Tag: country

  • Spencer Burton – North Wind LP

    Spencer Burton – North Wind LP

    Spencer Burton North Wind LP (Dine Alone Records) Since going solo in 2010 with Grey Kingdom (his project following the first lapse in Attack In Black’s activity), there’s no question that Spencer Burton has successfully developed an excellent and unique authoritative voice both as a singer and songwriter – but the greatest surprises have come…

  • Kane Brown – Different Man 2LP

    Kane Brown – Different Man 2LP

    Kane Brown Ordinary Man 2LP (RCA/Sony Music) It doesn’t take long, after one begins listening to Kane Brown’s Different Man LP, to realize that the artist is most definitely onto something here that might end up changing everything – if it has a chance. True, country music has been surrounding and absorbing every other type…

  • Luke Combs – Growin’ Up LP

    Luke Combs – Growin’ Up LP

    Luke Combs Growin’ Up LP (River House/Columbia/Sony Music) I confess that it took a few days of listening to Luke Combs’ third album, Growin’ Up, constantly in hopes of finding a lede into the music before I finally found one which explained why I liked it as much as I do. I mean, the lyrics…

  • Maren Morris – Humble Quest LP

    Maren Morris – Humble Quest LP

    Maren Morris Humble Quest LP (Columbia/Sony Music) It’s funny how, as good as each of the eleven songs are on Maren Morris’ Humble Quest are, trying to pin down their appeal will probably take listeners a minute. For example, when “Circles Around This Town” opens the A-side of the album, listeners will be able to…

  • TK and The Holy Know-Nothings – The Incredible Heat Machine LP

    TK and The Holy Know-Nothings – The Incredible Heat Machine LP

    TK and The Holy Know-Nothings The Incredible Heat Machine LP (Mama Bird Recording Company) It isn’t always easy for this writer to get into country music (there often has to be a “alt-country” plank in the floor to make it easier to enter on), but it didn’t take me long to find my way to…

  • T. Hardy Morris – The Digital Age Of Rome LP

    T. Hardy Morris – The Digital Age Of Rome LP

    T. Hardy Morris The Digital Age of Rome LP (New West Records) It’s weird to think how tumultuous a year 2020 was, and how that tumult was reflected in the music which was released at the time. Even if a band didn’t actually have a political streak in their hair or bone in their body,…

  • Ben Miller Band – Choke Cherry Tree LP

    Ben Miller Band – Choke Cherry Tree LP

    The catch, when any band attempts to infuse a time-honored sound and style with new energy and fresh inspiration, is that they often lose sight of all the reasons why and how that form worked in the first place. While the heart and hopes might be sound enough, the results often feel as though someone…

  • King Leg – Meet King Leg LP

    King Leg – Meet King Leg LP

    The beauty of working in a pop culture-identified medium like pop music is that, while the music does initially have finite appeal as ‘new music,’ the basic structures and forms can easily be revisited, re-purposed and re-presented as often as new artists are willing to rediscover them. Any music can be reborn with the power…

  • Lilly Hiatt – Trinity Lane LP

    Lilly Hiatt – Trinity Lane LP

    I must confess that I slept on Lilly Hiatt and her Trinity Lane LP when the album first arrived in my office. Regrettably, there was no good reason for it; given the timing of when it arrived, the album just kept getting shuffled under one thing after another. I did not give it the attention…