Jon Young

“You’ve been so hard on yourself / It’s time to let things soften,” murmurs Julian Taylor on “Weighing Down,” the haunting leadoff track on his new album, Pathways. A veteran singer-songwriter with more than two decades’ experience, this soft-spoken Canadian might be the best unlicensed therapist you’ll ever

Guy Davis has been telling stories for a long time. In the 1980s he followed in the footsteps of his illustrious parents, actors Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, appearing in movies and on TV. But for the last three decades, his focus has been music, on record and on stage,

Sturgill Simpson says he intended to release five albums under his own name, and then record as someone else. (He’s already put out seven, but never mind.) So now he’s become Johnny Blue Skies, whose “debut” longplayer, Passage du Desir, is a harrowing account of terminal loneliness and

“No problem! Only solution! Love riot!” exclaims the irrepressible Cody Dickinson near the end of Homemade, summing up this supremely satisfying album quite nicely. On his first solo outing, the co-pilot (along with brother Luther) of Americana mainstays North Mississippi Allstars makes a joyful noise as he celebrates the restorative

Pokey LaFarge displays such easy grace when he sings that it’s tempting to consider him a supplier of light entertainment. Don’t believe it. The stirring, deceptively fraught Rhumba Country presents vivid vignettes of restless hearts gripped by desire and loneliness, and yearning for higher ground. If this smooth