ALBUM REVIEW: Seratones Find the Right Code on ‘Love & Algorhythms’
In a way, the Shreveport collective known as Seratones have had a similar effect to the chemical they’re nearly named after (serotonin): They brighten one’s disposition, increase arousal, and even heal wounds. With two varied full-length albums (2016’s Get Gone and 2019’s Power), the band’
JOURNAL EXCERPT: Five Festival Veterans Explain the Magic of MerleFest
EDITOR’S NOTE: As MerleFest gets rolling this week in Wilkesboro, North Carolina, we thought we’d share part of this story from our Spring 2022 “General Admission” journal about its history and why it’s so important to the performers who come back year after year. To read the
ALBUM REVIEW: Caroline Spence’s ‘True North’ Points the Way to Finding Peace
It is a rare thing for the world to give us a chance to process our grief, to contemplate how time has marked us and colored our lives. On True North, Caroline Spence explores the impact that grieving can have on a person and a way through, at least in
ALBUM REVIEW: Trombone Shorty Brings the Party Back on ‘Lifted’
Trombone Shorty is a party in progress. A never-ending second-line party parade purveyor, Troy Andrews has had his “Shorty” nickname since the age of 4, making his professional debut onstage at New Orleans' Jazz Fest with Bo Diddley.
In person or on record, Shorty brings the same
ALBUM REVIEW: Corb Lund Makes Perfect Picks for ‘Songs My Friends Wrote’
Back in 2019, Corb Lund released an EP of songs by other artists. Cover Your Tracks was pretty eclectic, source-wise, and you would not immediately associate some of the artists chosen with a Canadian cowboy and country singer. (AC/DC? Nancy Sinatra? Billy Joel?)
Now, after releasing Agricultural Tragic,
ALBUM REVIEW: Humor and Humanity Run Through Willie Nelson’s ‘A Beautiful Time’
Intimations of mortality figure largely, but dance lightly through the songs of A Beautiful Time, Willie Nelson’s 97th studio album, released to coincide with the singer’s 89th birthday this Friday. With song titles like “Live Every Day” and “I Don’t Go to Funerals,” listeners could be forgiven