Full disclaimer: I cannot be fully objective re: Mr. Bruce Springsteen. I’ve been a fan since 1984, and he’s responsible for turning me on to many of the artists I listen to today (I’m sure I’m not the only Americana fan who can say this). So, in the same week that we celebrated the 35th(!) […]
Being a fan of Americana (known by some as “sad cowboy music”) can sometimes lead a listener to feel like a sort of tragedy vulture – so many of the songs we love are borne out of life’s misfires, but we reap the sonic benefits from a songwriter’s toughest times. Last year, Knoxville’s Brian Paddock […]
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Legacy artists making music with their younger admirers is a tricky proposition, at best. For every Van Lear Rose, when Jack White brought a fresh, new feel to Loretta Lynn’s lifetime of amazing music, there’s a Supernatural, where Carlos Santana collaborated with a number of artists, producing a mish-mash much more akin to a soundtrack […]
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One of the great things about this musical grab bag we call Americana – we’re able to pour a bunch of vastly different styles into it. If a song has a certain “feel” to it – whether it be musically, lyrically, or just a certain aesthetic – we’ll give it a good listen and see […]
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Country and Americana music seem to come from two regions of the country – the Southeast and Texas (yes, Texas is its own singular region – just ask any Texan). Most of what reaches my virtual desk has a twang and a drawl. But the loves and laments of songwriters stretch past our most humid […]
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Joy Williams is one of the more intrigue-laden personalities in Americana. Her immensely popular and gifted duo, The Civil Wars, broke up roughly five years ago, ostensibly over the mythical “creative differences.” Previous to teaming up with John Paul White, she’d mostly been known as a Christian artist, but her first post-CW album, 2015’s Venus, […]
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We’ve all heard some version of the aphorism, “Do what you love, and you’ll never work a day in your life.” But there’s a flip side that many have found – if you make your love your life, it can become less appealing over time. Louisiana’s Chad Richard was warned of this at a young […]
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Denver-based band The Yawpers is ready to release its fourth full-length album, Human Questions (Bloodshot Records), a more concise record than their last effort, 2017’s concept album Boy In A Well. Before they head out on tour, which includes a record-release party in their home city, I spoke to lead singer and songwriter Nate Cook about […]
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The best songs, like the best songwriters, are portable, adaptable and durable. They’ll take a beating, they’ll change, but they’ll survive. On Taylor Alexander’s first full-length album, Good Old Fashioned Pain, the title song shows that kind of resilience. While the balance of the album was written after Alexander arrived in Nashville, “Pain” survived its […]
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Everyone knows at least one of them – the one who makes it look easy. The athlete who can effortlessly succeed at any sport, the friend who can quickly produce the best meal out of seemingly nothing, the music fan who can quickly and completely dissect any new song or album. We mere, flawed mortals […]
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