Morgan Nagler I’ve Got Nothing to Lose, and I’m Losing It Maybe it’s because I listened to it on the snowiest day of our Denver “winter” (sarcastic airquotes my own), but Morgan Nagler’s “Grassoline” hit me as an early contender for 2026 Song of the Summer. The jangly ode to life’s greatest, greenest mood fixer […]
War Child HELP (2) (various artists) Benefit albums will always have a place in music, primarily because we humans can’t stop being cruel to each other. And when we committee those horrible acts, it’s innocents – too often, children – that end up suffering the most. According to relief organization War Child, nearly 20% of the […]
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Magoo What A Life Bluegrass is life in Colorado. Our bars and breweries are overflowing with talented pickers. One could (and this one has) made weekends out of seeing these players, without even needing a ticket or a summer festival – walk into Golden’s New Terrain Brewing Company on a Thursday evening, or Rollinsville’s Howlin […]
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Lightning Stills self-titled Drinking is fun, right up until it ain’t. That’s the overarching theme to the debut full-length from Lightning Stills. The Omaha band has crafted a country record soused in late-night bar misadventures, plus more than a little day (all hours of the day) drinking. But it’s not the celebratory slop you’d hear […]
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Ratboys Singin’ to an Empty Chair There’s something about a Ratboys song that feels like emerging from a long depression into something a bit more bearable. Maybe it’s the songs, which are generally uptempo but choose jagged edges over bubbly gloss. Maybe it’s Julia Steiner’s voice, which, while always bright, never fails to contain a […]
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2026 GRAMMYs – Who Will, Who Should “Music’s Biggest Night” is upon us. Well, if you’re reading Americana Highways, it’s more like “Music’s Biggest Early Afternoon.” The “GRAMMYs Premiere Ceremony” will stream this Sunday (February 1) at 3:30pm EST (links below). It’s where the bulk of the awards are given out, including the ones we’re […]
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Bre Kennedy The Alchemist Nashville’s long been known as a ten-year town (give it ten years, then move on if it ain’t payin’ off), but that decade is rarely a straight line. Evolving, adjusting expectations, self-reevaluations, and probably a list of shitty jobs end up demanding as much time as writing songs and playing music. […]
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Memphis Kee Dark Skies Recent consumer-driven country music suggests that individuals (or, at most, duos) are the way to go – less risk, fewer ego conflicts, and more reward for the all-too-fleeting buck. Memphis Kee – both the individual and the band – don’t subscribe one bit to that theory. Kee himself is the lead […]
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Mon Rovîa “Bloodline” Janjay Lowe has lived the kind of life that most of us have only seen in Oscar-bait movies (and not the kind where everyone plays fancy dress-up – the messy ones). The singer-songwriter, who goes by Mon Rovîa as a tribute to his native Liberia, was adopted out of that war-ravaged nation […]
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Greg Freeman at Globe Hall in Denver I’ve written a lot – some might say a little too much – about indie country this year. What I’ve called “the slightly disheveled city cousin to Americana’s country mouse” has provided some of the best songwriting in both the indie and country spheres in 2025. But there’s […]
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