{"id":315,"date":"2025-01-01T16:55:00","date_gmt":"2025-01-01T16:55:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/texasace.org\/?p=315"},"modified":"2026-04-27T00:52:50","modified_gmt":"2026-04-27T00:52:50","slug":"recent-music","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/texasace.org\/?p=315","title":{"rendered":"Recent Music Purchases"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

2026 March<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/countrycentral.com\/reviews\/johnny-blue-skies-sturgill-simpson-mutiny-after-midnight-album-review\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

After almost two years, fans of\u00a0Sturgill Simpson<\/a>\u00a0finally have their hands on another record.\u00a0Mutiny After Midnight<\/a>\u00a0<\/em>is the second full-length installment in the discography of Johnny Blue Skies, the alias under which all of Simpson\u2019s new music will now seemingly be released. As the full band name Johnny Blue Skies & The Dark Clouds suggests, this record places themes of light and darkness in close quarters, letting protest and acceptance share the floor in a politically apocalyptic dance. As he lays out his stances on \u201cthe dark state of the world and the bright state of love\u201d over groovy, yet serious arrangements, Sturgill takes time to dissect corruption with literal, yet crafty lyricism that puts his earnest perspective into view. With his realizations, he creates\u00a0Mutiny After Midnight\u00a0<\/em>not only as a rallying cry but as a meditation on inevitability.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a full listen, it\u2019s still unclear whether Sturgill fully embraces the world\u2019s continuous downward spiral, which he describes in tracks like \u201cMake America F** Again\u201d and others. In that track, which kicks the album, he explains \u201cBeen coming to terms with my obsolescence,\u201d also stating how he wants to \u201cstart a revolution.\u201d That internal tension becomes one of the record\u2019s defining characteristics. Rather than committing to pure surrender or outright rebellion, he occupies the uneasy space between the two. By refusing to land decisively, he opens a space for conversation and revision, which is the task of any great protest. When Simpson turns toward love, the atmosphere shifts immediately. Trading dense political detail for direct, unembellished sentiment, the tone changes as if he has set his weapons down at a battlefield he has consciously stepped away from. The edges soften, the urgency recedes, and the focus narrows to something intimate and immediate rather than systemic and sprawling.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Moments like \u201cViridescent\u201d and \u201cVenus\u201d are poetic, distinctive, and undeniably passionate, yet there is a faint trace of defiance in them. The tenderness feels intentional, almost corrective, as though he is deliberately redirecting energy that would otherwise fuel confrontation. In choosing love amid the collapse he so vividly describes elsewhere, he does not sound na\u00efve. He sounds resolute, even slightly stubborn, as if devotion itself is an act of resistance against the chaos he has already conceded he cannot control.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In Mutiny After Midnight<\/em>, the band\u2019s tightness and energy amplify the impact of every emotion on the album. It\u2019s so easy to get entranced by the constant grooviness that pulses throughout each song.  The band plays perfectly in sync, following each other\u2019s signals as they introduce a funky, almost jam-band-like sound into Sturgill\u2019s catalogue. Their playing shapes Sturgill\u2019s strong stances into controlled and compelling forms, making his attitude all the more engaging and believable, even for listeners who might not agree with him. One of the best examples of this comes in \u201cExcited Delirium,\u201d which takes a fast-paced, yet sympathetic approach at discussing moments of excessive force within law enforcement. By giving each statement structure and weight, the band makes its perspective resonate without forcing agreement, letting the performance carry as much power as the lyrics themselves. In other words, \u201cThe Dark Clouds\u201d makes thoughtfully questioning established forces sound cool. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

As far as standout tracks go, it\u2019s impossible to judge the differing narratives on the same scale.  In the category of \u201cthe bright state of love,\u201d \u201cDon\u2019t let go\u201d seems most resonant and relatable, noticeably tuned for a large audience. The simplicity of this song makes it what it is, removing all distractions. The line \u201cI\u2019ve been meaning to tell you that you\u2019re still all mine\u201d sums up the song\u2019s intentions perfectly, taking a moment to reassign appreciation for long-lasting love. As for \u201cViridescent,\u201d the lyrics are layered with subtle intricacies that reflect both the passage of time and the evolution of intimacy. True to its title, Sturgill describes his lover\u2019s eyes as \u201cviridescent,\u201d shifting from brown to green, a delicate metaphor suggesting renewal and new life within his relationship, as if love itself is slowly blossoming into something vibrant and alive. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On the other hand, \u201cExcited Delirium,\u201d \u201cEveryone is Welcome,\u201d and the closing track are equally moving for their own reasons, as Sturgill channels his anguish in distinctly differing fashions. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since this record was intended to be listened to physically, the order of these songs is likely intentional, given that there is no shuffle button on a record player.  That said, the last song, \u201cAin\u2019t That a B****,\u201d makes a statement from its placement alone. Delivering the most personal and pointed commentary of the entire album, Sturgill ventures beyond casual critique, directly addressing the president, and in doing so, punctuates the record with a final, starkly unapologetic statement. After an album that teeters between protest and acceptance, he closes with a strike of defiant exhaustion, fully aware of the imbalance of power he faces, still making his statement with confidence as the band backs his fed-up delivery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As stated, the success of a protest comes from the ability to raise awareness, ask meaningful questions, and inspire change, and in Simpson\u2019s case, he successfully checks those boxes. By pointing to real-world problems and questioning the integrity of institutions and those in power, he urges listeners to confront their beliefs about the world around them. Although the theme of embracing the powerful forces of love is prevalent throughout, the lyrics of this project do not shy away from the darker realities of society but present them from a perspective that is both striking and engaging. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/garretttcapps.bandcamp.com\/album\/i-still-love-san-antone<\/a> <\/p>\n\n\n\n

