Category: Reviews

Album | Steve Earle and The Dukes – Jerry Jeff

Three men had a huge influence on Steve Earle; Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt, and Jerry Jeff Walker. Having made tribute albums for the other two, it’s only natural that Earle and The Dukes should record Jerry Jeff. In some ways…

Album | Maz O’Connor – What I Wanted

“They bought up all the old streets / And they priced out all the old queens / Tore the party down / And put up a burger joint.” On the surface, the above lyrics are an obvious homage to ‘Big…

Single | RISO – Closer

Matt and Rebekah Rolland are RISO, and ‘Closer’ is their new, forward-driving single. The Tucson-based artists are a power duo both in roots music and in love—they met as children in the Arizona Fiddle Contest and eventually became wed, with…

Album | Greenness – Sunrooms

“Sunrooms (in part) follows our personal story travelling across France and the UK on a quest for a place to call home, trying to find the spark of everyday magic and hoping for human progress.” The words of singer Cess…

Album – Mavis Staples and Levon Helm – Carry Me Home

Levon Helm and Mavis Staples were always a match made in heaven, from their first meeting at The Last Waltz in 1977, to their final performance in 2011, captured live on Carry Me Home. Despite that fact that she was born…

Album | Jenny Berkel – These Are the Sounds Left From Leaving

In some ways Jenny Berkel is wrapped in mystery – These Are the Sounds Left From Leaving is her first album in almost six years. Along the way she concentrated on her poetry while still performing live and creating a set of…

EP | Anna Calvi – Tommy

Peaky Blinders may be over and finished – at least on television, with a film and likely other projects planned for the future – but here to put a bow on it is Anna Calvi’s EP drawn from her work scoring the…

Premiere | Arielle Eden – U-Turns

Westchester singer-songwriter Arielle Eden is finding her stride in the pop-country scape. ‘U-Turns’ is a slickly produced tune that confidently meshes organic and synthetic instrumentation. Neither one element hogs the spotlight from the other; rather, they’re evenly tended to by…

Premiere | Suzie Brown – Bulletproof

Suzie Brown’s ‘Bulletproof’ is instantly relatable for many of us, relaying an empath’s feeling as they navigate the turbulence of the last few years. Musically, it’s an infectious cut of Americana that the artist, cardiologist, and mother tackles with a…

Album | Charles Watson – Yes

For his second solo album since time was called on Sheffield’s Slow Club, Charles Watson seems in a bucolic mood. Gone are the woozy layers of 2018’s Now That I’m A River, replaced by a bright straight-forwardness. Yes is a perfect…