Anthony Easton
Anthony Easton is a writer, curator, and academic, currently living in Montreal.
Eric Church: Mr. Missunderstood
Church's work will soon wear thin, but this album maintains the themes, styles, and strengths of Outsiders.
Whitney Rose: Heartbreak of the Year
Rose's new album is technically beautiful, historically minded, smartly constructed, and slightly dull.
Zac Brown Band: Jekyll and Hyde
A mess of competing signals and bad politics mar what could have been a blandly competent country rock experience.
Peter Brown’s ‘The Ransom of the Soul’ Is a Minor Work by a Magesterial Voice
Brown's first book after his magnum opus The Eye of the Needle is a subtle and relevant study about the material problems of money and the body.
‘The Queen’s Bed’, the Queen’s Body, and the Body of the State
A rigorous, middle ground between lurid populist histories and dry academia, Anna Whitelock provides an excellent biography as a well trained historian.
Ralph Stanley: Cracker Barrel Presents Ralph Stanley: A Man of Constant Sorrow
A "new" CD of Ralph Stanley duets provides an easy metaphor for how music is currently sold.
Angaleena Presley: American Middle Class
Angaleena Presley steps away from the Pistol Annies for a solo album that cements her status as country music's great moralist.
Sam Hunt: Montevallo
Sam Hunt records his first full-length LP, makes an argument about genre, and is still problematic about women.
Jason Aldean: Old Boots, New Dirt
Aldean's personal life, and Nashville's change of direction, isolate the listener and reinforce stereotypes.
The Duhks: Beyond the Blue
An excellent, if dull, reinforcement of their material for their usual fanbase.
Willie Nelson: Band of Brothers
Willie Nelson still makes records that are smart, funny, sexy, and heartbreaking.