Steep Canyon Rangers – Morning Shift It’s rather fitting that Steep Canyon Rangers relocated to Bat Cave, North Carolina, near the crossroads of Southern Appalachia, to record their latest, Morning Shift. The North Carolina Bluegrass band leans into their Appalachian musical instincts heavily on this, their 14th studio album. The record opens on “Hominy Valley,” […]
Turnpike Troubadours – A Cat in the Rain Oklahoma Red Dirt legends the Turnpike Troubadours have been on a self-imposed hiatus since 2019, but as their recent multi-night stint at Nashville’s legendary Ryman Auditorium proved, they certainly didn’t let any rust settle in during their time off. And A Cat in the Rain, their first […]
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The Pink Stones – You Know Who The sophomore record from Athen, GA-based Pink Stones is pretty much what you would think a band from such a storied, eclectic music scene would sound like: creative, fun, and wildly original. Like the local legends that paved the scene before them – The B-52’s, R.E.M., Love Tractor […]
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Son Volt – Day of the Doug The late Doug Sahm is a criminally underrated figure in the country and folk music scenes. A pioneer of the Tex-Mex sound for five decades, as a member of the Texas Tornados, the Sir Douglas Quintet and as a solo artist he is seen as a musician’s musician, […]
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SunYears Come Fetch My Soul! (Yep Roc) Swedish singer/songwriter Peter Morén of Peter Bjorn and John brought in a slew of Indie Pop contemporaries including Ron Sexsmith, Jess Williamson, Eric Johnson, and Kathryn Williams to help with his latest project, SunYears. The result is a serene mix of folk and pop. The moniker SunYears was […]
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Laith – Lightning Laith’s debut, Lightning, is a musical travelogue of the U.S. set to an appealing mix of folk and Americana. LA is name checked in the song titles. Texas – his home state – gets two separate tiles, and he sings about the interstates that take him across the Southwest, into the Mountains […]
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Tommy Stinson’s Cowboys In The Campfire – Wronger Of all its former members, Tommy Stinson has clearly had the most diverse resume since The Replacements officially imploded (both times). He switched from bass to guitar and fronted Bash & Pop for a few records; Clocked in during the late ‘90s/early ‘00s revolving door line up […]
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Rodney Rice – Self-Titled Years ago, Rodney Rice was working on oil and gas rigs in Texas when he struck up a conversation one night with Jason McKenzie, the longtime drummer for the late/great Billy Joe Shaver. McKenzie suggested Rice, A nascent singer and songwriter at this point, check out the Congress House studio in […]
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Layng Martine Jr. – Music Man (Bloodshot Records) Dating back to the early 1960s Layng Martine Jr. has written songs for a slew of musicians across various genres, from Elvis Presley and Reba McEntire to The Pointer Sisters and Trisha Yearwood. A member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame and a Grammy nominated songwriter, […]
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Country Westerns – Forgive the City (Fat Possum Records) Nashville-based trio Country Westerns have channeled The Ramones’ frenetic get-in-break-shit-and-get-out energy on their sophomore effort, cramming in a dozen songs onto their record with each hovering around the two-and-a-half-minute mark. Forgive the City may be a straight-ahead rock record, but there are no denying the punk […]
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