THROUGH THE LENS: Taylor Swift and the Rising Tide of Women in Music
As I was reviewing the photos the ND photographers have recently taken, I noticed that most were of women artists. That's not unusual — both this column at ND as a whole have long recognized that women are a driving force in roots music. But it got me to
FOUNDERS’ KEEPERS: Watchhouse, Office Dog, Martin Zellar, and More
Yes, it’s 2024, but I’ll confess: I keep writing 2023 on my music playlists. Which is to say that alongside two January releases in this month’s Founders’ Keepers batch are four records from the latter part of last year that I hadn’t yet gotten around to
BONUS TRACKS: Grammys Announce Presenters and Performers for Premiere Ceremony — And a Change to Ticketing
The Recording Academy has announced details of the only part of its Grammy ceremony that really matters to roots music fans — the daytime Premiere Ceremony. Larkin Poe, Brandy Clark, and Gaby Moreno are among the performers for the event, and Molly Tuttle and Rufus Wainwright will be on hand to
ALBUM REVIEW: William Elliott Whitmore Dispenses Hard Wisdom on ‘Silently, The Mind Breaks’
Troubled souls who need an ally on the rocky road of life may find a kindred spirit in Iowa’s William Elliott Whitmore. Continuing to dispense hard wisdom more than two decades after his debut, this plainspoken country-folk troubadour ponders existential angst and other primal issues on the compelling Silently,
Western Paintings Color Cary Morin’s Musical Point of View
Sitting on a couch in his home in Fort Collins, Colorado, Cary Morin holds up a small copper bust to the camera with both hands. It’s of a man, wearing a hat and looking serious and faraway at some wide, pastoral landscape.
“It’s Charlie,” Morin says, meaning the
ALBUM REVIEW: Relocated to Nashville, Sarah Jarosz’s Sound Sparkles on ‘Polaroid Lovers’
Though it must have been a brutally sad goodbye when Sarah Jarosz left her longtime home of New York City in 2020, her new city suits her. Polaroid Lovers, the seventh studio album from the prolific songwriter with a voice of gold, is Nashville through and through. It has the