Album Reviews

Allison Moorer

All inspiring music expresses deep human emotion through a catching melody. Blood qualifies tenfold. Through it, Allison Moorer’s early life flows vigorously and exquisitely, but also stings like bitter medicine. … Read more

Gary Nicholson The Great Divide

Gary Nicholson loses no time jumping into the core of this album with “God Help America” (with guest vocals by Ruthie Foster), a plea for help for an America that … Read more

Whitey Johnson

Whitey Johnson, who of course is Gary Nicholson’s alter ego, brings along a great group of musicians and singers to help him on this new disc, including Colin Linden, Delbert … Read more

The Lumineers

Beauty doesn’t always need to be pretty. In III, the Lumineers prove the point. The beauty of the music and the poignancy of the lyrics paint a series of vignettes … Read more

Andrea Baker

You could call Andrea Baker a country singer, a folkie or sometimes a coffeehouse crooner, depending on which song you’re playing, but that’s really not what matters. She’s also a … Read more

Various Artists / Dixie Gamble

Chiaroscuro (kee-aa-ruh-skyur-ow) is an ancient art technique of using differing shades of light and dark to create a third dimension. Rembrandt was a master at it, and this is a … Read more

Dan Israel

Accentuating the positive, with the solar-powered, upbeat pop and exuberant horns streaming out of “Be My Girl,” Minnesota singer-songwriter Dan Israel tries to beat back self-doubt and regret on the … Read more

The Mike Duke Project

In a business that can often be cruel and uncaring, it’s reassuring to find an album like Mike Duke’s. The title is certainly no overstatement. It took forty years to … Read more

Helene Cronin

There’s some of Gretchen Peters’ darkness and incisive poetry in Helene Cronin’s terrific debut, and that alone should be more than enough for singer-songwriter fans to give Cronin their attention. … Read more