San Antonio is by far the most musical city in Texas. Many of y\u2019all might not be aware of this fact, because you\u2019ve got to lift the rug to find the good stuff \u2013 conjunto at the ice house, country western made for two-stepping, Mexican American heavy metal, space jazz, lowdown and jump blues, freestyling rap en espanol, mega horn sections, high school mariachis, western swing, the Sir Douglas Quintet and the \u201cFirst Integrated Nightclub in the South.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Keep Austin Weird was once the motto of the neighboring city up the road. But when it comes to music, SA was always the place for the weird sounds.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Garrett T. Capps understands this better than just about anyone. He also knows that trying to explain the meaning of \u201cBreakfast Tacos with Satan\u201d to people outside the 210 area code is a fool\u2019s errand, so he just lays it all out right in front of you to figure out.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All the icons of the provincial capital of South Texas are here:
HEB, the greatest grocer in the world; Bongo Joe, the offbeat beats master and street rapper; Fiesta, the city\u2019s annual spring blowout that makes New Orleans look tame; Tex-Mex accordionist Santiago Jim\u00e9nez Jr.; \u201cIf it bleeds, it leads\u201d local TV news; the endless suburban strip known as De Zavala Road; heavy metal radio maestro Joe Anthony; Capps\u2019 own history of how SA became the Heavy Metal Capital of the World; the mistreatment of Shamu, set to a truck-driving rhythm; and the little-loved Alamodome \u201cwhere Selena sang \u2018Como la Flor\u2019 and the Spurs won their first ring.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I don\u2019t know about the \u201cstill\u201d part of I Still Love San Antone, because when did Garrett T. ever not love the city of the Alamo(dome)?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2026 February<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n

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https:\/\/www.noizze.co.uk\/we-lost-the-sea-a-single-flower-album-review\/<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s difficult\u2014maybe even unkind\u2014to try and distil A Single Flower into words. We Lost The Sea are not a band that deals in the currency of language, at least not in the straightforward sense.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

 Since the death by suicide of vocalist and founding member Chris Torpy in 2013, they have let their instruments speak for them, crafting instrumental epics that communicate truths with aching clarity about loss, grief, and, perhaps above all, human will in the face of adversity. Their 2015 album Departure Songs<\/em> was, and remains, a post-rock elegy of staggering emotional weight. A decade on, it still sits like a stone in the chest of anyone who\u2019s felt the breathless hush that comes with mourning. When the opening of your most widely celebrated record can reduce listeners to tears within its first six gentle notes, it\u2019s fair to say that the bar set for delivering emotionally impactful post-rock is floating somewhere in the stratosphere.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now, with A Single Flower<\/em>, the band return from the quiet distance of five plus years away since Departure Songs<\/em>\u2019 confident follow-up Triumph & Disaster<\/em>. And they return not with thunder or bombast, but with patience\u2014this is an album that does not demand your attention, but earns it anyway. It trusts the listener. It recognises that grieving is a process. It knows the long, strange arc of healing. Opening track \u2018If They Had Hearts\u2019 sets the tone: a deceptively simple five-note riff pulses gently, rising gradually under layers of swirling guitars to a thrilling peak until it all falls away. What\u2019s left is a piano, barely there, a lament so understated it feels like breath fogging a window. This is a mark of things to come as throughout the record, the spaces between the notes matter as much as the notes themselves. The quiet moments let the thoughts and ideas ruminate.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018A Dance With Death\u2019 emerges from silence in the wake of the album opener, and it\u2019s a highlight\u2014not just of the album, but of the band\u2019s entire catalogue. Gunfire-like percussion explodes beneath a swelling riff that feels as if it\u2019s leading the way to a brighter future. Halfway through, the track falls into a hush so complete that it almost demands silence in the listener\u2019s own environment. And then, just as fluidly as the track recedes into stillness, it erupts\u2014an adrenaline shot to the heart that hits like a desperate affirmation: We are still here, it seems to say. We are still breathing and trying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018Everything Here is Black and Blinding\u2019 carries an unexpected weightyness, the plucked guitar lines of its opening section recalling the spiraling progressions of Lateralus-era Tool<\/em>, though without the same airless, clinical precision. There\u2019s something tender, human, even frayed around the edges in We Lost The Sea<\/strong>\u2019s execution\u2014none of their work here feels like a technical exhibition despite the undeniable technical ability on display. \u2018Bloom (Murmurations at First Light)\u2019 leans into a lushness in production as the track takes on the feel of an elegant emergence.The movement is slow and deliberate, like watching something broken begin to stir again. It doesn\u2019t rise to catharsis so much as it lets hope in through the cracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u2018The Gloaming\u2019 is a dusky, sumptuous piece that seems to hover just above the earth. There\u2019s a weight to it also, like the end of a long day\u2014both emotionally and musically. It doesn\u2019t build in the traditional post-rock sense. Instead, it deepens. It sinks. The textures wrap around you like smoke, pulling you inward as it sets the tone for \u2018Blood Will Have Blood\u2019, the towering final track on the album. The Shakespearean reference in the title suggests moral consequence; those who have inflicted suffering on others will not escape their fate. It\u2019s sombre and steady, a march toward something inevitable. Not a punishment perhaps, but a reckoning. The track unfolds like a prophecy fulfilled; there is no ultimate triumph, but a quiet, irrevocable truth. The nature of that truth will be for the listener to discern. It almost goes without saying that taking in its 27-minute runtime is a profoundly moving experience as a culmination of this project and as an experience in its own right. As you begin to put yourself back together, it might be best to hit play on track one again and spend some more time figuring out why you can\u2019t stop crying.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A Single Flower<\/em> isn\u2019t about answers. It\u2019s about holding space\u2014for pain, for healing, and for memories of what was. The power of collective catharsis during the two sets at ATG in August is going to be something to behold.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2026 January<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Cast Your Pod to the Wind<\/strong><\/em> is a 23-track compilation that was originally included with The Else<\/a>‘<\/em>s CD release<\/a> first pressing as a bonus disc. In July 2009<\/a>, it was made available for purchase on the iTunes<\/a> Store. The compilation consists of new or reworked TMBG material previously unreleased on CD.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The compilation contains 21 songs that were previously released through the They Might Be Giants Podcast<\/a>, including the title track, “Cast Your Pod To The Wind<\/a>.” “Brain Problem Situation<\/a>” had not been released (or even mentioned) until this disc’s release, and “No Plan B<\/a>” had only been performed live a few times and recorded for a radio show. In addition, “I’m Your Boyfriend Now<\/a>” and “We Live In A Dump<\/a>” were entirely re-recorded for the disc, while many others were remixed, remastered, and partially re-recorded to optimize the songs’ new-found high fidelity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025 December<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/northerntransmissions.com\/ryan-davis-the-road-house-band-new-threats-from-the-soul\/<\/a>

