As music fans, we spend a lot of time trying to categorize bands and music. Sometimes it’s just best to avoid categorization and recognize a band or an artist as simply a good songwriter. Such is the case on the genre-defying Arguably OK by TK and The Holy Know Nothings. One sign of a good […]
Once upon a time Albert Castiglia played with Junior Wells. That being the case, it would be a gross understatement to say that Castiglia knows a thing or two about the blues. His new album Masterpiece (produced by Mike Zito) was influenced by a connection with the daughter he didn’t know he had. The result is a […]
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If you had to give a brief description of The South Austin Moonlighters, you might say that the band is easy on the ears. On the new album Travel Light (produced by Anders Osborne), the band that blends rock, country, and southern soul into a sound that is hard to resist. As soon as you […]
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Katy Vernon is a singer-songwriter who was born in London and currently lives in Minnesota. Of her new album Suit of Hearts, Vernon says, “most ambitious project I’ve done so far musically, it is also deeply rooted in mental health and sobriety.” Whatever the subject matter, it doesn’t take long to figure out that this […]
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When a band draws its name from a farm-equipment company, you expect to hear some twang in the sound. On Great Divides, the new album from Massy Ferguson, you hear some twang, but not as much as you hear rock and roll. The rock sounds range from the 90s alt-rock guitar sounds at the beginning […]
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Bambi Lee Savage is an artist who assisted as an audio engineer on Achtung Baby and The Good Son by Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. One of her songs was featured on the Sling Blade soundtrack. Berlin-Nashville Express is her first album since 2012, and it doesn’t take long to find out that this […]
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Country music has a lot of branches from western swing to honky-tonk. On the new album Quick Draw (MRI), The Shootouts explore quite a few of those branches. The album leads off with “Cleaning House,” a western swing tune that brings BR5-49 to mind. Dylan Gomez drives the song with a beat that would get […]
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An old saying tells us that if some is good, more must be better. On the new album Honest, Ordinary Elephant shows that sometimes less can be pretty good too. Specifically, the duo shows what can be done with just a guitar (Crystal Damore), banjo (Pete Damore), and vocals. “Scars We Keep” is powerful song. […]
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Anders Osborne is an artist that is known to explore the world of blues in a variety of ways. The blues aspect of Buddha and the Blues is not quite as lowdown or overt as on Ash Wednesday Blues, but it still plays a prominent part on the album. In addition, Osborne is backed by […]
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Laments about the state of country music are nothing new. The thing is that the people who make those laments have obviously not heard When the Rooster Crows, the new album by Robbie Walden Band. Country music has a way of looking toward the past. This album has a fine example. You can hear it […]
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