a music blog
Produced by the wonderful M Ward, this new album Owls, Omens & Oracles by Valerie June continues her expansive, original musical journey. Blending a distinctive voice with a wide-eyed joyful, hippy take on life there just isn’t another artist out there doing this kind of slightly mystical, off-beat musical style.
Continue reading “Album Review: Valerie June – Owls, Omens & Oracles “
After bringing Tanya Tucker and Joni Mitchell back from the dead, Brandi Carlile has done it again. This time she has revived Elton John, who after a triumphant Glastonbury had declared himself exhausted and retired (from touring anyway). Here with Brandi’s help, he sings using every ounce of what voice he has left and sounds like a man reborn.
But this isn’t an Elton John album produced by Brandi Carlile. Elton has done something important for Brandi in return – he has humbly let her take the lead across much of the album, sharing the spotlight and the billing. The results are powerful and moving.
Continue reading “Album Review: Brandi Carlile & Elton John – Who Believes in Angels?”
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.’
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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.
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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.
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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”
Highway Queens 