New Threats from the Soul<\/em> is a collection of epic novellas, stories of characters living in society\u2019s shadows. Ryan Davis emphasizes the emotional complexities of their stories, using an eclectic mix of instruments and unexpected structure. Wild detours and strange textures unfold across nearly an hour of music. Rich rewards await any listener who is willing to embark on the journey.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Davis, is a veteran of the Louisville DIY scene and longtime frontman of State Champion. He is no stranger to creating intricately arranged songs blending genres. On this record, distorted keyboard riffs, and violin interludes appear alongside slide guitars and gospel flourishes. It feels chaotic, yet it\u2019s all tightly woven. The album is meticulously choreographed, sonically and emotionally. The details, richly curated, create a dense and holistic world. The early songs are connected through a vein of disorientation. A dizzying blur of observations, mundane absurdities, and loss, fold to clarity, and empathic understanding in the later half.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Lyrically, Davis writes without fear. His songs are dense with metaphors that swing between humor and heartbreak. On the opening track, New Threats from the Soul, he sings: \u201cI will never be anything other than a caged bird swinging from a chain swing, whistlin\u2019 for my payseed, pecking on a W9.\u201d It\u2019s a dry, cutting reflection on the absurdity of routine and the soft traps of everyday survival.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cMutilation Springs\u201d and its slower counterpart \u201cMutilation Falls\u201d work as emotional poles: the former a fever dream of rambling monologues and surreal breakdowns, the latter a cosmic slow- burn that folds in restlessness and grief. \u201cMonte Carlo \/ No Limits\u201d is a nervy highlight, filled with brittle details like a broken doorbell and dying daffodils. It also contains one of the most striking transitions on the record; where its frantic beat gives way to a violin that mimics a guitar riff from earlier in the song. He\u2019s built tightly looped emotional systems, wired to collapse and rebuild with every repeat play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Davis\u2019 empathy, for drifters, day laborers, bartenders, and broken people, is laid bare on this album. He tells their stories in a way that\u2019s just as strange and quietly poetic as the lives they\u2019ve lived. Their voices breathe through his, railing against the economy or mourning a love that slipped through their fingers. At first, it might seem like rambling but is more a gentle reminder that we all have stories.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s also worth noting just how dense this record is. Even after several listens, you\u2019ll find yourself going back, pulling up lyrics, trying to understand how one song mirrors another, or where that earlier image returns in a new light. I\u2019m reminded of Diamond Jubilee with this record, where it stands completely independently from anything else and offers an entirely new way of creating music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

