Jon Young

Yes, things are bad these days. While it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the unending tide of awful news, the folks who speak out against despair and inequality can help raise the spirits. Chris Pierce is one. More than two decades into a career grounded in plainspoken folk-pop,

Interpersonal friction reaches alarming levels on I Am Both, the riveting fourth album from Margaret Glaspy. Hurt feelings, poor communication, and selfish urges inspire a memorable collection of vignettes that capture common relationship ills with unfiltered honesty. If Glaspy’s unflinching portrayals can feel uncomfortably blunt, her gift for beautiful

Amelia Baker delivers her austere songs with the sober bearing of someone imparting fateful news. For a decade the California native, who records as Cinder Well, has excelled at an unadorned brand of folk that rewards full attention, performing spare tunes in a gently commanding voice. Teasing deeper meanings from

Gary Stewart upended the Nashville scene in the mid-‘70s with a string of fierce honky-tonk singles powered by his wild abandon. Hits like “Drinkin’ Thing,” “Your Place or Mine,” and “She’s Actin’ Single (I’m Drinkin’ Doubles)” carry the same electric charge on the first hearing or

In 2024 Jesper Lindell and his band, The Brunnsvik Sounds, trekked from Sweden to the U.S. to record covers of classic American soul music. Over four action-packed days, they visited Muscle Shoals Sound Studio in Alabama and Royal Studios in Memphis. The result was a pair of exhilarating

Broken hearts and uncomfortable truths tell the story in Bella White’s unsettling A Sign in the Weather. The powerful third album from the Calgary-bred, New Orleans-based singer examines fatally-flawed relationships with brutal honesty, taking no prisoners. Rejecting sunny outcomes, her unsparing insights ensure memorable listening. Co-