Music runs in Maia Sharp’s blood. Her father, Randy Sharp, is country songwriter whose tunes have been recorded by Emmylou Harris, Patty Loveless and Dolly Parton. Maia has followed in his footsteps, writing cuts for the Dixie Chicks (“A Home”) and Trisha Yearwood (“Standing Out In A Crowd”). The younger Sharp continues to blossom as [...]

Glen Phillips was only 14 when he joined Toad The Wet Sprocket. Over the next decade or so, he wrote some good songs and Toad had a few hits, but you never looked to that mellow California alt-rock outfit for deep thoughts. Only since Toad ended and Phillips went solo has he been able to [...]

Portland singer-songwriter M. Ward stresses that Transistor Radio was intended for vinyl, but for practical purposes was released on CD. Regardless of the format, the music is blatantly separated into two parts: sixteen songs, eight to a side.
Side A’s instrumental opener “You Still Believe In Me” features Ward’s light-fingered plucking backed by an echo. The [...]

Born and raised in Ireland, Mark Geary moved to New York City to play music, regularly sharing the bill with artists such as Jeff Buckley and Katell Keinig at Sin-e, a club co-owned by his brother. During this time Geary developed his own sound, one influenced more by his American folk-rock contemporaries than by the [...]

Minneapolis folk-rockers Bellwether say they haven’t split, preferring instead the term “hiatus”. Regardless, it’s hard not to hear Seven And Six as their last gasp. Recorded nearly two years ago and self-released as an afterthought, the band’s fourth disc finds Eric Luoma’s wistful, sleepy tenor set mostly to downtempo tunes, the mellow mood recalling the [...]

Wisely, the Bluerunners never took a vow of purity. Their sound wants to have it both ways, and that dichotomy has served them and their listeners well over seventeen years and four previous albums. There’s no denying the zydeco and Cajun music that permeates the band’s home turf of Lafayette, Louisiana, is at the heart [...]

Brothers Willy and Cody Braun relocated from Oregon to Austin to escape the flannel shirts of the grunge crowd and commingle with like-minded purveyors of the country-rock sound in Texas. That was 1997, and after eight years and four albums, the brothers have hit their stride.
This collection was recorded in Tennessee, but it’s far from [...]

Empty House isn’t quite nonstop heart-break, but Rex Hobart and his pals aren’t anybody’s idea of the happiest boys in the whole U.S.A. either. “Every Night I Leave You In My Mind”, “It Won’t Be Long (And I’ll Be Hating You)”, “Heartache To Hide” — you get the picture.
Keeping up being down for so many [...]

These days everyone with a capo and a four-track recorder is making music and calling it a record. Here’s a trio with a portable DAT machine, a single stereo microphone and a living room in Wisconsin that’s actually made a collection of songs worth listening to. And they stay in key, happy day.
It helps that [...]

In addition to its namesake leader — founding member of the dB’s, acclaimed solo artist, producer and engineer for Alejandro Escovedo and others — the Chris Stamey Experience includes Yo La Tengo plus keyboard mastermind Tyson Rogers. The guest list features Caitlin Cary, Chatham County Line and fellow dB Gene Holder.
A Question Of Temperature is [...]