New Threats from the Soul is built with layers, layers of characters, layers of intricate musical choices, and layers of feeling. It constantly challenges you to peel them back and reflect. To see yourself in the shadows of society, in the lives we too often overlook as we pass them by.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/wednesdayband.bandcamp.com\/album\/bleeds<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Can a self-portrait be a collage? Can empathy be autobiographical? What\u2019s the point of living if we\u2019re not trying to understand all the horror and humor that surrounds everything? These are a few of the questions lurking under the bleachers of Wednesday\u2019s new album Bleeds, an intoxicating collection of narrative-heavy Southern rock that\u2014like many of the most arresting passages from the North Carolina band\u2019s highlight reel so far\u2014thoughtfully explores the vivid link between curiosity and confession.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bleeds is not only the best Wednesday record\u2014it\u2019s also the most Wednesday record, a patchwork-style triumph of literary allusions and outlaw grit, of place-based poetry and hair-raising noise. Karly Hartzman\u2014founder, frontwoman, and primary lyricist\u2014credits Wednesday\u2019s tightened grasp on their own identity to time spent collaborating on previous albums, plus a tour schedule that\u2019s been both rewarding and relentless. \u201cBleeds is the spiritual successor to Rat Saw God, and I think the quintessential \u2018Wednesday Creek Rock\u2019 album,\u201d Hartzman said, articulating satisfaction with the ways her band has sharpened its trademark sound, how they\u2019ve refined the formula that makes them one of the most interesting rock bands of their generation. \u201cThis is what Wednesday songs are supposed to sound like,\u201d she said. \u201cWe\u2019ve devoted a lot of our lives to figuring this out\u2014and I feel like we did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Just like Rat Saw God, one of the defining rock & roll records of the 2020s so far, Bleeds came together at Drop of Sun in Asheville and was produced by Alex Farrar, who\u2019s been recording the band since Twin Plagues. Hartzman again brought demos to the studio, where she and her bandmates\u2014Xandy Chelmis (lap steel, pedal steel), Alan Miller (drums), Ethan Baechtold (bass, piano), and Jake \u201cM.J.\u201d Lenderman (guitar)\u2014worked as a team to bulk-up the compositions with the exact right amounts of country truth-telling, indie-pop hooks, and noisy sludge. More than ever, the precise proportions were steered by the lyricism\u2014not only its tone or subject matter, but also the actual sound of the words, as well as Hartzman\u2019s masterfully subjective approach to detail selection.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Every image or scene is filtered through Hartzman\u2019s agile, writerly brain. The particulars deemed essential all contain revelations about Hartzman\u2019s specific obsessions and vulnerabilities, about the fragmented way she processes the world. Maybe sometimes the best way to locate truth or pain or dignity within your own life story, Bleeds suggests, is by crawling into someone else\u2019s. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025 November<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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AJJ\u2019s newest album, Disposable Everything<\/em>, bends beneath the weight of everything around the planet being fucked beyond repair. The gerbil in the microwave has exploded into a cataclysmic shift aiming to split the United States in half! After the mess of 2016 and its sequel four years later, the leading voices in folk-punk\u2014five storytellers who sought to break down the systems of hedonistic masculinity that fueled disasters, wars, racism and douchery\u2014were forced to reconfigure just how much space they should, or could, give to their versions of villains inflicting real, generational trauma on marginalized people in their songs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The difference a decade can make is colossal: Not even a score ago, AJJ made music as Andrew Jackson Jihad and sang lyrics like this: \u201cBut there\u2019s a bad man in everyone \/ No matter who we are \/ There\u2019s a rapist and a Nazi living in our tiny hearts \/ Child pornographers and cannibals, and politicians, too \/ There\u2019s someone in your head waiting to fucking strangle you.\u201d When I came across the Phoenix quintet\u2019s (Sean Bonnette, Ben Gallaty, Preston Bryant, Mark Glick and Kevin Higuchi) music on a random Pandora station a dozen years ago, it didn\u2019t feel edgy so much as a lesson I didn\u2019t quite have the capacity to understand yet. I didn\u2019t know that the lines Bonnette sang were not endorsements but, rather, fast critiques and satirization of the bad brutes employing inequity, poverty, homophobia and misogyny on the world around us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A song like \u201cPeople II: The Reckoning\u201d is painfully relevant now, and I remember a time when dudes would go to AJJ shows and be too vicious in the pits\u2014merciless to their fellow men (but mostly women) to the point where the band would call them out for their behavior, as those menaces in the audience were flirting with the scumbag mentalities that they\u2019d bought tickets to hear frontman Bonnette and company sing about. AJJ\u2019s sophomore album People Who Can Eat People Are the Luckiest People in the World<\/em>, now almost 16 years old, was a mixture of bullying deadbeats through high-brow, gutter-rat poetics and genuine, empathetic extensions of love to the people often under the boot of loudmouths who reveal their true colors and aggressions once the loud, in-your-face music starts.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Back then, we all found joy in singing \u201cthere\u2019s a bad man in everyone\u201d loud and proud, regardless of if we were clear-eyed teenagers, foul-mouthed pricks or stuck in the purgatory of grayness somewhere in-between. To be evil, figuratively or literally, felt like a fate that couldn\u2019t be so bad, especially if it meant getting immortalized in the brash sing-song of AJJ and other folk-punk troubadours forever. In retrospect, I\u2014and my raucous comrades\u2014probably should have sung \u201cPeople are people regardless of skin \/ People are people regardless of creed \/ People are people regardless of gender \/ People are people regardless of anything\u201d louder.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025 October<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Tony has also recorded four solo albums featuring new songs, covers, and guest appearances by many of Nashville\u2019s finest musicians as well as folks who have recorded his songs, including Garth, Patty, and Lee Roy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tony Arata was born in Savannah, GA and grew up on nearby Tybee Island.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

