Regulars at Austin’s Continental Club, Heybale would stand out if for no other reason than the pedigrees of its members. Merle Haggard sideman Redd Volkaert is one of the Telecaster visionaries of his generation. Earl Ball played keys on the Byrds’ Sweetheart Of The Rodeo, produced Haggard’s 1970 Bob Wills tribute album, and [...]

Sure, these Seattle honky-tonkers are cutting a familiar path, one paved in hardwood slick with beer and littered with broken hearts, but with such a swell bunch of songs, that’s not a problem. Their sophomore full-length, with producer Conrad Uno back on board, mines country and rock’s past glories with swagger and skill. [...]

The regal, elegant voice of Fayssoux McLean drips with a graceful ease that comes only with experience. In her case, that includes singing with Emmylou Harris for many years and a first marriage to the Seldom Scene’s John Starling. Somehow this is the first album with her name at the top. Produced [...]

Although Jordan Zevon is the son of the late Warren Zevon, it’s unlikely that Insides Out is an attempt to trade on the family name. (The looming spirit of the elder Zevon would probably point out how little commercial value the name had while he was still alive.) Instead, Jordan’s debut takes honorable [...]

The artist’s bio references the “verdant valleys of Virginia’s piedmont region,” which is a bit of a stretch: Clifton, Virginia, is close enough to commute to Washington, D.C. But Randy Thompson easily manages to live up to the alt-country cred with gritty vocals and rollicking roadhouse rock. Further On, his third album, [...]

When you strip your canvas way down, each splash of color you manage to work in has a dramatic and weighted impact. Kris Delmhorst beautifully flaunts that minimalist artistic approach on her latest release. Starting with the songs themselves, Delmhorst pares back her chord changes, often building around simple broken chords on a [...]

Chock full of spit and soul, Robyn Ludwick’s sophomore album showcases classis Texas songwriting and her distinctive, lived-in vocals. Ludwick wrote all but one song here (“Lullaby”, a brief instrumental penned by David Tasgal and performed by violinist Eleanor Whitmore). Like her brothers, Charlie and Bruce Robison, she’s a master storyteller who nails [...]

Images of travel course through Hydroplane, but Kristin Mooney doesn’t traffic in greasy trucker tales. Moody instead uses her traveling imagery – where you find “highways like veins” or encounter a “dream color bus” – to convey her characters’ physical and emotional rootlessness. While “Mexican highway’ offers a postcard view of “artichoke fields / [...]

A fantastic double album is as heavy a trophy for a band as a prize-winning book is for a novelist: What kind of encore won’t disappoint? Nick Cave, who with the Bad Seeds nailed down both length and depth with 2004’s Abattoir Blues / The Lyre Of Orpheus, sidestepped the question, writing a western [...]

Album one by Peter Cooper, music critic for Nashville daily The Tennessean and an occasional ND contributor, reflects a flair for thoughtful storytelling in the traditions of John Prine, Tom T. Hall and Jim Lauderdale, warmly complemented throughout by co-producer Lloyd Green’s pedal steel virtuosity. Cooper’s clear sense of history permeates his reflections on the [...]