Five Questions: Twin Bandit
The Canadian folk duo of Hannah Walker and Jamie Elliott — aka Twin Bandit — comes from a long line of harmony makers. Many times the pairing is made of siblings like the Louvins, Everlys McGarrigles,...
View ArticleSquared Roots: Dead Rock West x the Everly Brothers
Once known as “Little Donnie and Baby Boy Phil,” Don and Phil Everly started singing together as young boys, first with their parents and, later, on their own. Their childhood years in Iowa led to...
View ArticleEilen Jewell: Sundown over Ghost Town
With a title like Sundown over Ghost Town and cover art of a silhouetted figure with an acoustic guitar in front of a vast, star-filled horizon, Eilen Jewell’s new album sends a signal that what lies...
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Ashley Monroe Is On to Something
Throughout its history, country music has found itself at a crossroads where opposing forces want to push its boundaries with one hand and limit them with the other. That’s certainly the case these...
View ArticleA Strong Whole: An Interview with Anderson East
Alabama has a lot to be proud of when it comes to musical heritage, from both then and now. One of the Cotton State’s newest treasures is soul-based singer/songwriter Anderson East. With a voice and...
View ArticleIris DeMent, Pieta Brown at City Winery
She “…was as charming as a dream, and as melancholy as a dove left solitary in its nest by the death of its mate.” Honoré de Balzac wrote those words in Despair in Love, and they sprung to mind while...
View ArticleThe SteelDrivers: The Muscle Shoals Recordings
Seeing as Muscle Shoals is not more than a hop, skip, and a jump or two from their home base in Nashville — and lead singer Gary Nichols grew up there — the SteelDrivers headed down that way for their...
View ArticleFive Questions: The Earnest Lovers
When Pete Krebs and Leslie Beia came together as Earnest Lovers, it was a meeting of both minds and hearts. Musically, they shared a passion for classic country. Romantically, they shared a passion for...
View ArticleEverything’s Better: An Interview with Jason Isbell
Although Jason Isbell has been around a few roots music blocks over the past 15 or so years — as both a member of the Drive-By Truckers and a solo artist — it was his 2013 album, Southeastern, that...
View ArticleKacey Musgraves: Pageant Material
There’s a reason sophomore albums are considered a tough nut to crack. An artist has only a year or two to write a batch of tunes that stack up to the batch from their debut that they had their whole...
View ArticleBetween the Lines: “Before It Falls”
The picture from the television keeps shifting the shadows in the room. The ceiling, a Rorschach test that I’m failing. The lamp isn’t on, but a light from down the hallway casts him in silhouette from...
View ArticleFive Questions: Samantha Crain
Oklahoma’s Samantha Crain is a musical force to be reckoned with. As a singer, her phrasing and rhythms fail to follow traditional folk patterns. And, as a songwriter, her compositions prick and pry at...
View ArticleSquared Roots: JD McPherson x Charlie Rich
Charlie Rich — the ol’ Silver Fox. Folks who only know him by “Behind Closed Doors” and “The Most Beautiful Girl” are missing a big piece of the puzzle. Rich grew up in Arkansas, the son of cotton...
View ArticleAmanda Shires at City Winery
Amanda Shires has an interesting way with both language and music. It’s there in her conversation, and it’s there in her songs. The way she chooses and collects words together in both is thoroughly...
View ArticleJason Isbell: Something More Than Free
As soon as “If It Takes a Lifetime” opens Jason Isbell’s Something More Than Free, it’s obvious that the singer/songwriter did not make Southeastern: The Sequel. Quite the opposite, really....
View ArticleBetween the Lines: “Literally the End of the World”
I have visions. Angels, usually. Or saints. Sometimes there’s an Indian chief who will go for walks with me. I call him Chief. That’s what he said to do. He doesn’t say much. Just walks on the other...
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Taking It to the Streets: An Interview with Sean Watkins
Sean and Sara Watkins first gained a whole bunch of attention when Nickel Creek — their trio with Chris Thile — took to the bluegrass circuit in the 1990s and, eventually, caught Alison Krauss’s ear....
View ArticleShelby Lynne: I Can’t Imagine
Let’s be clear about one thing right up front: Shelby Lynne can sing. Her soulful voice is nimble enough to belt one phrase and whisper the next. Even just the opening track of I Can’t Imagine makes...
View ArticleBetween the Lines: “She’s Already Made Up Her Mind”
She had these green eyes that looked at me like no one had ever looked at me before. It’s intoxicating to be looked at like that. Everything else in the world disappeared when I was with her. I knew I...
View ArticleSoul Man: An Interview with Nathaniel Rateliff
Folks who are familiar with only Nathaniel Rateliff‘s earlier albums might need to forget everything they know in order to embrace his new release, Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats. Gone are...
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