At first blush, Whiskey Myers’ “Ballad of a Southern Man” has the makings of a country checklist song. Then something interesting happens.

Soul Asylum is back following a six-year gap between projects, the last of which was completed by Dave Pirner and Co. as bassist Karl Mueller succumbed to cancer. Tommy Stinson (who, while with the Replacements, was a labelmate of Soul Asylum’s at Twin Tone) filled in on some of theRead More

Mortality and the very, very thin line between life and death, those ideas quietly rumble just beneath the surface on most of The River‘s more serious tracks. You May Also Like: Mortality – ‘Mortality’ (2021)

The Dukes of September gave middle-aged and empty-nesters another good reason to get out of the house and see a rock concert.

Meet the Ripe, a Texas band, whose debut album Into Your Ears affirms they are a serious force to be reckoned with. The band’s music reminds me of a stew pot. You May Also Like: Peter Brotzmann + Heather Leigh – Ears Are Filled With Wonder (2016)

“Green Flower Street” always reminds me of the similarly titled “Green Dolphin Street,” a song from the 1947 Lana Turner movie of the same name that Miles Davis turned in into a jazz standard when he first recorded it in the late 50s. You May Also Like: Donald Fagen, “TheRead More

Perhaps best known as the leader of the now-defunct band Squirrel Nut Zippers, Jimbo Mathus is returns with a raw, ambitious six-song EP. Moving from stomping Southern rock (“Blue Light”) to dirt-road garage rock (“Haunted John”) to Stones-y white blues (“Fucked Up World”), then back again to a gospel-soaked countryRead More

Fallon Cush takes a darker, more contemplative turn with April, after the fizzy power pop of its self-titled 2011 debut. That difference in tone is readily apparent from the first, as the opener “It’s a Line” jangles out with a classically Lennon-ish whine You May Also Like: The Largely ForgottenRead More

One of the characteristics shared by most of my favorite jazz musicians is versatility. They have “big ears” in their musical interests as well as in their playing environments. You May Also Like: Dave Douglas, Uri Caine + Andrew Cyrille – ‘Devotion’ (2019)

Saxophone sage Matt Garrison (not to be confused with bassist Matthew Garrison) recently made his second album, Blood Songs, and for truly talented musicians on an upward trajectory, that sophomore effort is often where the big growth occurs. You May Also Like: Jack DeJohnette, with Ravi Coltrane and Matthew GarrisonRead More