Corbie Hill

“The Music Man,” the lead single from the new David Ramirez, opens with an ode to the Walkman. Ramirez describes his younger self—innocent, free of existential dread—blindsided by mind-altering wonder when his dad gave him one. “The wheels began to turn / the magnets both took control,” Ramirez sings

The new Jason Boland and the Stragglers album closes with an image right out of Steinbeck: “Lonesome travelers and rambling types / shuffling down some unknown trail tonight,” Boland sings in “Buffalo Return,” penned by late Oklahoma songwriter Jimmy LaFave. “In your hobo jungles and your boxcar dreams / living only by

Somewhere in his native South Carolina, the Oregon-based Cuchulain—who makes music under that mononym—met his someone special. Still fresh-faced and young, they stayed up late all summer, getting wasted to college radio: “Rolled in the grass in late July / we watched the dance of the fireflies,” Cuchulain sings

EDITOR'S NOTE: Chris Acker's Famous Lunch came out on Oct. 11 on Gar Hole Records. We're reviewing it now as part of a year-end round up of some of the best albums we missed along the way this year. On “Cursive Proverbs,” from his

If Sleater-Kinney and David Bowie wrote a song in the Arizona desert, the result might sound like Hataałii’s “Something’s in the Air.” “Hand in hand should see it through / Oh, I got some news for you,” Hataałii sings over the track’s propulsive pep. “Sometimes life ain’t