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Rachel Cholst

ALBUM REVIEW: Samantha Crain's 'Gumshoe' is Fluid and Celebratory

ALBUM REVIEW: Samantha Crain's 'Gumshoe' is Fluid and Celebratory

With Gumshoe, Samantha Crain overcomes her tendency to self-isolate. Crain’s signature blend of folk, blues, and rock has appeared on Reservation Dogs and Lily Gladstone’s film Fancy Dance. A member of the Choctaw nation, Crain used Gumshoe as an opportunity to take on their motto “Together we’re

ALBUM REVIEW: Avery Friedman's Debut Is A Bold, Instinctual 'New Thing'

ALBUM REVIEW: Avery Friedman's Debut Is A Bold, Instinctual 'New Thing'

Avery Friedman had spent plenty of time around music, but she’d never written a song before 2023. With the encouragement of her musician friends, Friedman pursued her craft and now, in the spring of 2025, we have her debut album New Thing. This eight-song collection spans a wide array

ALBUM REVIEW: Ron Pope's 'American Man, American Music' Measures Up Something Other Than Toxic Masculinity

ALBUM REVIEW: Ron Pope's 'American Man, American Music' Measures Up Something Other Than Toxic Masculinity

For Ron Pope, American Man, American Music is as advertised. The album even kicks off with Pope singing a jaunty bro country-inflected song about picking up “a brown-skinned doll” in Panama. The song swaggers with an easy-going attitude even as Pope reminds us of its title: "Nobody’s Gonna

ALBUM REVIEW: On 'You Can't Tell Me I'm Not What I Used To Be' Massy Ferguson Steps Up

ALBUM REVIEW: On 'You Can't Tell Me I'm Not What I Used To Be' Massy Ferguson Steps Up

If it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. There will always be a place for Americana bar bands, bands that faithfully serve up that magical combination of melancholy and dogged determinism that feels most at home in small basement venues. After twenty years, Massy Ferguson perfected their version of

ALBUM REVIEW: On 'Swimming' Sam Moss Searches Out the Light

ALBUM REVIEW: On 'Swimming' Sam Moss Searches Out the Light

To listen to Swimming, the new album by Sam Moss, is to be confronted by beautiful contradictions. Moss and his ensemble spin a gossamer web of instrumentation around Moss’ earthy voice, at once hopeful and a deliverer of weary wisdom. With a band like Isa Burke on virtually every string

ALBUM REVIEW: On 'Precious Bane' Jim White Teams Up with Long-Time Pal for Project Inspired by Book She Gave Him

ALBUM REVIEW: On 'Precious Bane' Jim White Teams Up with Long-Time Pal for Project Inspired by Book She Gave Him

Jim White and Trey Blake present a layered composition in their intriguing project, Precious Bane. As complex as the music itself is, the album will require some context. White is an Americana outsider, “discovered” by David Byrne in the ‘90s and the subject of a 2002 BBC4 documentary about his

ALBUM REVIEW: Grace, Empathy, and Crys Matthews' 'Reclamation'

ALBUM REVIEW: Grace, Empathy, and Crys Matthews' 'Reclamation'

I don’t think any album could have better timing than Crys Matthews’ Reclamation. Matthews does not shy away from politics, as all too many artists have, nor does she shrink from naming specific social issues and crafting thoughtful songs about them. (We have let far too many artists get