a music blog
After two albums where she strayed somewhat from her country music roots, Margo Price is back in the genre she started in with the release of this new album ‘Hard Headed Woman’. This week she played the Opry, wearing clothes loaned from Loretta Lynn’s archive, suggesting Margo has come home, all guns blazing, ready to take back the genre once again.
Continue reading “Album Review: Margo Price – Hard Headed Woman”
Twelve ago Kathleen Edwards was done with music. She even opened a cafe called Quitters. Then she quit that too. Now she has returned to music with a renewed appreciation of just playing with other people, for other people.
When Jason Isbell offered to produce and have his band the 400 Unit play on her new record, Kathleen wept. During the recording process she says she learned how to trust herself, and just get it done. ‘Billionaire’ is an enjoyable listen (apart from one notable song, more of which in a moment) and overall it’s one of the strongest Americana albums released so far this year.
Continue reading “Album Review – Kathleen Edwards: Billionaire “
After releasing a fantastic EP called ‘Country Curious’ last year, Lola Kirke followed that up with a book of personal essays called ‘Wild West Village’ which explored her upbringing and life in a bohemian family. By moving to Nashville and leaning towards country music she’s been walking a different path than might be expected from your typical artsy New Yorker.
Continue reading “Album Review: Lola Kirke – Trailblazer”
This week I was lucky enough to see a preview of the new stage musical version of ‘Wild Rose’ at the Lyceum theatre in Edinburgh. Originally a heartfelt film starring Jessie Buckley (which I reviewed a few years back) the story has been lovingly adapted for the stage by its Scottish writer Nicole Taylor.
Continue reading “Women & Country Music Take Centre Stage in ‘Wild Rose’ “
The one time I saw Bob Dylan play live he was terrible but it didn’t seem to matter, everyone else lapped it up and the guy next to me nearly got thrown out for standing on his chair and yelling ‘LEGEND’ between every song. After that I promised never to pay money to see an old narcissist deliberately sing his own songs out of time and tune, all in the name of artistic independence or some other male bullshit.
I do love Dylan’s old music but since I obviously wasn’t a diehard, I went to see ‘A Complete Unknown’ without any real expectations. I left both impressed and irritated.
Continue reading “On ‘A Complete Unknown’ & the Myth of Male Genius “
One of the reasons I started this blog back in 2017 was because I was sick of the divided, angry online world of politics in the Trump era. Writing about music helped bring me joy and connected me to a range of diverse people around the world who shared a common love of song.
Strangely enough despite its conservative themes, for a while country music was actually a safe haven for a liberal leftie like me looking to avoid the negativity of politics. After the Dixie Chicks were cancelled for speaking out the genre seemed to have a kind of ‘don’t ask, don’t tell’ policy for both sides of the political divide, which meant most artists remained neutral (in public anyway). Dolly Parton also set the gold standard for how to deal with any potentially divisive discussions – be kind to everyone, judge no one, focus on the music and steer clear of party politics.
So why then would Carrie Underwood, who has spent her career cultivating a very vanilla and apolitical image, agree to sing at the inauguration of Donald Trump – one of the most divisive figures in history? And what does this decision tell us about the state of women in country music right now?
Continue reading “Somethin’ Bad: On Carrie Underwood Playing the Inauguration “
Scotland is lucky enough to have the best roots and folk music festival in the world to keep us music fans warm during the winter. Celtic Connections began last night with their opening concert celebrating the city of Glasgow and over the next few weeks the music on offer is not just the best of Scotland, but the rest of the world too.
Continue reading “Celtic Connections 2025 Highlights”
The new year is here and soon the release schedule will begin filling up but I thought I would do a quick round up of what’s already been announced for 2025.
If you know of any new releases by women not mentioned here then please add to the comments and also let me know what you’re most looking forward to hearing!
Continue reading “Music to Look Forward to in 2025 “
I’m still of the opinion that we should all wait until the end of the year to post our list of favourite albums and this year I am edging very close to the wire by posting on New Year’s Eve!
Like most people I have found 2024 to have been good and bad, rewarding and frustrating in equal measure. In terms of music, I have been feeling really positive and found more to personally enjoy and get excited by this year than last. I still have been quite slow and uneven with posting on the blog, alongside an ever changing social media landscape it hasn’t been easy to maintain any kind of consistent online voice.
Still I am thankful to anyone who has read my blog and I just want to express my gratitude to anyone who still follows and comments. You have all made me want to keep posting. And I still believe small quiet places on the internet to share your thoughts are worthwhile things to have.
So then we come to my favourite albums of the year, in ranking order by the arbitrary rules I set up when I began this blog way back in 2017. For no particular reason I decided that to feature on the list an album should be made up of mainly new material by a female artist / group or duo and the top slot is reserved for an album which is majority self-written. The rest of the list reflects my own personal listening and is not intended to be any kind of ‘best of’.
Please share yours in the comments! Click below to read any review if I have written about the album.
Continue reading “Top Ten Albums of the Year 2024”
Highway Queens 