how her return would be received—both due to the length of time she’d spent…
Peter Donovan and Elijah Ocean have been meshing minds since 2008. Bonding over Dylan and the Beatles, they were quick friends and collaborators. Their songwriting efforts were less Lennon/McCartney and more McGuinn, making roomy, rootsy guitar-pop. Eventually, this led way…