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Alli Patton

ALBUM REVIEW: With ‘Rent Money,’ Pokey LaFarge Ponies Up Another Familiar Classic

ALBUM REVIEW: With ‘Rent Money,’ Pokey LaFarge Ponies Up Another Familiar Classic

For two decades and across a dozen or so studio releases, Pokey LaFarge has carved out a niche for himself with his brand of old-timey-meets-newfangled boogie rock gospel blues. While at times a little hokey and hackneyed, the crooner’s modern-old sound has, for years, felt

ALBUM REVIEW: ‘Reel 2 Reel 4 Real' Is Ray Wylie Hubbard as He Was Meant to Be Heard

ALBUM REVIEW: ‘Reel 2 Reel 4 Real' Is Ray Wylie Hubbard as He Was Meant to Be Heard

Ray Wylie Hubbard’s latest album is alive. While the Texas music icon says it may be his last, throughout Reel 2 Reel 4 Real, chords shift and reshape, like restless muscles; rhythms snap, like bones into place; steel slithers and slinks, something awakening, yawning, stretching under the meat of

ALBUM REVIEW: Andrew Sa Bares His Heart and Soul on Unflinching Debut, ‘American Rough’

ALBUM REVIEW: Andrew Sa Bares His Heart and Soul on Unflinching Debut, ‘American Rough’

From the start of Andrew Sa’s American Rough, it’s impossible not to be pulled in. With the album’s opening number and title track, a curtain of balmy keys, sinewy bass, and throbbing horns parts to reveal an apparition: “He’s mean handsome / Can’t hardly be decent

ALBUM REVIEW: Ben Chapman’s ‘Feet On Fire’ is a Powerful Gospel of Growing Up

ALBUM REVIEW: Ben Chapman’s ‘Feet On Fire’ is a Powerful Gospel of Growing Up

Three days into 2025, Ben Chapman’s life changed. He and his partner, fellow singer-songwriter Meg McRee, discovered they were going to be parents. They married a few months later and welcomed their son that fall. In less than a year, the “Georgia Dreamin’” artist became a husband, a

SPOTLIGHT: Emily Nenni Steps Out with Newfound Confidence on ‘Movin’ Shoes’

SPOTLIGHT: Emily Nenni Steps Out with Newfound Confidence on ‘Movin’ Shoes’

Editor's Note: Emily Nenni, whose new LP Movin' Shoes comes out today via New West, is No Depression's Spotlight Artist for May 2026. Read more about this up-and-coming singer-songwriter and stay tuned for more from her all month long. It took Emily

Benjamin Tod Balances 'Vengeance and Grace' On Road to Self-Fulfillment

Benjamin Tod Balances 'Vengeance and Grace' On Road to Self-Fulfillment

It’s five miles from the Boyles Yard to downtown Birmingham, Alabama. Along that southbound route, the sky opens up like a greeting, the fathomless blue interrupted only by the crisscrossing of telephone wires. Bleached gravel litters the journey, and all around, locomotives hiss and howl on the sunbaked rails.

ALBUM REVIEW: On ‘Blues For Dexter Linwood,’ Todd Albright Performs Straightforward Standards

ALBUM REVIEW: On ‘Blues For Dexter Linwood,’ Todd Albright Performs Straightforward Standards

Even more than they're played, the blues are felt. The music is born from within and manifests outward in the pull of melancholic strings, bone-chilling harmonics, and belly-aching words. Since the genre’s inception in the late 19th century, a handful of greats have mastered and