[Click on anything in bold to read related interviews and reviews on Americana Highways. Click icons to buy. Scroll to the bottom for playlist!] I have to be honest here. Music writers are people too, so their year-end top-whatever lists tend to be the soundtracks to their lives for that year, whether they’re conscious of […]
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Hymn For Her’s Pop‘n Downers, produced by Vance Powell, mastered by Richard Dodd, is the most perfectly titled project you will have encountered in a long time, from its mixture of pop innovation to its genuine and honest, albeit profound and downer, songs. In a musical world where the competition to be original and innovative […]
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Fantastic Negrito’s “Please Don’t Be Dead” album on Cooking Vinyl records, for all intents and purposes, is autobiographical magnificence. Self written and produced, the tale it tells, is a vastly important one. It’s an acknowledgement of life’s troubles, but more importantly a celebration of life, and a testament of positivity in the face of adversity. […]
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I am what you might call an “avid,” “obsessive,” or perhaps borderline “rabid,” lifelong music fan. As a recent addition to the Americana Highways team, I was invited to share my top albums of 2018. Although I’ve only made a few posts here so far, I have been absorbing albums all year long. Here’s my […]
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A sense of promise has long surrounded Cat Power. Through all travails, through all the rough shows, her fans have stuck with her, because they knew she had incredible talent. Chan Marshall’s 10th album, Wanderer (Domino Recording), fulfills that promise, delivering everything she was always thought to be capable of, and more. Her husky, soulful […]
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This year saw many fantastic albums, and in selecting my 10 best I had to leave out many albums that I thought were absolutely superb. Some may object that some of my albums stray from the strict definition of Americana/roots music, but I would reply that all the albums I mention here received attention in […]
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Once, after a show that included Steve Earle, I had an interesting conversation. The gentleman I spoke with disagreed strongly with Earle’s politics, but still enjoyed his music. For as vociferous as Steve can be with his view, this fan appreciated his attention to songcraft. With Songs of Resistance, 1942-2018 (ANTI-/Epitaph), Marc Ribot has made […]
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By Jeff Burger When I saw Don McLean in concert some years ago, he introduced “American Pie” by mentioning that people often asked him what the song meant. “It means,” he noted after a pause, “that I never have to work again.” Bobbie Gentry could undoubtedly say the same thing about her brilliant “Ode to […]
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Somehow, around the middle of May, I got into writing for this online publication and haven’t looked back. In doing so I’ve been able to cover some bands/artists that I love and broaden my exposure to a few others I otherwise probably wouldn’t have discovered. It’s hard for me (and I’d assume most of us) […]
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Recently, the subject of musicians’ memoirs came up in a discussion between myself and Austin-based singer-songwriter Terry Klein. (See my review of Terry’s show.) Terry commented that he is disappointed in how little most of them have to say about songwriting. I replied that it’s understandable from a marketing perspective. As a musician and a […]
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