While studying for a journalism degree from Georgia Southern University, he began performing his original songs in local bands. In 1986, he and his wife Jaymi moved to Nashville where his unique, soulful style began to get the attention of people like Allen Reynolds and Garth Brooks. Garth, to date, has recorded seven of Tony\u2019s songs, and \u201cThe Dance\u201d won song of the year at The Academy of Country Music and received both a Country Music Association and a Grammy nomination, as well as a most performed song in Radio and Records Magazine.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tony is a member of the Nashville Songwriters Hall of Fame (2012). He has also had No. 1 records with \u201cHere I Am\u201d for Patty Loveless, \u201cI\u2019m Holding My Own\u201d for Lee Roy Parnell, and \u201cDreaming With My Eyes Open\u201d for Clay Walker. Other artists who have recorded his songs include Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Bonnie Raitt, Trisha Yearwood, Delbert McClinton, Don Williams, Reba McEntire, Suzy Bogguss, and Hal Ketchum.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025 September<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/rodneycrowell.bandcamp.com\/album\/airline-highway<\/a>
Full of deep empathy, sober insights, and lively guitar licks, Rodney Crowell\u2019s new album takes its title from a seemingly mundane stretch of four-lane blacktop that runs deep into Louisiana. It\u2019s the road he and producer Tyler Bryant drove to reach the remote studio where they recorded these songs, hauling a truckload of gear on a two-day journey that ended in swamps. Along the way Crowell looked up the route they were driving: Airline Highway. It\u2019s the southernmost segment of Highway 61, also called the Blues Highway or the Great River Road, and it follows the Mississippi River from Minnesota down to New Orleans. Crowell is intimately familiar with this part of the country. He grew up on the east side of Houston, just a few hours west of the state line, and made wild forays into Louisiana as a young man to drink or carouse or mostly to catch live music.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Airline Highway is an album full of old, abiding loves, whether it\u2019s a favorite song or a lover you remember fondly. Songs like \u201cSometime Thang\u201d and \u201cRainy Days in California\u201d (the latter featuring Lukas Nelson) raise a glass to old romances and encounters with different women in California or down in Louisiana: falling in love, toughing out hard times, growing apart until they become \u201cthat small voice on your phone,\u201d to quote a devastating line on \u201cTaking Flight,\u201d co-written with and featuring Ashley McBryde. Some are fictional, Crowell explains, but they all contain some kernel of truth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cAt a basic level there are a lot more years behind me than there are ahead of me. I\u2019m up in my seventieth decade of my life, and I\u2019m glad that I\u2019m still looking forward to certain things I want to do, but a lot of what\u2019s worth talking about is behind me.\u201d One of the things Crowell looks forward to is making more music with musicians he genuinely loves. \u201cI\u2019m just in love with the experience now. I\u2019ve worked with amazing people in the past, but I was looking too far ahead. I wanted the music we were creating to make a name for me, so I wasn\u2019t completely present with them. My ego was involved. But now my ego seems to have finally evaporated. Now it\u2019s just about the work and what a blessing it is to be able to do it. The work truly feeds me in the moment.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/savingcountrymusic.com\/album-review-margo-prices-hard-headed-woman\/<\/a>
Oh, Miss Margo Price: the jilted high school cheerleader captain of country music. She had us all singing her praises when she released her debut album Midwest Farmer\u2019s Daughter<\/em> in 2016. But after some serious overhyping, and her propensity to tell people to shove it on Twitter under the veil of \u201cactivism,\u201d she became a super polarizing character, eventually fluttering away from country music to some version of pop in the vein of Kacey, Maren, Taylor, and so many other country women.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But now Margo\u2019s back, reunited with original producer Matt Ross-Spang, and just released perhaps the best album since her debut, maybe the best album of her entire career, and maybe one of the best country albums so far this year\u2014and in a year of kick ass country albums from kick ass country women. If a guy that Margo once said was an \u201cuneducated, misogynistic, racist, homophobic bully<\/em>\u201d can give this thing an honest listen and come to this conclusion (don\u2019t worry, she got ratio\u2019d by her own fans), so can you. This really is a killer record.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It\u2019s been said before, but making great country music really isn\u2019t that complicated ladies and gentlemen. Pick up a pen and paper and spill your guts, get some hot shit pickers in the studio, find some good variety in mood and tempo, and don\u2019t try to be too cute about it. Along with some quality songs, Hard Headed Woman<\/em> is just a great listening record, fun and infectious at times, deeply sentimental in others, and strongly country to go along with ample variety to keep the listening experience interesting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Margo Price says what inspired her to get back to her country roots was shaking up her touring band. Sturgill Simpson might be partly to blame for that after he stole bass player Kevin Black back. Ironically, Simpson did his own stint in the Price Tags before his career exploded. But really the story of Hard Headed Woman<\/em> feels like Margo going back in time to before her two kids with fellow performer Jeremy Ivey, and singing songs about when she was young, heartbroken, and hungry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n


Tough times are where the best country songs come from. Margo Price sings about a lot of tough times on this record. \u201cClose To You\u201d and \u201cKeep a Picture\u201d capture the authentic emotions of a pining heart, and are graced by strong storytelling. \u201cNowhere is Where\u201d is a sad exploration of Midwest despondency that Price can sing about with authority. These songs are also complimented by interesting textures, however understated, like the fiddle in \u201cNowhere.\u201d Price has always struggled to capture the best of herself in studio. Hard Headed Woman<\/em> breaks that streak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Price does reprise her tradition of having duet partners sing in uncomfortable keys when Tyler Childers joins her on \u201cLove Me Like You Used To Do.\u201d But man is the song a country heartbreaker that ultimately sets right in your ears. And even though there\u2019s a lot of sad songs here, the album doesn\u2019t listen through like a downer overall. \u201cLosing Streak\u201d is about living out of your car and in the same clothes for a couple of weeks, but Price makes this upbeat country rock anthem feel downright inspirational by the end, constituting one of the record\u2019s best tracks.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And if you want hot shit country songs, you got them with \u201cDon\u2019t Let The Bastards Get You Down\u201d co-written with Kris Kristofferson and Rodney Crowell, the super fun \u201cRed Eye Flight,\u201d and the perfect album ender in \u201cKissing You Goodbye.\u201d There are a lot of influences evidenced on Hard Headed Woman<\/em>, but the prevailing one is country with an Outlaw kick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The title of this album can be employed both as a euphemism and as a term of endearment. There\u2019s nothing inherently wrong with being principled or even political if a performer feels it\u2019s necessary. But there is a point when an artist\u2019s prickly nature fails to serve their own interests, or even fails to serve the political causes they support. At times in her career, Margo Price has found that breaking point, while also losing sight of what makes her special as a musician and artist. By recognizing her own hard-headedness, she can utilize it as a strength, but not allow it to be a burden or a weakness.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

