It’s hard to say which caught my attention first: Jackie Venson’s guitar playing or her gorgeous voice. But at the end of the day, it’s Venson’s songwriting chops that take the prize. While Venson’s specialty is her blues guitar, her…
The cover art on William Pilgrim’s new album shows Will and PM Romero — both men of color — getting beaten by white cops. It’s a chillingly prescient photo given current events, but the fact is it’s a fact of…
While the title of the album sounds bleak and high-concept, Bee Caves is neither of those things. “Running Home to You” and “Black Mason Hills” are probably the most radio-friendly tracks on here, and they were the friendliest to my…
A few seconds of Rick Hart’s warm, honey-sweet voice will get you hooked. He also knows how to play to his strengths. A singer-songwriter in the tradition of the folk greats of the ’60s and ’70s, all of Hart’s songs…
I’ll admit that this time I judged the book by its cover. The Tinkerbelles’ definitely have a knack for packaging. Apparently the cover folds out, MAD-magazine style. Excellent. That weird, subversive sensibility has made its way into the band’s music…