“I have my own life, and I am stronger than you know.” Those are lyrics from “Leather and Lace,” a song from Stevie Nicks’ solo debut in 1981, which she performed
“That’s why I don’t ever want to do guitar interviews or anything, because I just don’t know what I’m doing…I don’t have some sort of a plan, I think it just
The name of Taylor Swift’s post-pandemic comeback tour is self-explanatory. How each of us got here is another story. We all have our own tale to tell (that we know
It’s summer, so you might guess that Sunshine Collective should have something good for your ears. And yeah, it’s true, their first album, Wanna Play?, is all you need for a sunny day.
When Sam Quinn was 19, he met Jill Andrews at a summer camp. Quinn played the guitar, and Andrews sang Gram Parsons with him; little did they know, it was the beginning of the everybodyfields, the band Quinn and Andrews built up from glorious dreams of hot summer days
I am assured that peace will come to me,” Josh Ritter sings on “Lark,” a song that channels his inner Paul Simon on his newest album, So Runs the World Away. Before Ritter penned these tunes, the songwriter from Idaho suffered a case of writer’s block, but you can’t tell that he was struggling on his fifth full-length; because on these 13 tracks, Ritter sounds better than ever.
These days, Cary Brothers has his own independent label and a wonderful new album, Under Control. As you might have guessed, it’s a personal batch of songs dealing with loss and breaking free. It’s Cary Brothers as himself, the real artist—the one who set out to “very intentionally make a record that you could put on and listen to beginning to end.”
“What I’d give for that hat to be medicine.” To me, that is the quintessential Jay Farrar lyric. It’s poetic. It’s direct. It’s something that could mean anything.
I bought my first Bob Dylan album in San Antonio, Texas, in November of 1993. I had taken a train there from Springfield, Illinois with my dad and my brother—a ride that lasted 26 hours each way. We traveled to watch NAIA soccer, you know, the usual things a family does over Thanksgiving. Needless to say, we weren’t the usual family.
Tori Amos has made a career out of being unordinary, and most of her albums are better because of this fact. Here on Midwinter Graces, she’s still giving a max effort, it’s just that not much stands out. The holiday-themed album has a nice overall feel and flow, but it’s probably best served for background music at a party, something that can’t be said of any of Amos’ prior work. If you’re an Amos completist, by all means, get your copy—just don’t expect the magic you’re used to.
