River Shook (Sarah Shook & the Disarmers) Finds a New Path on Solo Debut For much of the last decade, River Shook made country-rock that felt like it had been kicked down a flight of stairs and come up swinging. As the frontperson for Sarah Shook & the Disarmers, they wrote songs of bad decisions, […]
On New Ways to Lose, BJ Barham Finds What’s Worth Fighting For What happens to angry young men when they grow older? That’s the question at the heart of New Ways to Lose, the new album from American Aquarium. Artists who survive long enough eventually confront that question. Few have a compelling answer. American Aquarium […]
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“I did not have singing ‘In Spite of Ourselves’ and dancing with Emmylou Harris on my bingo card.” Texas singer-songwriter Hayes Carll’s remark drew a laugh from the crowd at Wolf Trap, but it also captured the spirit of A Songwriters Tribute to John Prine. The June 9 concert gathered an extraordinary collection of performers […]
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Drayton Farley A Heavy Duty Heart Drayton Farley’s A Heavy Duty Heart captures the moment when a promising songwriter stops sounding like “one to watch” and starts sounding like an artist with a clear, confident point of view. The Alabama songwriter has always written with emotional plainspokenness and blue-collar detail, but this record broadens the […]
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On Hurray for the Riff Raff’s Live Forever, the Past Is Very Much Alive There’s something tricky about live albums by artists as emotionally direct as Hurray for the Riff Raff, the long-running musical project of songwriter Alynda Segarra. The studio records already feel lived-in, intimate, almost conversational. So a live set has to do […]
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Patterson Hood and John Moreland at the Ram’s Head in Annapolis Patterson Hood and John Moreland write very different kinds of songs. Hood looks outward, telling stories about the world around him, while Moreland looks inward, tracing the quiet fault lines of his own life. Sunday’s double-bill at Ram’s Head On Stage in Annapolis demonstrated […]
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Ray Weaver Brings Anger, and Hope, to Ram’s Head for “One Night, One Room” Angry young men get the headlines. But underestimate an angry old man at your peril. Earlier this week, Annapolis favorite Ray Weaver returned from Denmark for a special “One Night, One Room” show at the Rams Head On Stage, built around […]
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The Garrett Boys It Runs Deep “It’s a funny thing about humility,” songwriter T-Bone Burnett once wrote. “As soon as you know you’re being humble, you’re no longer humble.” The same is true for authenticity. Essential to great roots music, it works best when it’s felt rather than announced—like hot sauce in a pot of […]
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The Nude Party Look Who’s Back My wife says I listen to depressing music. She’s not wrong. Next time she reminds me of that, I’ll put on The Nude Party’s Look Who’s Back — nine songs that dare you not to smile. In a moment when much of the Americana scene leans inward — often […]
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Jay Buchanan Weapons of Beauty Jay Buchanan has built his reputation on force. As the lead vocalist of Rival Sons, he’s long been associated with volume, swagger, and forward motion. Weapons of Beauty, his solo debut, moves in the opposite direction — and the result is a record that feels powerful in entirely different ways. […]
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