Graham Parker has been unfairly tagged as an angry young man who never grew past his venom-spewing days, but over the years, he’s written and recorded some of the most tender declarations of love, some of the most earnest cries for connection, and some of the downright sweetest songs of hope. While Don’t Tell Columbus [...]

Mary Chapin Carpenter looks inward and outward on The Calling, a baker’s dozen of original songs that is her first new album in three years. At 49, she’s still on a quest for a place in the world, to borrow an earlier album title, be it on a personal, political or spiritual level. Carpenter continues [...]

We’re told that this is the first solo album by Tennessee singer and songwriter Martha Scanlan, but such is the cool assurance and earthy authority of these performances, it could well be her sixth or tenth collection. Projecting a sense of isolation that is as powerful as its sense of place — the pull of [...]

Po’ Girl has the same womanly (not girlish, mind you) croon of the 1920s and ’30s blues mamas — yet their music isn’t of another era, despite the banjo backing, woodsy clarinet licks and Wurlitzer. On their third album, Po’ Girl — which includes Trish Klein of the Be Good Tanyas — draws heavily on [...]

Can you still be an effective chorus when you go from two members to only one? That’s the situation singer/songwriter/lap steel guitarist Megan Hickey finds herself in as she releases a second album under the name Last Town Chorus. No longer working as a duo with guitarist Nat Guy, Hickey is carrying the load almost [...]

There’s a point past fatigue where non-essential functions shut down and you exist in an elemental, almost trancelike state. It’s the starting point for Kings Of Leon’s third album, and no wonder: The Followill family band spent much of the past two years on the road, headlining clubs and opening for the likes of U2 [...]

Tom and Ian Spanic, a father-son duo whose rich harmonic blend is as sweet as the Everly Brothers crying in the rain, could pull off a roots-rocking treasure such as “Honey” or “I Hear You Talking” without even breaking a sweat. And they’ve certainly mastered the fine art of coaxing the twang out of an [...]

It’s fair to refer to singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Ed Pettersen as a journeyman, especially if you downplay any negative connotations the tag carries and emphasize the journey part. During the course of his wanderings, Pettersen has refined an appealingly straightforward writing approach, staked out comfort zones for a variety of styles, and developed winning relationships with a [...]

Ted Leo just isn’t like most other current-gen punk rockers. He understands the distinction between childish folly and youthful vigor. He knows that artistic ambition doesn’t equal cranking up the amps and hiring an orchestra. And he will likely never replace political consciousness with momentary “relevance.” On Living With The Living, Leo’s fifth album with [...]

Don’t be fooled by the industrial thunk ‘n’ drone mantra of the title (and lead) track. Alex James can win, and mostly does — but not by departing dramatically from the acoustic guitar and piano vignettes of 2004′s remarkable Violence In The Snowy Fields. The intermittent Wilco-esque deformations are really just interludes. This is an [...]