THE READING ROOM: ‘Why Tammy Wynette Matters’ Considers Her Life Hand-in-Hand With Her Work
Tammy Wynette sang some of the saddest songs in country music: “D-I-V-O-R-C-E,” “Apartment No. 9,” “I Don’t Wanna Play House.” Wynette’s vocals waver on the edge of breaking as they wring deep emotions from listeners. When Wynette modulates her vocal in the second line of the final chorus
ALBUM REVIEW: Tanya Tucker Makes Herself at Home on ‘Sweet Western Sound’
With 2019’s While I’m Livin’, her first new album in 17 years, Tanya Tucker declared to the world that she was ready to ride her stallion down Broadway, Nashville’s main drag, once more. That album, co-produced by Brandi Carlile and Shooter Jennings, won a Grammy for Best
ALBUM REVIEW: Cowboy Junkies Break New Ground with ‘Such Ferocious Beauty’
Written in 2021 during the COVID epoch, while the Timmins family was navigating their father’s worsening dementia, Such Ferocious Beauty unflinchingly addresses impermanence and the ways we strive to find meaning and connection. While Cowboy Junkies draw from the bluesy Americana of their early work (The Trinity Session, The
ALBUM REVIEW: Ruen Brothers Bring the Wild West to the Modern World
A full decade has passed since “Aces,” an early single from the Stansall brothers, Rupert and Henry, born in Scunthorpe, England, first turned the heads of tastemakers at BBC Music. The retro sound stood proudly on the shoulders of their childhood musical heroes Roy Orbison, The Everly Brothers, and Johnny
ALBUM REVIEW: Ben Folds Packs Stories and Characters into Songs of ‘What Matters Most’
Some musicians are poets, exploring the human condition in rhyme. Others are storytellers, writing 3 ½-minute short fiction with fully fleshed-out characters and the kind of fine details expected of a novelist. On What Matters Most, Ben Folds proves himself an able manipulator of the story song, with a literary
No Depression Sessions at DelFest: The Del McCoury Band
We were honored to have the opportunity to cover the 15th annual DelFest on behalf of No Depression, featuring intimate sessions that we recorded in the tiny press box atop the grandstands with over a dozen of this year’s incredibly talented artists. Can I get a Del Yeah!?!
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