“Who is Ben Atkins? I’m still trying to figure that one out. I probably always will be,” writes Texas songwriter Richie Bates. “As an artist, he’s always evolving and working on something new. Whether it’s rebuilding guitars and amps, painting,…
There’s not much information about there concerning Asheville, NC’s M.J. Lenderman. Perhaps he thinks his music should speak for himself — and it does. On “Left Your Smile,” the 6-minute ballad unfurls into an epic outpouring of grief. I…
The 70s are back in a big way — fashion, music, drugs. But I feel one thing that’s lacking is the swagger. That is absolutely not the case on The Local Strangers’ “Not Missing.” It’s the single off their third…
The first thing that jumped out at me about Lucy Isabel’s Rambling Stranger is its sense of adventure. Isabel truly embodies the full sense of Americana — no two songs here are exactly the same. Isabel glides between bar band…
Nothing well ever convince me that the song “Girl Crush” is about someone who….wants to be the woman that her dude crush is dating? The fuck? Straight people, are you ok???? But there’s certainly a lot of gray area between…