Townes Van Zandt Sky Blue

Published Mar 05, 2019

Recorded over a few informal sessions in early 1973 by his close pal Bill Hedgepeth, this collection of performances is rough, rugged and fo...

Hayes Carll What It Is

Published Feb 12, 2019

On his last record, 2016's Lovers and Leavers, Hayes Carll sounded down, and maybe even out. For one of country music's best singer-songwrit...

Colter Wall Songs of the Plains

Published Oct 09, 2018

Operating in the misty zone between present and past, between truth and myth, and between performer and performance, we find Saskatchewan's...

Amy Ray Holler

Published Sep 25, 2018

"There's a lot of bad wood underneath the veneer," sang Patterson Hood on one of the Drive-By Truckers' greatest songs. A simple metaphor, b...

Old Crow Medicine Show Volunteer

Published Apr 16, 2018

One of Americana's best and most consistent acts have found something new to say on this, their seventh full-length. Produced by an apparent...

Jim Cuddy Constellation

Published Jan 19, 2018

Jim Cuddy, co-frontman for Canada's venerable Blue Rodeo, has rarely sounded better. At 62, his voice remains as uncannily clear, affecting...

Jason Isbell & the 400 Unit The Nashville Sound

Published Jun 14, 2017

It's been a decade since Jason Isbell left the Drive-By Truckers amid addiction struggles and an imploding marriage. One of the most promisi...

Colter Wall Colter Wall

Published May 15, 2017

Armed with a voice like a gravel road in a dry season, Saskatchewan's Colter Wall sounds more like a world-weary troubadour than most actual...

Trey Anastasio Band Danforth Music Hall, Toronto ON, May 7

Published May 08, 2017

Making a rare stop north of the border to end the first leg of their tour, the Trey Anastasio Band were loose and full of energy in front of...

Ray Davies Americana

Published Apr 19, 2017

The recently knighted Sir Ray Davies, co-founder and principal songwriter for the Kinks, is back with his first record in almost a decade. B...

Sam Outlaw Tenderheart

Published Apr 12, 2017

Angelino, Sam Outlaw's shimmering debut record, rode a well-worn path but felt exciting for all of its familiarity. Somewhere between the L....

Nikki Lane Highway Queen

Published Feb 15, 2017

Nikki Lane, a Greenville, SC-bred and Nashville-based Americana artist, sings with the weary wisdom of a woman twice her age. Blessed with a...

Neil Young Peace Trail

Published Nov 29, 2016

What a mess. With Peace Trail, Neil Young continues his streak of tossed off, lacklustre, even at times provocatively shoddy records he's ma...

Drive-By Truckers American Band

Published Oct 05, 2016

As Joe Strummer once proclaimed: "This is a public service announcement with guitars."   A politically supercharged collection of songs by...

Phish Big Boat

Published Oct 05, 2016

There are (at least) two distinct kinds of Phish fans: fans who pay attention to their studio albums, and those who don't. Place me firmly i...

Brent Cobb Shine On Rainy Day

Published Oct 05, 2016

"We ain't up to nothing," sings salt-voiced newcomer Brent Cobb, "just solving all the problems of the world."   It's no throwaway line —...

The New Pornographers Fort York, Toronto ON, September 18

Published Sep 19, 2016

Carl Newman and company emerged into the blistering afternoon sunshine and proceeded to deliver a steady, if perfunctory, set. Make no mista...

The Hold Steady Fort York, Toronto ON, September 18

Published Sep 19, 2016

Fully ten years after their breakthrough LP Boys and Girls in America, Brooklyn's the Hold Steady have taken to the road to remind people ju...

Wild Child Fort York, Toronto ON, September 18

Published Sep 19, 2016

One of the most celebrated acts working in Austin, Texas — a town rich in celebrated acts — Wild Child arrived at TURF to fairly outsized ex...

The Sheepdogs Fort York, Toronto ON, September 17

Published Sep 18, 2016

I don't much like the Doobie Brothers. And my problem with the Sheepdogs is that they really, really like the Doobie Brothers — to the point...