Category The Basics

Hardworker — Go Alone

The Durham, NC band Hardworker is drawn some comparison to the Alabama Shakes and, let me tell you, it’s well-deserved. Hardworker delivers blistering rock that delivers equal parts Muscle Shoals and Laurel Canyon. Take the Wild Reeds and turn the…

Evan Bartels — The Devil, God, And Me

It’s interesting to notice trends across the thousands of songs that come my way in a given month. For example, there was a minute where everyone’s album covers were composite illustrations of tiny images associated with each song on the…

The Hollering Pines — Mansion of Heartbreak

The Hollering Pines call their sophomore album a collection of “worried songs for worried times.” And while it’s not surprising that I’d write about music with an underpinning of anxiety, that’s not necessarily what I’d call Mansion of Heartbreak. Certainly…

Max Garcia Conover — Motorhome

If you’re like me, once you hear the premise for this album you’re probably going to think “Oh, boy…” There are lots of young songwriters out there who take themselves off on a trip to find themselves and inspiration. They…

Top 10 of 2017

I’m not generally a late sleeper, but for this past week off I’ve slept til noon pretty much every day. I think that has a lot to say about how this year was for me. Unlike 2016, this year was…