a music blog about women in Americana & beyond
I’m always looking for great new soul albums and was delighted to find this recent release from Scotland’s Brooke Combe. Recorded mainly live and produced by James Skelly of the Coral, there’s something quite special about ‘Dancing at the Edge of the World.’
Continue reading “Album Review: Brooke Combe – Dancing at the Edge of the World”
The word melancholy originated as a way to describe a state of deep sadness and introspection, where despair lives for no particular reason at all – such a place where poets and artists have long enjoyed living. Singer Michelle Zauner of Japanese Breakfast, found the title of her new album ‘For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women) in a short story by John Cheever, and thought the tongue in cheek humour of the idea was appealing. After all most female indie singers and their fans are stereotyped this way, so why not have a little fun with it?
Continue reading “Album Review: Japanese Breakfast – For Melancholy Brunettes (& Sad Women)”
Caylee Hammack first came to my attention when she sang with Miranda Lambert and friends on a fun cover of ‘Fooled Around and Fell in Love’. She then was part of Ashley McBryde’s underrated Lindeville album, bringing a touch of glamour to the songs about small town life. With her red hair and fiery voice Caylee has set herself apart from the other mainstream country music singers and this new album ‘Bed of Roses’ showcases her talents beautifully.
Continue reading “Album Review: Caylee Hammack – Bed of Roses”
Five years after her last album Nadia Reid is in a different place now, literally. She moved to the UK from her native New Zealand and became a mother. Enter Now Brightness reflects the changes in her life, bringing a fresh and lighter feel to her music.
Continue reading “Album Review: Nadia Reid – Enter Now Brightness”
After the glorious achievement of producing two epic modern classics in ‘Seventeen’ and ‘Like We Used To’ Sharon Van Etten’s last album was more understated, hazy and, for me, a little bit of a let down overall. After regrouping Sharon decided to try something new for this project – working collaboratively with her band on the songwriting and vision for the first time. The results are still resolutely a Sharon Van Etten album but there’s something more edgy and dramatic to the style and the sound.
Continue reading “Album Review: Sharon Van Etten & The Attachment Theory “
Released fifty years ago this week, ‘Pieces of the Sky’ is the album that launched Emmylou Harris’s career. She has often referred to it as her ‘debut’, attempting to gloss over her first failed release ‘Gliding Bird’.
Continue reading “Emmylou Harris’s Discography – Pieces of the Sky (1975)”
Lilly Hiatt’s last two albums were released during the pandemic and like many other artists at the time, she felt the negative effect of not being able to tour or promote her music in the way she wanted to.
During her last few years off the road she’s got married, adopted a dog, bought a house and installed a home studio where she began songwriting in a different, more immediate way. The results on this new album ‘Forever’ sound like someone shedding old skin, finding her way back to a more natural, looser kind of musical identity.
Continue reading “Album Review: Lilly Hiatt – Forever”
It’s fitting that this collaborative album is being released in January, the traditional month of Celtic Connections festival where these three artists first performed together. In the spirit of Transatlantic Sessions these three women, two Scottish and one American come together to show that more unites us than divides us.
Individually Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart have blazed a trail for women in Scottish folk music, helping to light a clear path forward for other artists to follow. Mary Chapin Carpenter has done the same in her own Americana/country sphere.
Continue reading “Album Review: Mary Chapin Carpenter, Julie Fowlis and Karine Polwart – Looking for the Thread “
After a disappointing week for women in country music, what fans need is some new, young fresh blood, someone who has a bit of spark, personality and who can restore some faith in the future of the genre. Enter Willow Avalon with her new album Southern Belle, Raisin’ Hell.
Continue reading “Album Review: Willow Avalon – Southern Belle, Raisin’ Hell”
