ALBUM REVIEW•Peter Rowan - Calling You From My Mountain
Coloring within bluegrass’s established outline, Calling You From My Mountain is another classy, beautifully crafted addition to a catalog and 60-plus-year career that’s as impressive as any in roots Americana.
COUNTRY CLASSICS•Willie Nelson - Stardust
Stardust managed to capture something almost childlike in its simplicity; Nelson’s gently picked guitar drawing out the melancholy from the songs and filling the space around it with a wistful sense of the slow passing of time. The whole album is just a step away from being a collection of really fucking sad Muppets songs.
ALBUM REVIEW•Hackensaw Boys - Hackensaw Boys
The vulnerability in the lyrics and music of the Hackensaw Boys' new release feels honest and natural - a refreshing way to propel the band forward into their third decade.
ALBUM REVIEW•Jimmie Allen - Tulip Drive
It might only be June, but Allen just made a bid for album of the summer. Sometimes, albums can just make you feel good 一 and that’s enough.
COUNTRY CLASSICS•Gretchen Wilson - Here for the Party
Here for the Party is the soundtrack to which we can honor our own gloriously complicated lives and fully accept our origin stories with outward pride.
ALBUM REVIEW•Brett Eldredge - Songs About You.
A solid - if a tad predictable - offering from one of country's leading men.
ALBUM REVIEW•Various Artists - Americana Railroad
Former Textone Carla Olson and an all-star cast of contributors bring the seminal sounds of the American West to full fruition.
COUNTRY CLASSICS•Willie Nelson - Red Headed Stranger
‘Red Headed Stranger’ not only catapulted Willie Nelson to superstardom, but it also marked his first artistic triumph on his own terms. Its impact on country music has been incalculable.
ALBUM REVIEW•Michaela Anne – Oh To Be That Free
Some singer-songwriters hide their emotions behind the characters in their songs; Nashville resident Michaela Anne is not one of them. This set digs deeper into the almost wincingly intimate issues she comes to terms with on these eleven shimmering folk pop pieces.
ALBUM REVIEW•American Aquarium – Chicamacomico
Now that the fun of Slappers, Bangers and Certified Twangers is out of his system BJ Barham returns to his heavier introspective impulses on these ten contemplative tunes.
ALBUM REVIEW•Patty Griffin - Tape
Patty Griffin’s new collection of previously unreleased demos and home recordings makes up for unvarnished production by capturing the immediacy of inspiration and sure-footedness of a master songwriter at work.
ALBUM REVIEW•The Slocan Ramblers - Up the Hill and Through the Fog
Canadian bluegrass outfit The Slocan Ramblers capture the poetry of the everyday so convincingly that it's as if they write stadium anthems for your front porch.
ALBUM REVIEW•Drive-By Truckers - Welcome 2 Club XIII
Drive-By Truckers flip back the calendar to muse on their origins on this smart, literate, grounded and musically creative 9-song set.
STAFF PICKS•S.G. Goodman - Teeth Marks
Teeth Marks may be a slim collection, but in its songs, Goodman somehow manages to pack in more of everything. Not only are they more vulnerable, gripping and immediate -- they’re also, as a whole, groovier.
COUNTRY CLASSICS•Willie Nelson - Yesterday's Wine
When Willie found a new creative impetus in Austin, he began an artistic rebirth that continues unabated to this day. Crucially, Yesterday’s Wine is where it started.
ALBUM REVIEW•Mary Gauthier - Dark Enough To See The Stars
Under heartfelt wishes for no more pain or struggle, and thoughts of reuniting beyond this mortal coil, Dark Enough To See The Stars shows Mary Gauthier as a subtle, evocative wordsmith at her peak. It’s a highly rewarding album.
ALBUM REVIEW•Steve Earle & The Dukes - JERRY JEFF
The relentless renegade displays his admiration for an influential icon.
ALBUM REVIEW•Banditos - Right On
This relatively sharp break in the Banditos’ sound breathes fresh life into an outfit outfit looking to expand boundaries while maintaining its core musical mojo.
ALBUM REVIEW•Wilco - Cruel Country
Wilco come home to their alt-country roots - sort of - with a surprise double album of intimate group performances steeped in reflections on America.
COUNTRY CLASSICS•Miranda Lambert - Revolution
Revolution is a masterclass in songwriting that perfectly balances tradition with modern style. Inarguably, it remains the template for what great country music should always be about.
ALBUM REVIEW•Hannah White - About Time
There’s no numbing the pain in White’s world, only walking—and sometimes stumbling—through it, feeling everything and alchemizing it with music and love.
COUNTRY CLASSICS•Nancy Sinatra & Lee Hazlewood - Nancy & Lee
The songs on Nancy & Lee helped both artists to shape their sounds at pivotal moments in their lives; creating a dark, complex and ethereal synergy that would inform generations that followed.
STAFF PICKS•Zach Bryan - American Heartbreak
American Heartbreak sculpts the entire breadth of human experience, as Bryan stitches together songs of love, loss and life’s fleeting nature with brilliant command.
ALBUM REVIEW•Mavis Staples and Levon Helm - Carry Me Home
Fans of Staples and Helm will be thrilled with this magical, professionally recorded and mixed concert, hidden away for over a decade, that puts us right at the heart of the 2011 action.