What\u2019s great about a great album is that it solves a lot of problems, puts things into perspective, papers over petty grievances, and puts the emphasis where it should be first and foremost: the music. That\u2019s the kind of retrenching, revitalizing, entertaining, and important album Margo Price has released with Hard Headed Woman<\/em>, at least in the estimate of this \u201cuneducated, misogynistic, racist, homophobic bully<\/em>.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/jonlangfordthebrightshiners.bandcamp.com\/album\/where-it-really-starts<\/a>
Jon Langford’s been in more bands than you have digits – and that’s true even if you were born with a few extras! From his early days in Mekons, Delta 5, Three Johns and even Sisters Of Mercy (booted for not wearing black) to a veritable explosion of one-off recordings and performances with more names than we could ever hope to list in full. A Wikipedia description for this group, The Bright Shiners (described therein as ‘circa 2022 through at least 2023, in Northern California’) provides some sense of the complex taxonomy needed just to keep track of Jon’s massive oeuvre.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Happily, that’s an understated description of a serious new outlet for his endless creativity, and The Bright Shiners’ recording activities have produced a full album, Where It Really Starts, the first recording in a collaboration with Tamineh Gueramy, Alice Spencer, and Jon’s frequent musical partner, John Szymanski.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Jon’s never sung or written better, and the sense that the band realised they were onto something great is palpable in an instant. Each song is a minimalistic jewel – there’s nothing here that doesn’t need to be – yet the album is unsparing of aptly astonishing adornment – wonderful harmonies, horns, mellotron, bowed guitar, piano. looped percussion and more), by our reckoning this is one of Jon’s finest works of art and his best outfit outside The Mekons themselves.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025 August<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/www.nonesuch.com\/journal\/molly-tuttle-new-album-so-long-little-miss-sunshine-due-august-15-nonesuch-2025-06-03<\/a>
Molly Tuttle<\/a>, following back-to-back Grammy-winning albums with her band Golden Highway, along with a Best New Artist nomination, releases her new solo album, So Long Little Miss Sunshine<\/em><\/a>, August 15, 2025, on Nonesuch Records; you can pre-order the album here<\/a>. Recorded in Nashville with producer Jay Joyce (Orville Peck, Miranda Lambert, Lainey Wilson), the fifth full album from the singer, songwriter, and virtuoso guitarist marks a sonic departure from her recent work and features twelve new songs\u2014eleven originals and one cover, of Icona Pop and Charli xcx\u2019s \u201cI Love It.\u201d The album\u2019s first single, \u201cThat\u2019s Gonna Leave a Mark<\/a>,\u201d which she co-wrote with Kevin Griffin (Better Than Ezra), is also out today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

After a summer of festival sets and headline shows, Tuttle and her new live band lead The Highway Knows tour, starting at Thalia Hall in Chicago on September 10, with shows in Brooklyn Steel in New York and The Fonda in Los Angeles, among many others, culminating at The Fillmore in San Francisco on December 13. Tickets for newly announced dates are on-sale Friday, June 6; all shows are listed below.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuttle says, \u201cI\u2019ve been wanting to make this record for such a long time. Part of me was scared to do such a big departure, and that went into the album title.\u201d Eventually she decided, \u201c\u2018You know what? I\u2019m just not going to care what people think. I\u2019m going to do what I want.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She continues, \u201cI wrote \u2018That\u2019s Gonna Leave a Mark\u2019 with my friend Kevin Griffin. He has such a brilliant pop sensibility. We reworked it a little bit last year. It\u2019s fun, sort of sassy, and that guitar part is one of my favorites that I play on the record.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuttle\u2019s career has charted a course between honoring bluegrass and stretching its boundaries. One of the most decorated female guitarist alive, she was the first woman to win the prestigious International Bluegrass Music Award\u2019s Guitar Player of the Year in 2017, at age twenty-four, and won again the following year, with nominations nearly every year since; she has also won Americana Music Association\u2019s Instrumentalist of the Year award.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On her new album\u2014a hybrid of pop, country, rock, and flat-picking, plus one murder ballad\u2014Tuttle goes to a whole new place. Her virtuoso guitar work takes center stage on this album more than ever, and for the first time, she introduces her banjo playing into two of her recordings.\u201cI like to be a bit of a chameleon with my music. Keep people guessing and keep it full of surprises,\u201d she says.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

