Across history people have been drawn to the city – for work mainly but also for the possibilities to be found socially and creatively. If you can make it here, you can make it anywhere. But walk down a side street, go off the grid and you will find people who the city has left behind. The darker side of the metropolis is explored by Alynda Segarra in Hurray For The Riff Raff’s stunning concept album The Navigator. Continue reading “Album Review: Hurray for The Riff Raff – The Navigator”
Album Review: Valerie June – The Order of Time
Assigning artists to genres has always been an important music marketing strategy but now it seems even more vital to an artist’s success. Only by targeting your audience can you be heard amongst the constant chatter of the online world. Only by finding your genre will you discover the right people and publications to support you. In some ways this is also the reason why music has become so homogenised. If your sound doesn’t fit into the pop realm then major publications won’t cover you and the average music listener won’t find you. So it is refreshing to hear Valerie June’s The Order of Time, an album which has so many diverse influences and clearly couldn’t care less what genre it doesn’t fit into.
Continue reading “Album Review: Valerie June – The Order of Time”
Album Review: Sunny Sweeney -Trophy
In the opening song on Sunny Sweeney’s new album Trophy she is sitting on a barstool, probably in some Nashville dive bar somewhere, ordering herself a drink or five and spilling out her heart. Exploring the everyday hurt of life is central to this album, and she is served well by the gorgeous classic country sound evoked throughout.
Best Albums of 2017 So Far
I know 2017 is only two and a third months old but there has already been some wonderful albums released by female artists in the Americana and Country genres. From this point on I intend to review albums as they are released but here is my list of what I’ve been listening to so far in 2017.