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Maeri Ferguson

ALBUM REVIEW: Early James Gets Straight to the Point on ‘Strange Time To Be Alive’

ALBUM REVIEW: Early James Gets Straight to the Point on ‘Strange Time To Be Alive’

No one can do what Early James does. That wheezy, androgynous vocal shimmy only he can produce is on fine display on his sophomore release, Strange Time To Be Alive. James delivers each phrase with a mischievous glint in his eye, as though he’s letting us in on a

ALBUM REVIEW: Andrew Combs Goes Back to Basics on ‘Sundays’

ALBUM REVIEW: Andrew Combs Goes Back to Basics on ‘Sundays’

Andrew Combs has sort of done it all. He’s made an actually good pop country record (2015’s All These Dreams), an album of heady psych-pop grooves (2019’s Ideal Man), and a brooding, contemplative singer-songwriter collection (2017’s Canyons of My Mind), not to mention his earliest, twangier

ALBUM REVIEW: Beautiful Questions Take Flight on John Moreland’s ‘Birds in the Ceiling’

ALBUM REVIEW: Beautiful Questions Take Flight on John Moreland’s ‘Birds in the Ceiling’

“Life is a beautiful question,” John Moreland sings on the title track of his latest, Birds in the Ceiling. It’s the closing song on the album, and leaving the listener with such an open-ended statement is the point. Moreland isn’t necessarily seeking answers as much as he is

ALBUM REVIEW: ‘Colder Streams,’ Last Album with Dallas Good, Finds The Sadies at Their Best

ALBUM REVIEW: ‘Colder Streams,’ Last Album with Dallas Good, Finds The Sadies at Their Best

“Colder Streams is a record made with love by loved ones. The Sadies have released a lot of records. This is one of them,” wrote Dallas Good in the bio for the 11th studio album from The Sadies. Reading it with the knowledge of his tragic and untimely passing earlier

Tami Neilson Goes Feral for Statement-Making ‘Kingmaker’

Tami Neilson Goes Feral for Statement-Making ‘Kingmaker’

To be “feral,” from the Latin word fera, meaning wild animal, is to be untamed, to escape domesticity. Though it may sound extreme, this is the state of being singer-songwriter Tami Neilson aspired to amid recording Kingmaker, out this Friday on Outside Music. She even bought custom “feral” nameplate necklaces

ALBUM REVIEW: Sam Doores and Riley Downing Bring Solo Strengths to Recharged Deslondes on ‘Ways & Means’

ALBUM REVIEW: Sam Doores and Riley Downing Bring Solo Strengths to Recharged Deslondes on ‘Ways & Means’

In the five years since the last album from The Deslondes, two members of the fivesome, Sam Doores and Riley Downing, have spread their wings as solo artists. And whatever lessons were learned amid that hiatus are evident on the band’s reunion release, Ways & Means. More so than

ALBUM REVIEW: On ‘Oh to Be That Free,’ Michaela Anne Confronts Love, Loss and Letting Go

ALBUM REVIEW: On ‘Oh to Be That Free,’ Michaela Anne Confronts Love, Loss and Letting Go

Somewhere between the earth-shattering grief of losing a loved one and the indescribable bliss of welcoming new life into the world, between the lowest point of self-destruction and the enlightened levity of self-acceptance, you’ll find Michaela Anne’s new album. Oh to Be That Free was written before she