Mar 27

Mar 27 Review- Cat Ridgeway: Sprinter

The heart and soul of Cat Ridgeway’s new album is tattooed on her right forearm. It’s an image of a check engine light, the dashboard indicator that there’s something wrong, maybe seriously wrong, with your vehicle’s engine.

On Ridgeway’s arm – and on that album, Sprinter – it’s a tribute to a good friend who lost her battle with mental health and a reminder not to ignore the warning signs in yourself or others.

That metaphor animates the title track, which kicks off the album with a blizzard of buzzing guitars before settling into a bass-led lope of a tale about a person who seems to have it together, but maybe not quite. It builds to a cathartic, anguished wail: “Were you just too proud? / Was I just too loud?” And then a regretful coda: “I wish you reached out, and I wish I had reached in.”

Mar 13

Mar 13 Review- Jason Boland & The Stragglers: The Last Kings of Babylon

Derek Scudder

The last time Jason Boland tried to celebrate a career milestone the pandemic shut down the 20th Anniversary tour, scheduled to celebrate the release of his debut Pearl Snaps record. He took advantage of that downtime to write and record his sci-fi concept album The Light Saw Me, then released a live album recorded at the venerable Cain’s Ballroom in Tulsa. Now, it’s time for another landmark date in the history of the Stragglers and it arrives on March 14th via Thirty Tigers. The Last Kings of Babylon celebrates a quarter-century of Red Dirt excellence by one of the cornerstones of the genre. Jason describes the record as “a mirror, a retrospective, a reflection of everywhere we’ve been and everything we’ve learned over the last 25 years on the road.”

Feb 28

Feb 28 Review- Will Stewart: Moon Winx

Derek Scudder

Back in the 1960s before home football games, coach Bear Bryant wanted to get his University of Alabama team away from any distractions on campus. He would load the team onto buses and take them to the Moon Winx Lodge. It was a 36-room motel in the eastern part of Tuscaloosa which happened to be one of the most modern motels in the region and located on the old main road into town. The team would enjoy a steak dinner at the on-site Lamplighter restaurant before turning in for the night. Saturdays would feature a bit of a parade as the team traveled back across town to the campus stadium with the locals lining the street to cheer on their beloved Tide.

Feb 27

Feb 27 Review- Sean McConnell: SKIN

Morgan Davis

For his latest solo album, Sean McConnell took an intimate look at his life and the world around him. The eleven songs that make up SKIN are the result of both self-reflection and careful observation. They are revealing. They are honest. And, even though they are deeply personal songs, they are relatable.

The album will hit close to home for many of us, starting with the title track “SKIN” and the bittersweet revelation that the answers to life’s questions come from inside ourselves. Powerful lines like “there’s no peace without if there’s a war within” and “the greatest lie the devil tells is that he is someone else” are reminders that we are often our own worst enemy.

Feb 20

Feb 20 Review- Tony Logue: Dark Horse

Derek Scudder

“Southern Rock n Roll” is the ready answer from Tony Logue when asked what kind of music he plays. He lays it out plainly in the lyrics to “Grindstone” from his new album Dark Horse released on February 21st; “Wood on steel and blood on bone/A black .45 and a stale microphone/The swampland boogies and the Heartland rocks/While the boys in the band are tickin’ like a clock/Southern Rock and Roll.” His band is named The 184 after the local Plumbers & Steamfitters Union in Paducah, Kentucky. It’s a nod both to the hard-working attitude of the group and to the years Logue spent on the job as a card-carrying member of that organization. It’s that same grind-it-out mentality still driving Tony every day. Dark Horse will be his third full length release since Jericho debuted in 2022 then followed with The Crumbs the next year each featuring a set of originals told from a blue-collar perspective.

Feb 18

Feb 18 Review- Cristina Vane : Hear My Call

Derek Scudder

“A rock kid who is obsessed with old music” is one way Cristina Vane describes her distinctive sound built around her command of several instruments and confidence as a singer. The release of Hear My Call on February 21st marks her third full-length release since 2021 and reinforces Cristina’s place as a singer/songwriter with serious chops who is also a badass guitarist. Vane has a backstory that begins in Italy before a childhood in England and France and includes a half-American/half-Guatemalan heritage. Her musical roots may be classic rock, 90s Indie, and heavier rock but that is tempered by her passion for country and bluegrass, old time fiddle and banjo music, and pre-war blues tunes. “When it came to the album, I wanted it to be a reflection of who I am, not just of the old music that I’ve come to love,” she explains, “After being exposed to all of this music that was foreign to me, I am slowly figuring out how to find my own voice within it. It is the sound of growing up.”

