Rachel Cholst

When you know, you know. In a genre that places so much emphasis on authenticity — and all the fraught debates that brings — when you hear Riddy Arman’s life-weary voice, you know she’s the real deal. You don’t even have to know that she’s spent her adult

Don’t be fooled by the folksiness early on in John R. Miller’s Depreciated. The album casually saunters towards a full existential breakdown that’ll leave you gasping for air. A native of the Shenandoah Valley, Miller channels nearly every strain of country, rock, and roots you can think

Dana Sipos’ The Astral Plane is a mesmerizing jewel of an album, an opal with ever-shifting facets, no matter which way you turn it. If one had to classify the album, folk would probably do, but in reality Sipos and her band have created freeform jazz with folk instrumentation. Sipos

What a year to meditate on feeling like you’re on the outside of things! With her buttery voice, K.C. Jones takes a break from her band Feufollet’s Cajun French music to deliver a powerful album about life on the fringes: The Queen of the In Between. While

With Morgan Wade’s debut, Reckless, we may be seeing a pivot in outlaw country. Ten years after the debut of Toby Keith’s “Red Solo Cup,” men singing rollicking tunes about women, weed, and wine on the radio are hardly transgressive. On Reckless, produced by Sadler Vaden and Paul

Chris Pierce’s American Silence is one of those albums that truly feels like a lifetime in the making. Pierce tends to play soul music, and has risen to prominence recently with his song “We Can Always Come Back to This” that was featured on the TV series This Is