[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I6TEcqDkTS0&w=500&h=305] This list is necessarily all over the map. Heck, in a lot of respects, there’s no map at all. You’ll find it in tatters down on the passenger-side floorboard. Delving into unsigned bands is like that. You May Also Like: David Sancious: The Albums That Shaped My CareerRead More

Returning with another batch of tastefully shimmering, open and revealing pop, Haley Dreis doesn’t swerve from the ready-made template of her recent recordings on Lady with a Rocket, so much as tinker around the edges. You May Also Like: Thrift Store Halo – ‘Pop-Rocket’ (2017): On Second Thought

Speaking from the heart is one thing, but to sing from that tender place — to reveal just how vulnerable you are on stage — takes a different kind of courage. And Haley Dreis, the South Carolina classical fiddle player turned budding popular songsmith, has that courage. You May AlsoRead More

by Nick DeRiso Let’s get this admission out of the way: Picking the best of 2010’s unsigned treasures is like trying to determine your favorite grain of sand. There are far too many, really, to make any reasonable guess — and the whole time you’re walking around with a bucketRead More

Photograph by Clayton Bozard by Nick DeRiso Haley Dreis likes to fiddle with expectations. You wouldn’t expect a classically trained violinist to dabble in pop music. And you wouldn’t expect the self-confident nuance of “All For You” from someone who only began writing mainstream songs three years ago. Yet sheRead More