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Jim Shahen

ALBUM REVIEW: Wilco Seeks This Country’s Soul Within a Country Sound

ALBUM REVIEW: Wilco Seeks This Country’s Soul Within a Country Sound

“I love my country stupid and cruel,” Jeff Tweedy sings on “Cruel Country,” the title track to Wilco’s 12th studio album. That line, and the song itself really, serves as a summation of the LP’s sound and purpose as the iconic band works more overtly classic country music

ALBUM REVIEW: Pentatonix Alum Avi Kaplan Finds Country Niche on ‘Floating on a Dream’

ALBUM REVIEW: Pentatonix Alum Avi Kaplan Finds Country Niche on ‘Floating on a Dream’

Oftentimes, when an artist who achieves pop success pursues country music, the results are cynical and ghastly. Do you remember Gone Country, the reality competition that ran for three seasons where George Clinton, Sebastian Bach, Jermaine Jackson, Bobby Brown (RIP), Chris from ‘N Sync, Sisqo, and Sheila E. vied for

ALBUM REVIEW: John Doe Returns to Roots on ‘Fables in a Foreign Land’

ALBUM REVIEW: John Doe Returns to Roots on ‘Fables in a Foreign Land’

John Doe of the legendary punk band X has carved out a nice career as a solo singer-songwriter. It’s easy to forget that, though, because it’s been six years since he’s released a solo record. Between the recent 40th anniversary of X’s seminal Los Angeles album

ALBUM REVIEW: Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed Brings His Genre Blend to the Songs of Merle Haggard

ALBUM REVIEW: Eli ‘Paperboy’ Reed Brings His Genre Blend to the Songs of Merle Haggard

Since releasing his first record in 2005, Eli “Paperboy” Reed has worked primarily at the intersection of gospel, soul, and the blues. In that time, he’s become one of the finest vocalists any of those genres currently have to offer. On his latest LP, Down Every Road, he makes

‘Get On Board’: Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder Together Again for Tribute to Their Blues Heroes

‘Get On Board’: Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder Together Again for Tribute to Their Blues Heroes

It’s been a long time since 1965. Back then, Taj Mahal and Ry Cooder were kids, plucky upstarts playing together in the band Rising Sons with a mutual love of the deeply rhythmic Piedmont style of the blues. The Rising Sons split up in 1966 after recording an album

Freakwater and The Mekons Unite as Freakons for Rich Vein of Songwriting About Coal

Freakwater and The Mekons Unite as Freakons for Rich Vein of Songwriting About Coal

Freakons is a supergroup of sorts, a pairing of Jon Langford and Sally Timms from long-running UK punk rockers The Mekons and pioneering Kentucky-based alt-country outfit Freakwater’s Catherine Irwin and Janet Beveridge Bean. After first connecting nearly a decade ago, Freakons is releasing its eponymous debut studio album this

Jason Boland and The Stragglers Combine Cowboys, Aliens, and Big Questions of the Universe

Jason Boland and The Stragglers Combine Cowboys, Aliens, and Big Questions of the Universe

The light. Some people spend their whole lives seeking out the metaphorical light in the hope that finding it will help bring a sense of clarity to their lives. For others, the light is literal and comes from an alien spaceship that abducts them and plunges them 100 years into