Colorado’s Leftover Salmon describes its music as “polyethnic Cajun slamgrass,” a phrase that’s not exactly attractive to either hard-core bluegrassers or alt.country aficionados suspicious of jam bands and hippies. The former — especially those with an unbending hostility to drums and electric basses — may not find much in this album to change their minds, [...]

The opening track on Your Therefore Experience begins with a line that addresses an unexamined fear in the world of country music: the fear of sounding like Pavement, indie-rock superstars.
Los Angeles band the Cousin Lovers, like those frisky Pavement boys, are quite clever lyrically, but musically there is nothing lo-fi going on here: The band [...]

In the seedier, sweatier nightclubs of the southern United States, the decor is normally secondary to the entertainment, whether it’s the dancers at a strip bar or the bands of any given live music club. Columbia, South Carolina, band the Ultraviolets have captured that no-frills attitude with a set of six tunes that rock first [...]

In “Texas Travelling Hero”, a centerpiece song on Make Amends, New York City expatriate and current Nashvillian Andy Scheinman affectionately depicts “a Texas travelling troubadour” who “could sing just like Tom Russell/Playing all the country bars.” But Scheinman also could be describing his own music in this tale: “Songs about no one/Someone close to home/He [...]

Short, but sweet — yet not too sweet. The debut disc from Shannon Stephens clocks in at just over 15 minutes, its five songs sketching minimalist vignettes of a love dangling by a thread.
“The Way Relationships End Up” finds Stephens pondering a rare moment of power over her boyfriend as he sleeps in the passenger [...]

These songs ring out more than just “the love between a brother and a sister, all over this land,” as some folkie once sang. If I had a hammer, I would use it to nail the door shut on indifferent music masquerading as heartfelt rock ‘n’ roll, a costume ball that Mike Plume need not [...]

Ronny Elliott is a quintessential journeyman rock ‘n’ roller, having kicked around for 30-plus years working with everyone from Chuck Berry and Jerry Jeff Walker to Jimi Hendrix and the Allman Brothers. That sense of history is ingrained in his terrific new record.
Consider how he pulls off “Same Three Chords”, an anthem that celebrates rock [...]

The third release by Jeffrey Halford & the Healers is impressive in its musical and lyrical content and utter lack of pretense; simply put, this is great rootsy rock music.
Halford is a transplanted Texan who has called California home since childhood, and the West Coast sometimes serves as a centerpiece for Halford’s musical adventures. Indeed, [...]

Like his wife Stacey Earle’s recent debut album, Mark Stuart’s new disc is a low-key but affecting gem. Stuart has paid his dues backing brother-in-law Steve Earle and Jonell Mosser in the studio, as well as touring with Earle, Freddy Fender and his wife.
The album title offers a hint at Stuart’s rather humble ego, and [...]