So Long Little Miss Sunshine<\/em> was recorded with drummer\/percussionists Jay Bellerose and Fred Eltringham, bassist Byron House, and Joyce on multiple instruments. Ketch Secor (Old Crow Medicine Show) also plays banjo, fiddle, and harmonica, as well as singing harmony; much of the LP was co-written with Secor, who is also Tuttle\u2019s partner. \u201cWe spend so much time together, we live together, and anytime I have a song idea, or he has one, it\u2019s just so easy to transition from whatever we\u2019re doing into writing a song.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Tuttle also conceived the artwork for So Long Little Miss Sunshine<\/em>, which features multiple Mollys, each wearing a different wig except for one with nothing on her head at all. Tuttle has been bald since she was three years old due to the autoimmune condition alopecia areata; she acts as a spokesperson for the National Alopecia Areata Foundation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/thewoodbrothers.bandcamp.com\/album\/puff-of-smoke<\/a>
Listening, in its truest sense, is a dying art, but it’s one The Wood Brothers are committed to practicing and upholding as a virtue. In fact, it’s the secret to the m\u00e9lange of joyful sounds and musical styles on Puff of Smoke, the American roots trio’s ninth album of original music. Indeed, through the near two decades spent together in the studio and on the road, the Grammy Award-nominated trio have honed their interconnected, singular voice to telepathic proportions. On this latest studio effort, a true collaborative effort between its three members, the songs weave a medley of musical ideas \u2014 ranging from Latin-inflected acoustic guitar lines, to driving post-jazz rhythms, to infectious sing along choruses \u2014 resulting in a cohesive, joyful whole. All with The Wood Brothers’ trademark turns of phrase and lighthearted, but subversively profound wisdom at the core. Puff of Smoke is a reminder that life is both precious and precarious, and The Wood Brothers invite you to enjoy the ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/jamesmcmurtry.bandcamp.com\/album\/the-black-dog-and-the-wandering-boy<\/a>
When his father died in 2021, James McMurtry went through his effects and discovered a rough pencil sketch of himself as a child. \u201cI knew it was of me, but I didn\u2019t realize who drew it. I had to ask my stepmom, and she said it looked like Ken Kesey\u2019s work back in the \u201860s.\u201d The Merry Pranksters\u2014Kesey\u2019s roving band of hippie activists and creators\u2014stopped by often to visit Larry McMurtry, his wife Faye, and his very young son James.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

He held on to that drawing as he worked on a new album, The Black Dog and the Wandering Boy, his eleventh. It\u2019s a collection of rough-hewn story-songs and richly drawn character sketches that have elements of Americana\u2014rolling guitars, barroom harmonies, traces of banjo and harmonica\u2014but sound too sly and smart for such a generalized category. Funny and sad often in the same breath, it adds a new chapter to a long career that has enjoyed a recent resurgence as younger songwriters like Sarah Jarosz (who plays on the new album) and Jason Isbell (who took McMurtry on tour) cite him as a formative influence.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

McMurtry\u2019s characters face similar realizations, although theirs are harder, sadder, and arrive at the end of life rather than the beginning. Sometimes they find life savers, like a calling or a fond memory; sometimes they drown, like that South Texas lawman. Even the songwriter himself doesn\u2019t always know what will happen or what will inspire him. \u201cYou follow the words where they lead. If you can get a character, maybe you can get a story. If you can set it to a verse-chorus structure, maybe you can get a song.” <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/medium.com\/culture-beat\/robs-album-of-the-week-murder-by-death-s-egg-dart-eb0d11812517<\/a>
For the past 25 years, Murder By Death<\/a> have stood apart from their contemporaries due to possessing a gothic-tinged blend of folk, country, blues and alt-rock that was forged during a time where emo and pop punk were some of the leading musical trends. They\u2019ve always created music on their own terms, so it\u2019s fitting that they\u2019re possibly going out in the same fashion. This is evident with their announcement of a farewell tour<\/a> earlier this year. Along with this news, there\u2019s also the release of a stellar full-length album. It\u2019s called Egg & Dart<\/em><\/a>, it was self-released by the band on June 13, and it\u2019s an excellent way to conclude a fantastic discography.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The title for the full-length is an apt one due to it coming from a symbol of life and death, kind of like the beginning and end of a creative endeavor. In a musical sense, the songs are melancholy while reflecting on various things like relationships and hope for the future in the midst of uncertainty. The production is pristine with Adam Turla\u2019s depth-filled vocals and guitar having a major presence along with Sarah Balliet on cello, Dagan Thogerson on drums and percussion, Emma Tiemann on violin, Tyler Morse on bass and David Fountain on a variety of instruments. While knowing that this could be the final record from Murder By Death, the songs have more of an importance. With this being said, this is a top-notch effort to go out swinging rather than with a dud.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I first got into Murder By Death through a friend of mine in college during the 2000s, and I liked how different they sounded from a lot of other things I was hearing at the time. As a person who got into the blues at a young age, I appreciated those slight elements along with the intertwining of folk, country and alternative. I eventually became a big fan, especially after seeing them live at the old Jerky\u2019s in Providence during the early 2010s. I genuinely hope it isn\u2019t the last we hear from this band, but if it’s the case, then thanks so much for the music. Speaking of music, here are my top tracks off of the Album of The Week:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

