Prison Songwriting Sessions Inspire Eleni Mandell's 'Wake Up Again'
Wake Up Again highlights Eleni Mandell’s knack for penning hook-friendly songs and, as a vocalist, navigating subtle but significant melodic variations. Inspired in part by a songwriting class she taught in two California women’s prisons, Wake Up Again blends etheric ambience with Mandell’s earthy presence and marks
‘Renegade’ Finds Dylan LeBlanc in Top Form
Dylan LeBlanc’s 2016 release, Cautionary Tale, swept through like a smooth, cool breeze. His singular vocals and atmospheric rootsy arrangements felt like a hazy ’70s dream, soft and groovy. A follow-up was highly anticipated, and with Renegade, we are not disappointed. LeBlanc’s first album with ATO Records, and
THROUGH THE LENS: Buddy and Julie Miller, Mindi Abair, Emily Duff, and Other Roots Music Releases
One of the reasons I began this musical journey many years ago, many publications ago, is to highlight some music that might otherwise get overlooked, lost in the shuffle. Save for the monster of an album that leads off this column, the others, some released last month and the remainder
SPOTLIGHT: Buddy and Julie Miller Make One for the Team
Although it’s been 10 years since their last album, Written in Chalk, Buddy and Julie Miller didn’t have any special plans to make a new album. Their new record, Breakdown on 20th Ave. South, out on New West on June 21, took them both a little by surprise,
Leon Redbone Has 'Crossed the Delta for that Beautiful Shore'
Leon Redbone, who died Thursday at an age he always declined to specify, wasn’t a hitmaker, but he did make quite an impression. His head and heart were firmly in yesteryear, and he wove songs with roots in the first half of the 20th century, tinged with blues, jazz,
Should've Known Better
“Should’ve Known Better” is from Sawyer Fredericks' album Hide Your Ghost. The video for the song was filmed during a break from touring, on a sunny but very cold and windy day in December on Sawyer’s family farm in Upstate New York. The ground was frozen solid,