a music blog
Earlier this year Rachel Baiman previewed some of these songs during her set at Celtic Connections, and on the strength of that performance I’ve been looking forward to hearing this new album ever since. ‘Common Nation of Sorrow’ offers thoughtful, state of the world folk music – a rallying call to unite against the suffering caused by economic and political oppression.
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With her twangy voice and tattoos, Elle King fits perfectly into a particular type of country music: the rock and roll inspired style perfected by Miranda Lambert and taken up by Ashley McBryde in most recent years. Having made her name with a catchy pop song or two, Elle made successful guest appearances on mainstream country songs and has now made the full leap over to the genre with this recent album ‘Come Get Your Wife’.
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This past week has seen Kentucky native Brit Taylor making her debut on the Grand Ole Opry stage, a lifetime ambition realised for this hardworking songwriter who moved to Nashville sixteen years ago. The album which has propelled her to these new heights is ‘Kentucky Blue’, thirty three minutes of stylish classic country, co-produced by Sturgill Simpson no less.
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More than most in the music industry, Iris DeMent is a thinker. Her musical output is slower than most, not because of indifference, but because she makes sure she has something worthy to share with the listener first. Of these songs on her new album ‘Workin’ on a World’ Iris has said: “Not everybody’s going to get them, but there’s people that get them – and they need them.”
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To stray is to go off the beaten path, wandering without a home, scratching survival on your own terms.
No surprise then that Margo Price would name her new album ‘Strays’, since she has embraced that identity since the beginning of her career. In her recent memoir Maybe We’ll Make It she underlined how hard she’d worked to remain a stray – to never compromise the vision she had for her music.
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Original Christmas songs and albums are becoming harder to find, with so many artists finding the opportunity to sing classics too hard to resist. Who can blame them, after all, since these holiday songs are etched on our collective memories. Last year Pistol Annies released an album of mainly originals but that is rare.
Norah Jones’s ‘I Dream of Christmas’ was actually released last year, although I didn’t have a chance to listen to it then, so I was glad to see this deluxe re-release came just in time when I was looking for a new Christmas album to review. The edition includes six original songs written by Norah, alongside seasonal favourites sung in her classic jazz inspired sound.
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Miko Marks’s last release ‘Our Country’ was a welcome return for an artist who had suffered setbacks in her country music career, never finding the opportunities or success her talent deserved. That album was a classic mix of country, soul and gospel influences showcasing an artist who had renewed hope for a late career resurrection.
Continue reading “Album Review: Miko Marks & the Resurrectors – Feel Like Going Home”
In her first album of new music since the career defining exploration of her musical heritage that was Musas Vol 1 & 2 and her passion project Un Canto Por Mexico Vol 1 & Volume 2, Natalia Lafourcade cements her status as one of the most vital voices in Latin roots music.
Continue reading “Album Review: Natalia Lafourcade – De Todas Las Flores”
We last heard First Aid Kit in ‘Ruins’ an album full of heartbreak songs that weighed so heavily on the band they ended their last touring schedule completely burnt out. After a much needed break they’re back with ‘Palomino’, recorded during the pandemic and produced by Daniel Bengston with some songwriting assistance from Bjorn Yttling. The horse of the title is a symbol of strength and freedom, signalling that the positive changes in their recent personal lives will be reflected in the new music (much like the other album of the same name released this year).
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Highway Queens 