Angaleena Presley, American Middle Class
A chronicle of blue-collar lifeWhen Angaleena Presley sings about her hometown of Beauty, Kentucky, on American Middle Class, she’s part devoted daughter, part anthropologist. Presley, known to many as...
View ArticleVashti Bunyan, Heartleap
British singer-songwriter Vashti Bunyan has a beautiful voice. But so what? Lots of people do. So why does her beautiful voice seem more beautiful to us than others? Perhaps it has to do with the long,...
View ArticleSam Amidon, Lily-O
Not nostalgic or stuck in time, but vividly reimagined folk tunesOn Lily-O, as with much of Sam Amidon‘s catalog, songs are sourced from traditional folk tunes. These are songs passed down through...
View ArticleLucinda Williams, Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone
The second half may in fact be Williams's best album of this century.Lucinda Williams opens the first double album of her career singing words she didn’t even write. “Compassion” was adapted from a...
View ArticleLee Ann Womack, The Way I’m Livin’
A serious-songwriter LP about mortality and salvation and eternityLee Ann Womack’s eighth album wrings all the breezy, matter-of-fact exhilaration possible out of a serious-songwriter LP about...
View ArticleJustin Townes Earle, Single Mothers
A return to wanderlustIt’s no secret Justin Townes Earle would rather be in New York. When he moved to the city in 2011, he told Interview: “New York has always had a love for Southern artists. There’s...
View ArticleBrad Paisley, Moonshine in the Trunk
More genially witty than hilariousBrad Paisley’s 11th studio release is virtually guaranteed to secure the singer’s reign as the king of minivan country for at least another year. For the first 10 of...
View ArticleShovels and Rope, Swimmin’ Time
Tales of guilt-ridden ne'er-do-wells balanced with jaunty vocals and gallows humorOn Shovels & Rope’s album Swimmin’ Time, there’s water everywhere. Song titles like “After the Storm,” Fish...
View ArticleLarkin Poe, Kin
Arresting but not wholly convincingLarkin Poe, the Atlanta-based sister act of Megan and Rebecca Lovell, introduced themselves slowly, shyly, with a suite of four semi-conceptual EPs of gentle...
View ArticleNashville Outlaws: A Tribute to Mötley Crüe
A reverent album that's at its best when songs are used as jumping-off points instead of exact blueprintsOn paper, the idea of today’s country stars throwing a retirement party for Mötley Crüe, the...
View ArticlePuss N Boots, No Fools, No Fun
Norah Jones and friends' debut is as infectious as it is casualDespite the title, Fun is the operative word on the debut by Puss N Boots, the new “super-trio” formed by Norah Jones and her pals, North...
View ArticleLuluc, Passerby
Acoustic folk that succeeds because of, not despite, its classicismZoë Randell and Steve Hassett, an Australian indie-folk duo who live between Melbourne and Brooklyn, never do anything with their...
View ArticleVarious Artists, Country Funk Volume II: 1967-1974
A breezy sequel of twangy Anglo country meets honeyed African-American soulIn 2012, Light in the Attic coined the term “country funk” to describe the strange hybrid of twangy Anglo country music and...
View ArticleJim Lauderdale, I’m a Song
The king of broken hearts replants firmly in country turfIn an era when an album every two years is the norm for artists, Jim Lauderdale has remained consistently, insistently prolific, releasing an...
View ArticleOld Crow Medicine Show, Remedy
One of their cleverest, catchiest collections to dateOld Crow Medicine Show have been around for more than a decade, but their best-known song is far older than they are. Their cover of “Wagon Wheel,”...
View ArticleWillie Nelson, Band of Brothers
Under a starry Texas night, watching Willie Nelson and his band of “brothers, sisters, whatever,” as he refers to them in the title song of his newest album, at a venue inside a replica of a...
View ArticleMiranda Lambert, Platinum
This fighter with a centerfold face is hot on a missionAbout halfway through her boldly-titled fifth album Platinum, Miranda Lambert gets ready to confess. As a guitar mantra drones and hovers, she...
View ArticleVarious Artists, You Don’t Know Me: Rediscovering Eddy Arnold
Jason Isbell, Lambchop and others argue for Arnold's place in country music historyThe degree to which Eddy Arnold requires any “rediscovering” is debatable: The Country Music Hall Of Famer, who died...
View ArticleRodney Crowell, Tarpaper Sky
Arguably his best in a decadeFollowing his 2012 Kin collaboration with poet and memoirist Mary Karr and last year’s Old Yellow Moon with Emmylou Harris, Rodney Crowell offers his first proper solo...
View ArticleRay Price is Right
The year was 1956, and the country charts were being usurped by upstart names like Elvis Presley and Carl Perkins. Across the South, country radio was switching formats to the new rock ‘n’ roll sound,...
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