Jan 16

Jan 16 Review- Willow Avalon: Southern Belle Raisin' Hell

Derek Scudder

She doesn’t sound like anybody else most people have heard of. That might be a problem for some, but Willow Avalon sounds a little like quite a few fantastic singer/songwriters across several genres. On Southern Belle Raisin’ Hell she uses her childhood in Georgia as the root for a selection of songs featuring her distinctive vocals in a variety of settings, but all coming from the center of a girl in the South. “I’ve got my mama’s mouth and my daddy’s drawl” might be more than just a clever line from the title track; Willow’s father is Jim White who happens to be another singer that doesn’t sound like anybody else most people have heard of. I asked him how much his genetics may be involved in Willow’s talent and Jim made it clear “she gets at least as much of her musical talent from her mom's side of the family as from anything from my end of the equation--her grandmom and two great aunts were incredible singers.” They were talented enough for Jim to have featured them singing “Knoxville Girl” in his film Searching for the Wrong-Eyed Jesus. Now based out of New York, Willow plays, writes and produces her music alongside a small group of collaborators.

Dec 27

Dec 27 Review- Justin Bloss: Claymore

Derek Scudder

Justin Bloss has been playing the dive bars and tiny clubs around Tulsa for nearly twenty years with only a handful of releases that might give the rest of the world a hint at the genius that the locals have known for quite some time.

Dec 12

Dec 12 Review- Ben Chapman: Downbeat

Morgan Davis

Downbeat is Ben Chapman’s third full length album, following Make the Night Better from 2022 and last year’s Amber Sound, Vol. 1, and it gives a fresh look at the singer/songwriter from Lafayette, GA. If the songs feel real and personal, it’s because they are. They come from his own life experiences and observations of the music business, both the victories and the losses.

Nov 4

Nov 4 Review- Zachary Lucky: The Wind

Jolene Horihan

Oct 24

Oct 24 Review- Buffalo Wabs & The Price Hill Hustle: Self-Titled

Ryan Bush

It’s the type of tunes that you can hear the hardwood creak beneath the rocking chair. You taste the smoke from burning tobacco, feel the warmth of that Kentucky elixir spilling against your throat. Every note, a boot stomp in time to the lick of the banjo, heart bouncing with the tug of bass. The dust and dirt jumping from the floorboards to the kick of the drum - all, crashing into a chaotic symphony of folk mastery. Needless to say, Buffalo Wabs & The Price Hill Hustle don’t create the emotion - they are the emotion.

Oct 10

Oct 10 Review- Taylor Hunnicutt: With All Due Respect

Derek Scudder

You know what follows is probably going to be something you don’t want to hear from somebody that has no business saying it. Saying “With all due respect…” seems to give some folks the green light to point out something grossly inappropriate or downright rude. Taylor Hunnicutt says she has taken the feeling of hearing that phrase and used it to fuel her passion, “the tone of this whole EP lies with the idea of just being done with this shit.”

Oct 4

Oct 4 Review- Willie Watson: Self-Titled

John Carpenter

One song into his solo set at AmericanaFest, Willie Watson mentioned his new album and heard an indecipherable shout from the back of the room, something few performers appreciate.

Sep 19

Sep 19 Review- Midland: Barely Blue

Noah Johnson

After years of hard work, sacrifice, and iteration; three amigos living in the hill country east of Austin, Texas in 2016 made a strategic, hard-fought entry into the arena of country music with a collection of recordings titled On The Rocks. The band, Midland, went on to earn commercial success through the irresistible hits of that record (e.g., “Burn Out,” “Drinking Problem”) whilst touring relentlessly with credible deep cuts and covers to back them up. Following up their debut with subsequent releases of the LP’s Let it Roll in 2019 and The Last Resort: Greetings From in 2021, Midland has made a name for itself as being a band that carries the flag forward for traditional country in a distinctly modern, soulful delivery. The collection of references and influences to artists like Gary Stewart, Keith Whitley, the Eagles, and countless more laced throughout the music alludes to the band’s namesake, which comes from a Dwight Yoakam song.

