Tag: americana

Album Review: Brennen Leigh – Don’t You Ever Give Up On Love

When the Grammys recently introduced a ‘Traditonal Country Album’ one of the artists who came straight to my mind was Brennen Leigh. She has regularly played at Robert’s Western World in Nashville, has a brilliant trio with Melissa Carper and Kelly Willis called Wonder Women of Country and just seems to perfectly encapsulate the vintage style of country music which gets unfairly overlooked by the mainstream.

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Album Review: Mavis Staples – Sad & Beautiful World

One of the joys of blogging has been the chance to celebrate older artists like Mavis Staples who are still out here, in their 80s, singing and spreading the good word of peace, love and understanding. On her new album ‘Sad & Beautiful World’ she brings together a collection of songs which she says are ‘part of me and what I’ve been singing about my whole life.’

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Album Review: Margo Price – Hard Headed Woman

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. 

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Album Review – Kathleen Edwards: Billionaire 

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. 

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Live Review: Ashley Monroe & Fancy Hagood @ St Luke’s, Glasgow 25/08/25

In celebration of her new album ‘Tennessee Lightning’ the gorgeous Ashley Monroe returned to play Glasgow, sharing the billing with her friend Fancy Hagood for the evening. With Scotland basking in the late summer sun the talented pairing brought a little Southern charm and positive healing light to the St Luke’s stage. 

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Album Review: Ashley Monroe – Tennessee Lightning 

Opening her new album with the stark and almost eerie refrain of ‘I’m gonna run’ you might think this is going to be an album of darkness, especially after Ashley Monroe’s recent experience of cancer.

However from that opening song on ‘Tennessee Lighting’ we hear a different story – she’s looking not to share her suffering but to escape from the pain and search for love.

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Album Review: Patty Griffin – Crown of Roses

A few years back the Spotify executive Daniel Ek stated, “You can’t record music once every three to four years and think that’s going to be enough. The artists today that are making it realise that it’s about creating a continuous engagement with their fans.” While that might be true for newer pop artists, classic singer songwriters like Patty Griffin aren’t afraid of defying the attention economy. The six year gap between her last release and this new one ‘Crown of Roses’ just shows us this is a quietly thoughtful and considerate artist who comes from another, better, era of music listening. 

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Album Review: Cash & Skye – Just a Stranger

Recently I stumbled across this album ‘Just a Stranger’ released earlier this year by Henri Cash from Starcrawler and Sophia Skye de Reeder, daughter of Pierre from Rilo Kiley (who also co-produced the record with Henri). The picture on the cover makes them look like the children of Jack White and Jenny Lewis and their sound isn’t far from that ideal mix either. The duo are fresh from supporting Rilo Kiley on some of their comeback shows.

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