New Jersey-raised, Memphis-based journeyman Dan Montgomery knows that the best stories are told in the most dive-like bars. This one’s the tale of an ex-con who falls for a prostitute, a love-hate relationship that’s heavy on the former with intermittent showers of the latter. Montgomery’s depiction, presented across this album’s nine well-crafted roots-rock songs, is [...]

Despite the equine band name, Record Of The Year struts a lot more than it trots. For starters, there’s the vocal snarl of the opener, “Different Man”, followed by “Hide Today” and its “Sweet Virginia” take on country. “Too Bad” sports Nicky Hopkins-style piano between the grooves, and you’ll find Keef and Ronnie guitar slash [...]

Like a skilled short-story writer, Ben Reynolds knows how to use opening lines to get your attention and set a scene. For instance, Reynolds, formerly half of the stomping Chickasaw Mudd Puppies, starts out the gorgeous “Joan Of Arkansas” with “Floating across the flooded fields, imagining the johnboat is a gondola/Singing pidgin Venetian at the [...]

What might strike you first is that Ken Will Morton is one wordy cuss. We’re talking Tom Russell wordy. But whereas Russell favors stories of forbears and other colorful characters, Morton tends to stay first-person and look inward instead of backward. The opener, a self-directed pep talk titled “Fit To Be Tied”, demonstrates that the [...]

True to the titular address, this ain’t Primrose Lane. Those populating Sam Baylor’s songs are a struggling lot, unlucky in love and anything else that requires one to stick around. (“If you want to see me Monday, take a snapshot on Sunday,” he offers on “Free Advice”.) In fact, when Baylor — best-known for his [...]