Mary Gauthier’s ‘Rifles & Rosary Beads’ May Be One of 2018’s Most Important Albums
Mary Gauthier's latest is an important album that gives voice to the soldiers of our ongoing wars. These stories deserve to be heard.
Ed Whitelock
Ed Whitelock is a professor of English at Gordon State College in Barnesville, GA, just 106 miles southwest of Philomath. He is co-author, with David Janssen, of Apocalypse Jukebox: The End of the World in American Popular Music (2009) from the PopMatters imprint of Soft Skull Press.
The Fall: Singles 1978 – 2016 (album review)
Does the world really need another Fall anthology? Yes, absolutely, and this is it.
Various Artists: To the Outside of Everything: A Story of UK Post Punk 1977 – 1981
This definitive, five-CD anthology is a challenging and enlightening listen, a triumph of curatorship that provides near-encyclopedic insight into this important chapter of UK popular music history.
Bark: Year of the Dog
Bark's rock and roll songs are fueled equally by restlessness and compassion for life.
Various Artists: Jesus Rocked the Jukebox: Small Group Black Gospel (1951-1965)
This stellar anthology offers a spiritual journey into not just the soul but the very heart of rock 'n' roll's origins.
Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams: Contraband Love
The truest Americana doesn’t just convey sound; it captures feeling. On their sophomore release, Campbell & Williams prove themselves masters of the form in the fullest sense.
Pentangle: The Albums: 1968-1972
A definitive collection and an opportunity to re-evaluate one of the most important and underappreciated bands of the British Folk Revival.
Lal and Mike Waterson: Bright Phoebus
Once considered too weird for the folkies, this long-out-of-print 1972 album featuring Ashley Hutchings, Martin Carthy, and Richard Thompson in addition to Waterson siblings is a long-lost masterpiece.
The Dream Syndicate: How Did I Find Myself Here?
Nearly 30 years on, the Dream Syndicate sound even more revelatory and energized than when last heard from them.
David Ramirez: We’re Not Going Anywhere
Ramirez mixes anger and compassion on an album that should bring a larger audience to this, at turns, philosophical and confrontational songwriter.
Ray Wylie Hubbard: Tell the Devil I’m Gettin’ There as Fast as I Can
Call him the people’s poet laureate of Texas. Ray Wylie Hubbard delivers another collection of spare, beautiful songs of grace and damnation.
Rain Parade: Emergency Third Rail Power Trip / Explosions in the Glass Palace
Thirty years on, the so-called “Paisley Underground” deserves a critical reassessment documenting their wide reach and influence. Start here.