Music Review: Levi Petree, It’s Country
Published on March 3rd, 2017 in: Americana, Country Music, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews, Singer/Songwriters |
Levi Petree’s debut album is called It’s Country, but it isn’t. It’s a delicious melange of things that might fit neatly under the Americana umbrella: pastoral balladry, kick-ass stompers, folksy sunniness, and more than a little punk-rock snarl. They come together to make a debut that is strong and assured, with loads of personality.
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Music Review: Cass McCombs, Mangy Love
Published on August 26th, 2016 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews, Singer/Songwriters |By Tyler Hodg
Cass McCombs is the type of songwriter that most of his peers probably wished they were; his latest work, Mangy Love, is a dulcet-toned, yet impactful album worthy of envy. The California musician is able to accomplish the near-impossible feat of composing tracks that are smooth, subdued, and buoyant at the same time. The line between compelling and uninspired is often thin and full of soft jams, but McCombs makes the distance seem like an eternity—and he’s undoubtedly on the more entertaining side.
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Music Review: Ryley Walker, Golden Sings That Have Been Sung
Published on August 19th, 2016 in: Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Singer/Songwriters |
The Ryley Walker that brought to mind frolicking in sun-dappled fields on his last album, Primrose Green, has vacated those fields. His latest, Golden Sings That Have Been Sung, moves past his love to 1960s and ’70s British folkies (though the occasional field is still dappled in sun) and embraces a more “whole band” approach, throwing in unexpected instrumentation and taking his experimental playing even further. His unbelievable finger-picking is still there, but it’s come with friends this time.
Music Review: Robbie Fulks, Upland Stories
Published on April 1st, 2016 in: Americana, Current Faves, Music, Music Reviews, Reviews, Singer/Songwriters |
There’s a strong vein of Southern literacy that thrums through Robbie Fulks’s Upland Stories. The characters in these songs tread the same ground as Hazel Motes or Rufus Follet. They tell their stories with graceful turns of phrase and through Fulks’s wonderful twangy tenor: sometimes high lonesome, sometimes quietly, just in your ear.
Music Review: Grant-Lee Phillips, The Narrows
Published on March 17th, 2016 in: Americana, Music, Music Reviews, New Music, Singer/Songwriters |
It behooves every writer who will review Grant-Lee Phillips’ new album The Narrows to mention that he was Stars Hollow’s beloved Troubadour on Gilmore Girls, so I will also mention it. I will also mention that Gilmore Girls is being rebooted for Netflix (as most everyone with an Internet connection will know) and that Grant-Lee Phillips will be returning to sing songs on the street corners of Stars Hollow and annoy Taylor Dosey.