BONUS TRACKS: How Jeff Tweedy Learned to Love ‘Dancing Queen’
In an essay for The New York Times adapted from his brand new book, World Within a Song, Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy lets us in on a little secret: He’s really come around after a lifetime of hating ABBA’s “Dancing Queen.” When we’re young — this was true
Hurray for the Riff Raff Looks Back on Life Story on New Album ‘The Past Is Still Alive’
Two years after Life on Earth (ND review), which landed on No Depression’s Critics Poll for Best Roots Music Albums of 2022, Hurray for the Riff Raff will release a new collection of their keen-edged songwriting and adventurous musical spirit on The Past Is Still Alive.
The album, coming
ALBUM REVIEW: Chris Stapleton Balances Adventure With Tried-and-True on ‘Higher’
With his fifth studio LP, Higher, Chris Stapleton, assisted by co-producers Dave Cobb and Morgane Stapleton, forges another set of meticulously crafted, adeptly instrumented, and accessible songs. While the Kentucky-born artist continues to mine and rebrand various templates, his voice is undeniably and invariably country, whether he’s invoking Saturday
ALBUM REVIEW: Long-Shelved Todd Snider Album Is Worth the Wait
Todd Snider was on a creative roll when he recorded a new album in 2007. It was called Crank It, We’re Doomed, and for some reason the mercurial singer-songwriter decided to shelve it, though several tracks would wind up on subsequent albums, some with different titles and altered arrangements.
ALBUM REVIEW: Jon Dee Graham Dies But Lives to Tell About It on ‘Only Dead for a Little While’
It might sound like the stuff of mythmaking, but Jon Dee Graham died for a moment a few years ago. He passed out after a long set at festival in the hot summer sun, coming back to life thanks to the reviving power of AEDs, and perhaps some greater force
ALBUM REVIEW: Vincent Neil Emerson Turns Tradition Up Full-Blast
What counts as “classic country” music today is very much an eye-of-the-beholder sort of thing, but for a great many people, artists like Vincent Neil Emerson truly fit the bill. An Indigenous American with Choctaw-Apache lineage, Emerson is steeped in the Lone Star State singer-songwriter tradition. You can feel the