Aug 22

Aug 22 Review- India Ramey: Baptized by the Blaze

John Schumacher

Baptized by the Blaze, the new album by outlaw country firebrand India Ramey, hits the ground at a full gallop and barely stops for a breath over 30-plus blazing, twanging minutes. It’s a rousing blend of honky-tonk brash-and-sass, by turns invigorating and healing, exploring themes of rebirth, redemption and just plain kicking ass.

The album brims with hard-won wisdom. Ramey has walked through the fire since her previous album, 2020’s excellent Shallow Graves. Just about the time that album was released, Ramey began reckoning with a long-term addiction to the tranquilizer Klonopin. She had been self-medicating for years to deal with trauma. Finally, she sought professional help to deal with the addiction and the underlying trauma.

Aug 16

Aug 16 Review -Muscadine Bloodline: The Coastal Plain

Derek Scudder

Muscadine Bloodline will release their fourth full-length record August 16 on Stancaster Records via Thirty Tigers, but The Coastal Plain will represent the Mobile, Alabama-based group’s second release with a clearer sense of identity. “In a lot of ways our last record felt like it was our first record, in terms of knowing exactly what direction we needed to take our music,” said Gary Stanton, one half of the duo along with Charlie Muncaster, referring to 2023’s critically praised Teenage Dixie, “With this new album we wanted to narrow the lens even further and create a refined and more adventurous version of that.”

Jul 26

Jul 26 Review- The Red Clay Strays: Made by These Moments

Derek Scudder

Two years ago, the Red Clay Strays had just released their crowdfunded debut album after playing together for about six years. They were mostly playing at the same venues as they had been, but now appearing in bigger print on more festival posters and still getting from show to show in “Breezy,” their old white minibus. They embarked on their first nationwide headlining tour with a custom bus and began to sell out venues along the way. Then “Wondering Why,” a single from Moment of Truth, went viral spending a week at #1 on Spotify’s Viral 50 USA Playlist and six consecutive weeks at #1 on the Americana Singles chart. It also cracked the all-genre Billboard Hot 100, top 10 on the Hot Rock Songs chart, and Top 20 on both the AAA and Hot Country Songs charts. Things will never be the same. Fast forward to July 26, 2024, and the band is set to release their second studio album titled Made by These Moments on RCA Records, produced by the legendary Dave Cobb and recorded at his studio in Savannah, Georgia.

Jul 18

Jul 18 Review- Melissa Carper: Borned In Ya

John Schumacher

There’s an easy musicality to Melissa Carper. It feels as if her soul is so steeped in music that she could pluck a tune out of the sky, Willie Nelson-like, anytime she wants.

So, it seems like the title track of her new album, Borned in Ya, could be her origin story. The phrase is a quote from bluegrass legend Ralph Stanley, who answered a question about old-time mountain music by saying, “I don’t really think you can get this sound unless it’s borned in ya.”

Jul 15

Jul 15 Review - Johnny Blue Skies: Passage Du Desir

Bill Goodman

After three years, Sturgill Simpson has returned with a new album. Sorta. Sturgill mentioned for years that he had a five album plan and when he was done with that, he was done. He’s kept his word as everything he’s released since 2021’s Dood & Juanita has been under the Johnny Blue Skies moniker with the exception of the song “All The Gold in California” which he used his character’s name, Brother Marshall, from the TV series The Righteous Gemstones.

Passage Du Desir is no different. The Johnny Blue Skies name first appeared in the liner notes of Sturgill’s 2016 Grammy Award winning A Sailor’s Guide to Earth. If one were to compare this album to any of his previous output, Sailor’s Guide would be the closest, minus the brass section. Sturgill Simpson fans are going to love this. Anyone looking for a traditional country album is going to be disappointed; though there are a few bright spots in that category. All in all, there’s something here for everyone.

Jul 3

Jul 3 Review- Boulevards: Carolina Funk

John Carpenter

Jamil Rashad calls Boulevards - the moniker he performs under - a cosmic soul artist. But from where I sit, his latest release is still digging up a hip-shaking mother lode of old school funk.

Carolina Funk: Barn Burner of Tobacco Road, his fifth studio album, is a worthy follow-up to his critically acclaimed 2022 long player, and finds the North Carolina native still wandering in the platform-shoe footsteps of giants like George Clinton and Leroy “Sugarfoot” Bonner.

If the groove fits, keep wearing it.

This is physical music that dares you to listen and not move. But, it also continues Rashad’s introspection with deep-in-the-mix lyrics exploring both love and recovery. (2022’s Electric Cowboy: Born in the Carolina Mud, was his fourth studio album, but the first he made sober.)