There’s no question Kate Camp_bell is proud of her roots. She’s a Southerner, and Moonpie Dreams plays like a veritable tour guide through Southern Americana: Galaxie 500 cars, drawls so thick cement is spelled “sea-mint,” the tourist trap Ruby Falls, wrought iron fences. The kudzu practically falls out of the CD booklet. That said, it’s [...]

Great records always push a feeling onto the listener, and often that feeling is strongly associated with a time and place. Who can listen to a Beach Boys hit and not think of summer sun? Can’t you just smell the cigarettes and beer of CBGBs when listening to the frustration of the Ramones’ first few [...]

The daughter of country legends June Carter and Carl Smith, and raised in Johnny Cash’s house, Carlene Carter was something of a hellion in her younger days. After two teenage marriages, she ran off to England and got caught up in the music scene there, recording her first album with Graham Parker’s band and eventually [...]

What do you do when a novelty throwaway called “(Let’s Go) Smoke Some Pot” resuscitates a career that’s been wavering between local notoriety and national insignificance for 12 years? Release a whole album of tracks like it! So New Orleans institution Dash Rip Rock has put out Gold Record, a collection of the silly songs [...]

OK, so it doesn’t sound like a country record at first listen. Even after a dozen spins, Cool Down Time still won’t bring you back to the honky tonks or remind you of your blue Kentucky home. However, Dan Zanes has taken the same healthy respect for American roots music as, say, Uncle Tupelo or [...]

Let’s cut to the chase: Gone is Dwight Yoakam’s best record. The writing is top notch–all the heartbreak and loneliness we’ve come to expect. That voice, oh that voice: it’s still the epitome of high and lonesome. And Gone isn’t a retread: the sound is ambitious and challenging. To his trademark retro country sound, Yoakam [...]

Formed as a side project by New Orleans musicians who wanted to play country music, the Swingin’ Haymakers nearly turned into an institution at their weekly gig at the Howlin’ Wolf bar, playing rockin’ country and serving barbecue to a restless Crescent City crowd. By any definition, it was a hoedown, and a hoedown is [...]

Just Like Old Times, Heather Myles’ 1992 debut on HighTone, came out of nowhere and did its part to further the label’s reputation. It was a remarkably strong debut performance, and the fact that HighTone could discover new artists that matched the quality of their compilations and more established acts (Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Robert Cray, [...]

While not as hit-packed as Scarecrow or an artistic triumph on the level of The Lonesome Jubilee, John Mellencamp’s latest proves he still matters. He’s hasn’t abandoned his rural fix; aside from all those Hootie songs, “Key West Intermezzo (I Saw You First)” is one of the few hits with both a prominent harmonica solo [...]