Steve Earle never planned on making J.T., released on January 4th when Justin Townes Earle would have celebrated his 39th birthday. No one ever plans on outliving their kid. But on August 20th Justin Townes Earle died and Steve Earle was left with a…
It has been a pretty good year for Lanterns on the Lake. Spook the Herd, released in February, was nominated for the Mercury Prize, while BT Sport commissioned the band to create the theme tune for their Champions League coverage.…
Kismet is really the only way to explain Plastic Bouquet by Kacy & Clayton and Marlon Williams. It was sheer chance that Williams was listening to Spotify when ‘Springtime of the Year’ came on. Transfixed with the tune he discovered that instead…
Christmas this year is going to look a little different to usual for obvious reasons. The good news is that, with the help of Calexico, it can sound a little bit different too. Swapping out the sleigh bells for mariachi…
We’ve been counting the days until Christmas even more eagerly than usual this year, our impatience to reach December 25th probably directly connected to our desire to see in January 1st and say good riddance to the whatever 2020 was…
On her fourth release, Canadian singer-songwriter Gianna Lauren brings raw honesty and fragile volatility, looking at the data-driven reality where music like every piece of content is measured by numbers of streams and likes. The newest EP Vanity Metrics was…
After years of delays to the Archives project, it seems lockdown has provided Young with the time to get things moving at such a pace its becoming difficult to keep up. Barely a month is going by without a release…
Taking on the Elvis Costello songbook is a risky proposition, yet My Darling Clementine have an ace up their sleeve on Country Darkness, the personal keyboard player of Mr. McManus, one Steve Nieve. Together, Michael Weston King (whose voice has more…
Kevin Morby is a true American troubadour, a keen cataloguer of its myriad worlds. The gothic folk song ‘Harlem River’ was about New York’s river, offering peace after Morby had grown tired of the exhaustions of Manhattan; elsewhere on the…
The Mountain Goats have produced 19 albums since the early 90’s but astoundingly these last couple of years have been their busiest period, seeing them release three records in the short expanse of 18 months. It’s testament to John Darnielle…