Beth Whitney’s voice reminds me of Sara Watkins. Besides that, she’s just wonderful. From the banjo to the standup bass and the overall composition, this is just a hit. It’s a hit in the Americana folk way that fills me full of all …
Kina Grannis – Elements – Gorgeous female vocals make eloquent songwriting soar
Kina Grannis is a supremely talented musician. Her vocals are out of this world. I’ve been keeping an ear on her for a while now, but this new album really takes a superb step up. The production quality on the album is of …
Maggie Rogers – Blood Ballet – Emotional, captivating singer songwriter sings her heart
Maggie Rogers is, frankly, one of my favorite finds of 2014. From her single “James,” the first time I heard it on bandcamp, I was taken by her style and tone. She is, in a word, stunning. I was extremely excited to get …
Many Voices: Mountains and Other Faraway Things
Many Voices. Mountains and Other Faraway Things. Many Voices/Bandcamp, 2014. https://www.facebook.com/ManyVoicesBand (you can hear samples or buy the album here) Hailing from Denton, Texas, Many Voices is a soulful and sweet-sounding group that shows real promise with their first album, Mountains and Other …
Austin Plaine – Brisk and peppy country music
Austin Plaine has a good, solid Georgia/Carolina sound but there’s a cool breeze blowing through it out of Minneapolis. This Minnesota boy left for Nashville last year and obviously brought the cool breeze with him. This collection of country songs is a bit …
Goodnight, Texas – A Bank Robber’s Nursery Rhyme
I’m always excited when something that I’ve been anticipating comes out and even more excited when it exceeds expectations. This new song, “A Bank Robber’s Nursery Rhyme”, from Goodnight, Texas, is off of their new album, Uncle John Farquhar, due out in August. While …
Quinell – ‘Til We’re Free – Versatile Singer Songwriter with Pure, Crisp Sound
We get a fair number of submissions from independent artists, so it’s extremely rare to find an artist that can stand above the rest, but Quinell is one of those singer songwriters who really has that “it” factor. His songwriting is genuine and …
Young Beautiful in a Hurry–high energy, high quality, so sexy.
This is my message to Young Beautiful In a Hurry–”please come and play in Cleveland. I’m stuck on you.” Every few days I sit down with the newest band or singer in my inbox and I think about the last one. I think, …
Brittany Myers – Rather Be – Artfully crafted music by Seattle singer songwriter
I reviewed Brittany Myers’ EP, Demons, in 2013. I wrote, “I’m truly looking forward to Myers getting where she wants to be musically, and if ‘Demons’ is indicative of what the future holds, I’ll definitely be sticking around to see what comes next.” …
CanadAfrica: Where’s the One? is the one you’ve been waiting for this summer
CanadAfrica. Where’s the One? Borealis Recording, 2013. https://www.facebook.com/CANADAAFRICA (you can hear samples or buy the album here) So this is a little bit older an album than we typically do- it was released in October of last year- but I’m pretty certain you …
