Americana has never been better with the quality of music, diversity of styles, and the artists’ demographics in terms of race, gender, and wealth.
Arlen Roth’s Playing Out the String is a blissful treat. The master guitarist delightfully picks and strums his way through well-known 20th-century songs.
St. Lenox’s new LP reveals there’s always time for new beginnings while working toward the greater goal of a worthy existence. It’s a sardonic masterpiece.
Country-rockers Loose Cattle’s Someone’s Monster suggests that we may all be somebody else’s demons while the songs imply we might be our own worst enemies.
Tish Hinojosa understands the importance of perspective. Her lyrics look at life from more than one side, knowing we are happier if we search for good.
Jazz singer Diana Panton’s voice suggests the present tenuousness is part of love’s charm. That’s vital to its truth and beauty (“soft winds and roses”).
Amy Speace needs to look deeper into herself. What she doesn’t say makes her well-crafted songs easy to swallow. That’s a blessing as well as a curse.
One can take the songs on ‘Backbone’ as a whole to understand how Kasey Chambers sees the world and her relation to it from various points of view over time.
Kelley Mickwee has a smokey voice mixed with honey that expresses pain and pleasure at the same time. The ache in her throat suggests she’s been through it all.
These songs will lift your spirit by sharing their sorrow with you. Misery loves company. Grayson Capps’ new album invites one to sing along.
In a world full of shredders, Bo Ramsey reveals the splendor of simplicity in his blues-laden Sidetrack EP. He lets this guitar do most of the talking.
Alt-country/Americana artist Kevin Gordon’s The In Between provides evidence for the grandeur of keeping on even when everything seems wrong.
