Album Reviews

The Swallows

Frances Cole gets a proper burial on In the Shadow of the Seven Stars, a dark, haunting concept album that delves further into the mystery and malevolence of Jack the … Read more

Various Artists

“Death to digital tyranny” might make a good motto for Bruce Robison’s underdog Americana label The Next Waltz, although they seem to prefer “no digital shenanigans.” Every song on the … Read more

DiCosimo/Pagan

What we have here is a tidy, filling serving of meat-and-potatoes electric fusion—or perhaps some kind of spicy barbecue would be closer to the mark, since Bill DiCosimo and Edgar … Read more

Veronica Lewis

        You Ain’t Unlucky is a surprising debut in many ways. Pushing into the generally overcrowded blues music market, it comes from a young lady who is … Read more

Ally Venable

If you don’t know anything about Ally Venable, it’s time you found out. Although she looks the part of music ingenue, she’s been winning awards as a blues guitarist since … Read more

Mauricio Morales

Caught between a youthful fascination with the moon, the verdant wonders of nature and the residual effects of helplessly watching from afar as a 2017 earthquake devastated his hometown of … Read more

Various Artists

Hold off on the cake and balloons for now. Before getting around to the usual rituals of celebrating a quarter century of revelatory indie folk and singer-songwriter discoveries, while also … Read more

Joyann Parker

Ready to take on the world, Joyann Parker escapes the ill-lit prison of her own mind in the deeply soulful, slow-rising title track that ends her sophomore LP Out of … Read more

Saugeye  

Go ahead and call Saugeye “old fashioned.” Rather than take offense, the Tulsa-based cooperative, led by soulful singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, and hobbyist fisherman Jared Tyler, would almost certainly see it as … Read more

A.J. Croce

A.J. Croce is serious about music. In addition to demanding of himself the highest level of proficiency on keyboards and guitar, he’s a student of music history, with a wide … Read more