Growing up Catholic in Cincinnati apparently qualifies as more of a condition than a circumstance. To judge from Cincy native Greg Dulli’s work with the Afghan Whigs (sordid tales of debauchery and destruction infused with a lingering guilt) and now fellow Ohioan Matt Berninger’s world view as frontman for the National (ditto, but laced with [...]

Befriended is the Innocence Mission’s seventh full-length album in its 17-year career, and probably its best. It’s marked by slow, deliberate cadences delivered by gently strummed acoustic guitars, lightly plunked piano keys, and waves of tremolo that shimmer like summer blacktop. Then there is singer Karen Peris’ distinctive warble, a voice with obvious similarities to [...]

Former John Cougar Mellencamp fiddler Lisa Germano spent the last five years almost completely out of music. Since releasing her fifth solo album, Slide, in 1998, Germano was dropped by her record company, took a job at a bookstore in Hollywood, and apparently spent a moment or two in therapy, getting in touch with a [...]

The farther Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy run from the lengthening shadow of Uncle Tupelo, the closer together their parallel paths seem to travel. Occasionally, these routes even bisect one another: Tweedy took a bow as a soundtrack artist in 2002 with his eccentric, moody score for Ethan Hawke’s Chelsea Walls, and Farrar now duly [...]

From the country-rock moves of last year’s glittering Once We Were Trees to the retro-rodeo wear the group sports in its photo shoots, Beachwood Sparks have sought to summon the psychedelic ghosts of the late-’60s L.A. country-rock scene. On this six-song EP, however, they appear to be heading into their own uncharted domain. They stir [...]