a music blog
Earlier this year I was lucky enough to catch Kelsey Waldon supporting Margo Price at Celtic Connections festival, where she previewed this brilliant new album of bluegrass and old time music called ‘There’s Always a Song’.
Continue reading “Album Review: Kelsey Waldon – There’s Always a Song”
On Lizzie No’s debut album, Hard Won, she showcased her talents as a harp playing folk singer with something to say and she then built on that foundation with her second record Vanity, creating a more ambitious, rockier sound. Her new record Halfsies is released in conjunction with Americana label Thirty Tigers, which is fitting since Lizzie has been a vocal advocate for more black women in country and folk music. Halfsies is a fantastic record which blends those genres along with some intriguing indie rock influences.
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For her fifth album ‘Do You Recall?’ Dori Freeman has once more worked in collaboration with her husband Nicholas Falk as producer, offering us an intimate collection of new songs about love, life and the struggles of the modern world. The picture on the cover of the record echoes the soft-focus style of alternative Americana that she has perfected over the course of her career.
Continue reading “Album Review: Dori Freeman – Do You Recall?”
Jaime Wyatt’s last album Neon Cross was an authentically raw tale of her recovery from addiction and the grit that it takes to walk the line towards redemption and renewal. Pleasing then that she looks so happy and healthy on the cover of her positively titled new album ‘Feel Good’.
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After an unfortunately timed illness led to some of this tour being cancelled, Iris DeMent admitted to the Glasgow crowd that she was probably ‘happier to see you than you to are to see me.’ What followed was an evening of hopeful songs that powerfully cut through the political despair of our times.
Continue reading “Live Review: Iris DeMent & Ana Egge @ Glasgow Royal Concert Hall 31/10/23”
Here’s a new album for any drifters, daydreamers and seekers out there. Victoria Bailey sounds like an old world-weary cowgirl, searching through song for answers to the big questions of love and life. ‘A Cowgirl Rides On’ is a collection of stunning songs surely meant to be sung outside under endless starry skies.
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Rhiannon Giddens understands her musical and cultural heritage more than any other contemporary artist in Americana music. She devotes attention to the musicians of the past like Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Nina Simone, Patsy Cline, Dolly Parton and beyond. Her previous collaborations with Francesco Turrisi and Our Native Daughters have wrestled with the dark heart of America’s past and its impact on the present.
‘You’re the One’ takes a step towards a different kind of light, consisting of twelve original tracks of uplifting and diverse Americana, played with verve and vivacity.
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Last year the native Texan Jess Williamson joined Katie Crutchfield to form the duo Plains, together releasing an album of gorgeous windswept indie folk which perfectly showcased her romantic, yearning vocals.
Her new record Time Ain’t Accidental continues in that same vein, offering us a softer take on a break-up record, sounding more like the exhalation breath of freedom rather than the howl of despair.
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Brought up on bluegrass and folk music by her musical parents 22 year old Canadian songwriter Bella White is already releasing her second album, which is maybe not surprising considering she’s a precocious talent who wrote her first song aged 7. Her debut album was self-released in 2020 and led to her signing for Rounder records. She recorded this new collection ‘Among Other Things’ with producer Jonathan Wilson (who has been working with many Americana-leaning artists lately like Erin Rae, Margo Price and Angel Olsen).
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Highway Queens 