‘Complicated Game,’ James McMurtry’s first album in seven years, finds his narrative rigor once again in sharp focus.

Bob Wayne, Sturgill Simpson, Whiskey Myers and Whitey Morgan are included in Fred Phillips’ Best of 2014 list for country and Southern rock.

Sometimes, as with the title track to Whitey Morgan’s new album ‘Grandpa’s Guitar,’ a song just hits you right where you live.

If you’re riding with Jack White, you’d best buckle up. He’s going to take more sharp turns in one album than most artists dare in a career.

You might expect a rootsy track called “21+” to focus on hell raising in a fictional saloon. Butch Walker does something different.

Steve Cropper grew up around the sounds he was asked to play during a memorable ‘Blues Brothers’ segment at a country bar. That wasn’t the issue.

Lucinda Williams’ ‘Down Where the Spirit Meets the Bone’ is an expection to the rule of double albums being full of filler. This one is all killer.

Willie Nelson’s presence here means a debt has finally been repaid.

Two albums into his solo career, Sturgill Simpson remains one of the most interesting characters in country music.

White’s “old, yet new” vibe again has him brilliantly mixing seemingly unrelated styles.