On their third album, Washington, D.C., band Kevin Johnson & the Linemen play more of the smart, twangy pop that has earned them comparisons to everyone from Marshall Crenshaw to Buck Owens. The first six songs on Parole Music are as good a start as you could ask for, with melodic tracks such as “Miss [...]

Terri Binion’s Leavin’ This Town was originally released on her own label, Shinola, and nearly went unnoticed. But among those paying attention were the folks at Daemon Records (Amy Ray of the Indigo Girls is the owner), who gave this CD the wider distribution it deserves. Binion is in the vein that earned Nanci Griffith [...]

Although they are nominally a country band, the Kentucky Headhunters owe plenty to Southern rock acts from the Allmans to ZZ Top. The Headhunters’ formula is straightforward rock-country, somewhere between Hank Jr. and Skynyrd with a healthy dash of early rock ‘n’ roll, and that has kept them reasonably well-fed since their debut Pickin’ on [...]

Austin singer-songwriter Darden Smith may be best-known for joining forces with Boo Hewerdine (leader of English band The Bible) to form an oddly successful transatlantic Americana act: the Hewerdine/Smith album Evidence is a minor classic (recently reincarnated by Nashville indie Compass). That disc and Smith’s solo records are loaded with killer melodies, initially unassuming songs [...]

Minnesota winters have a way of making folks restless. The debut of Minneapolis band Steeplejack is an often engaging document of that restlessness; the best tracks have a ragged energy and some splendid playing, though the songwriting becomes a bit shaky on the second half of the record. Kitchen Radio is more rock than country [...]

The Iguanas are like a Big Easy version of Los Lobos, a soulful roots outfit fusing rhythm & blues with Tex-Mex. Several times during an Iguanas show, the band figuratively hops into a phone booth and is transformed from a bajo sexto-and-accordion conjunto to a New Orleans soul combo featuring double tenor saxes. Super Ball, [...]