Listen to my favorite tracks off each album on my Spotify or Tidal playlists! Updated weekly with all the best new country, Americana, and whatever else I feel like — this is music like your life depends on it.
Andrew Bryant — Prodigal
In a moment when bloodthirsty Zionists are causing me to once again question my relationship with my own faith, Andrew Bryant’s Prodigal hits hard. Bryant’s relentlessly introspective Americana is soothing and reflective, sitting somewhere between John Moreland and Glossary. We find Bryant questioning the more toxic elements of the church, even as he finds comfort and nourishment for it. At the end, Bryant has to recreate things for himself, and if that’s not a parable for American life in this day and age, I don’t know what is.
Terry Klein — Leave the Light On
Klein displays his wildly creative storytelling on Leave the Light On. We’ve got your standard cast of characters: hard-working folks for whom life fell a little short. But what you don’t typically get are acoustic ballads with graceful violins about the travails of working as a hitman (“Well Enough Alone”), swooning cosmic love songs (“Oh Melissa”), and the intimacy of the night before the wedding (“Wedding Night Eve.”) Klein’s writing is immediate and comfortable, the voice of a person you’d like to spend time with for a while.
The Resonant Rogues — Self-Titled
The Resonant Rogues add a fresh take on old-time with their new self-titled album. There’s no question the duo — Sparrow and Keith Josiah Smith — fit into each other like puzzle pieces. What makes this album stand out is the sense that this music has been lived in — Smith’s time hopping trains and the pair’s logging hours in Nashville and New Orleans are immediately obvious here. These old-time sounds aren’t cosplay; they’re deeply-felt, illustrating the value of hard work and persevering through hard times.
Dori Freeman — Do You Recall
Dori Freeman does not hold back at all in Do You Recall. The Gallax, VA lifer has gracefully swung between traditional music, indie rock, and now, an intoxicating blend of both that showcases her picking — and point-blank lyrics. This is an album of Freeman’s personal struggles — as well as venting her rage at the struggles of her Applachian home. “Soup Beans Milk and Bread” is a devastating takedown of the extraction of wealth from the region that certain redheads could take notes from, while “Why Do I Do This To Myself” reckons with motherhood and the life of a working artist. Freeman deftly shows how the personal is political on this catchy and powerful set of songs.
Pete Mancini & Rich Lanahan — Silent Troubadour: The Songs of Gene Clark
Of the two songwriters on this collection, I’m most familiar with Pete Mancini. Mancini’s music is certainly rooted in Laurel Canyon’s high lonesomeness, a jangle rock throwback to when nuclear war seemed like our biggest problem — though that may be on the table again. Rich Lanahan breathes an earthiness into his renditions of Gene Clark’s music. Clark, a founding member of the Byrds, left this mortal coil too soon, and the desolation interpretations Mancini and Lanahan provide of his music amply demonstrates why he should not be forgotten.
