ALBUM REVIEW: Daughter of Swords' Alex Sauser-Monnig Uncovers New Sounds on 'Alex'

Listen: just go buy John Leventhal’s second album National Drift. A restless musical genius, Leventhal hears notes and snatches of melodies and builds rhythmic patterns around them, delivering soundscapes that soothe and transport. He’s a guitarist who is one with his instrument, and he’s a multi-instrumentalist

Libby Dale can’t sleep. “Like fireflies / blinking luminescence in my eyes,” she sings. “The visions come / of things I need and things I’ve done wrong.” “These Old Nights,” from her solo debut Freehand, swings gracefully like ‘60s slow-dance R&B. It’s sweetly sad like “Sleep

Waylon Payne who embodies both the “new” and “classic” versions of Music City, and of country music songwriting. He’s an openly gay man from Texas who’s never without his tiny chihuahua named Petey — the Demi Moore of Nashville.