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Henry Carrigan

ALBUM REVIEW: On ‘The American Dream’ Amy Speace Creates Landscapes of the Human Heart

ALBUM REVIEW: On ‘The American Dream’ Amy Speace Creates Landscapes of the Human Heart

Amy Speace creates landscapes of the human heart in her songs through her exquisite use of words and images. On her ninth album, The American Dream, Speace shines a light into the corners of our lives where we hide hopes and dreams to reveal their flaws, as well as their

ALBUM REVIEW: With 'Acadia,' Yasmin Williams Creates a Tranquil World

ALBUM REVIEW: With 'Acadia,' Yasmin Williams Creates a Tranquil World

In literature, Acadia is an idyllic place filled with plenty. Acadia is a fitting title, then, for the new album from Yasmin Williams. On this, her third album – her first for Nonesuch Records – the multi-instrumentalist, singer, and composer creates a tranquil world with lush instrumentation, occasionally accompanied by enchanting vocals.

ALBUM REVIEW: Billy Strings Takes Us Down a Long Highway

ALBUM REVIEW: Billy Strings Takes Us Down a Long Highway

On the high-octane Highway Prayers, multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire Billy Strings flies down bluegrass straightaways, careening around curves with blind speed. These songs pay tribute to the backroads and byways Strings barreled down in his youth, and some of them pay tribute to his high-speed heroes (“Richard Petty”). Still others send up

THE READING ROOM: The Lasting Influence of Nanci Griffith

THE READING ROOM: The Lasting Influence of Nanci Griffith

When Nanci Griffith died just a little over three years ago — on August 13, 2021 — many hearts were broken. We knew we had lost a woman who loved fiercely, sang tenderly, told stories of women embracing their power, and looked with a gimlet eye into the ragged ways individuals move

THE READING ROOM: New Greenwich Village Book Spotlights 1950s-'00s

THE READING ROOM: New Greenwich Village Book Spotlights 1950s-'00s

Walk along most streets in Greenwich Village these days, and you’re more likely to see banks, high-end clothing shops, and upscale restaurants than small clubs full of folk singers or jazz musicians. In the late 1950s through the late 1980s, though, the scene would have looked and sounded very

ALBUM REVIEW: The Vulnerable, Invincible Amy Helm

ALBUM REVIEW: The Vulnerable, Invincible Amy Helm

Amy Helm dwells in the songs she writes, turning her phrases and words in and out. She delivers little masterpieces of folk and soul that plumb the depths of human emotion. On Silver City, her fourth album, Helm tells the stories of various women, reclaiming their voices, naming their struggles,

THE READING ROOM: Daniel Levitin Goes Back Inside the Brain for ‘Music as Medicine’

THE READING ROOM: Daniel Levitin Goes Back Inside the Brain for ‘Music as Medicine’

Most musicians recognize the transformative power of music and the ways it can stir up listeners’ emotions. During a concert, a band might play a defiant anthem that has the crowd jeering angrily about the song’s subject; at another moment, a different song might send waves of harmony through