Jason Isbell Is Dazzling With Just His Voice and a Guitar
Given Jason Isbell’s track record as a songwriter, it’s no surprise that a completely stripped-down album turns out to be one of his best.
Given Jason Isbell’s track record as a songwriter, it’s no surprise that a completely stripped-down album turns out to be one of his best.
The Devil Makes Three let listeners lose themselves in song, but not without missing sight of the deeper truths. It’s a compelling and cathartic musical experience.
Souled American’s Rise Above It offers slow guitar notes chiefly to hear them decay in the abundant silent space of time and distance.
Them Coulee Boys’ folkie Americana songs would fit in during the early to mid-1970s when acts fused old-time country with contemporary rock to create a new sound.
Sean McConnell poeticizes and philosophies from everyday personal experiences. What does it mean to be locked in our own skin?
Drive-By Truckers frontman Patterson Hood’s new solo record is an unsentimental look back at events that shaped him.
Mindy Smith’s Quiet Town is introspective and critical as she longs for a time when individual rather than societal narratives define self-authenticity.
Rock ‘n’ roller and soul man Mike Farris returns with a new album recorded in Muscle Shoals and blends all of his musical influences into a delicious stew.
Joe Ely puts emotional content front and center, whether offering a tale of addiction or a mirthful story of his encounters with a local cop.
Bonnie Prince Billy’s The Purple Bird reaches its highest points when Will Oldham finds the joy in life, which feels like its own form of resistance.
On Sol Y Sombra, Rose City Band offer an honest emotional reflection for our times with music that propels forward with their same carefree style.
Listening to Lilly Hiatt’s Forever, her first album in four years, one can’t help but get swept along in her romantic bliss and the music’s hypnotic pulse.