The voice is a most marvelous instrument, it has a flexibility to move the mind in ways that fuel the heart and soul, which is what makes Ninebarrow’s new album, The Hour of the Blackbird, a most mystical experience. While…
Amanda Shires has been dealing with her fair share of ghosts. Finally emerging from her divorce from Jason Isbell, along with the loss of both her grandmother and father, Nobody’s Girl looks at the wreckage of the last few years.…
Nothing prepares you for Pentimento by Carson McHone. It diverges from the mainstream more often than not. From the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson in 1840, to the bird song that follows then is repeated on a rickety piano, let…
Margo Price has clearly spent some time in church. There’s sense of solemnity to the music of ‘Prelude (Hard Headed Woman)’, that takes you back to those early days spent in the pews. Yet, when she sings, “I’m a hard…
Living in Los Angeles can take a lot out of a person. For Eve Adams the city had begun to take a toll. She longed for the open spaces, and the high desert offered the serenity she lacked. As a…
While Marissa Nadler currently lives in Nashville, in many respects the music of New Radiations may feel more comfortable on the English moors or in the early New England countryside. Between the often gauzy, layered vocals and her sometimes shocking…
Rather than entering psycho-analysis Hayes Carll made an album. We’re Only Human spends a lot of time looking at life, trying to find answers. Along the way he came up with 10 songs that speak to the human condition and…
Patty Griffin always seems to find a way to carry on. She’s faced her share of hardship, having recovered from breast cancer and then lost her voice due to radiation treatment. As the youngest of seven children, she had a…
Explaining the music of Soft Hearted Scientists one struggles to find the proper words. It’s much like trying to make sense of the pathways that lead from George Washington to Donald Trump. The task is to come to terms with…
Don’t be surprised if you’ve never heard of The Swell Season. It’s been sixteen years since Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová released their second album. Unbelievably, an entire generation may never have heard of the band, their film Once or…