That hopeful outlook I previously mentioned is echoed in \u201cBelieve\u201d with the acoustic guitar chords and the vocal harmonies making it shine. \u201cLose You\u201d has synth elements that give off pop sensibilities with the cello taking the lead on the instrumentation. It\u2019s definitely the outlier within the album, but it also freshens up the sequencing. There\u2019s a haunting characteristic within \u201cBlack Velvet Cloak\u201d that I really enjoy. This is conveyed through Turla\u2019s lyrics, the harmonies, structures and arrangements and it\u2019s a fantastic closing tune.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As part Murder By Death\u2019s farewell tour, their next show is going to be at the Southgate House Revival<\/a> in Newport, Kentucky on June 19. Other notable dates include June 23 at the Bearsville Theater<\/a> in Woodstock, New York, June 27 at the Paradise Rock Club<\/a> in Boston, June 1 & 2 at the Grog Shop<\/a> in Cleveland, July 12 at Union Transfer<\/a> in Philadelphia and July 19 at First Avenue<\/a> in Minneapolis. This is your last chance for the time being to see an incredible band live, so make sure to go see them at your friendly neighborhood music venue. For now, grab a copy of Egg & Dart<\/em> and give it a listen. It\u2019s a heck of a way to go out from one of the best musical acts so far this century.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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https:\/\/nodepression.org\/album-review-patterson-hood-exploding-trees-airplane-screams\/<\/a>
It may have taken Patterson Hood a dozen years to get it out, but Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams<\/em> was well worth the wait. The Drive-By Truckers co-founder is no stranger to making solo records\u2014this is his fourth\u2014but none are quite like this one. Crafted with help from the very artists for whom Hood has been an essential influence, and with a deep focus on new sonic territory and his own coming of age story, Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams<\/em> manages to feel entirely fresh, no small feat considering the lifespan of some of its songs from an artist decades into a prolific career.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In the 12 years since his last solo record, Hood has remained busy with the Truckers, sidelining material of his own that never quite fit the band\u2019s mold. Still, that desire to stretch himself never left him and this record finds him fully expanding in sound and vision. From the first few notes of keys and synth on opening track \u201cExploding Trees\u201d \u2014 a recounting of the memory of a powerful storm\u2019s impact \u2014 a dark hope seeps out that never lets up until album\u2019s end.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hood seems to be beckoning his listeners to buckle up for a passage through time and space with the song\u2019s otherworldly textures and his almost meditative vocals. Fellow Alabama native Katie Crutchfield (Waxahatchee) drops in for the lovingly-weathered duet \u201cThe Forks of Cypress,\u201d a ghost story that perfectly melds their voices set to the dreamiest, sloping guitar licks from Kevin Morby. Frequent Truckers road mate Lydia Loveless joins \u201cA Werewolf and a Girl,\u201d lending her crystalline vocals to a past lover\u2019s perspective in an ink-black correspondence accompanied by foreboding horns. Wednesday brings their alt-rock youthful vigor to the nostalgia pop rocker \u201cThe Van Pelt Parties,\u201d and eerie strings saturate \u201cAirplane Screams,\u201d one of the eldest songs in the bunch, finally perfected into a sonic orchestral boom for this outing.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hood is walking proof that with age comes no less imagination and with time, memories become mythic. Exploding Trees & Airplane Screams<\/em> is a powerhouse set from an artist who doesn\u2019t conflate self-assuredness with complacency. It\u2019s all thrills from beginning to end as Hood mines the lore of himself and toes the line between fantasy and reality, an ambitious challenge to which he rises, eagerly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

2025 May<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Always Been is the sixth solo album from Craig Finn, arriving April 4, 2025. The album was produced by Finn\u2019s long time friend Adam Granduciel, the principal of The War on Drugs. Always Been is direct both in both music and title. As Finn says, \u201cI\u2019ve always been Craig Finn.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From the opener \u201cBethany\u201d, a moody piano-driven portrait with a distinctive Granduciel guitar solo, to the propulsion of the first single \u201cPeople of Substance\u201d, to the vivid storytelling and character development that has marked Finn\u2019s career, this record feels at once familiar and fresh.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Recorded throughout 2024 at One Cue Studio in Burbank, CA, Always Been features a host of musicians, including many of Granduciel\u2019s bandmates in The War on Drugs. Kathleen Edwards and Sam Fender provide guest vocals. The musical result is distinctive, purposeful, and commanding.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This is perhaps Finn\u2019s most narrative record yet. It tells the story of a man who becomes a clergyman despite a lack of faith. The songs detail his rise, fall, and eventual redemption, while also shining a light to sharply reveal the other characters that populate the world he moves through.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Always Been is Finn\u2019s 6th solo record, standing alongside his nine albums with The Hold Steady. With his last solo release, A Legacy of Rentals, receiving year end accolades from Pitchfork, Rolling Stone, Aquarium Drunkard and more, Always Been arrives as an exciting next step for this prolific storyteller and songwriter. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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I am happy to present to you an album of \u201cCapps-Core\u201d music called LIFE IS STRANGE<\/a>. I recorded it a few years ago with some friends in Dripping Springs. It is my most personal album to date and is streaming everywhere NOW. I\u2019ve gotten tired of worrying about promotion and internet stuff and figured it would be cool to just release something and not mess with all the other crap. Whoever needs to hear it will hear it!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

There are tapes and CDs too. You can get \u2018em on my bandcamp page<\/a> or at the upcoming solo shows I\u2019m playing in Tejas this week. Stay real my foos.<\/p>\n\n\n\n