by Josh Hurst

In 2008, the Drive-by Truckers weren’t exactly a band on the ropes — actually, they were on a winning streak that no other contemporary American band could touch — but they were certainly a band with something to prove. For one thing, they were…

Giddens and Turrisi’s latest collab is an intimate, interior record that beautifully blurs its sonic lines. Rhiannon Giddens may not be the only musician who recorded an album during lockdown, but she may be one of the best-suited for such a project. For one…

Taylor’s Version is an unnecessary work, but one that remains fascinating in the way an older, more experienced Swift slightly reshapes these songs of innocence. “I knew everything when I was young,” sang Taylor Swift on folklore, her magnificently mopey Grammy winner from 2020. Twelve…

The Moon and Stars is a masterful, singular effort and career apogee for Valerie June. As Miles Davis once said, “Sometimes it takes you a long time to sound like yourself.” This little proverb has become familiar almost to the point of cliché, but…

Promises is a masterwork of collaboration, a suite that both teaches and bestows patience, tranquility, and openness. Promises — a ravishing collaboration between Floating Points, Pharoah Sanders, and the London Symphony Orchestra — opens with a wisp: A bright smattering of notes played on…

Carnage is both a progression and double-back for Cave and Ellis, re-embracing some of their punk and sleaze of their past while still offering delicate, impressionistic texture. Nick Cave has never been one to coddle. His music demands that listeners sit for a while with…

While Willie Nelson boasts a pretty high floor and That’s Life is indeed a pleasant enough listen, it’s the also the songwriter’s least essential album in the past decade. With That’s Life, Willie Nelson finds himself two albums deep into a cycle of Frank Sinatra…

By Request is a thrilling jukebox collection, more rarified that typical covers album, and a profound response tragedy. Though barely perceptible in the music itself, A.J. Croce’s By Request arrives with an undercurrent of tragedy. Following the sudden death of his wife in 2018, Croce…

Yasmin Williams’ sophomore release builds upon the impressive instrumentation and technical expertise shown in her first album, and exhibits her ability to produce cheerful, magical compositions. Yasmin Williams composes music almost exclusively for solo guitar — a fact that’s worth emphasizing because, listening to…

Greenfields is a little muddled from numerous star-studded features, but still puts the Bee Gee’s classic songbook on display in a new light. On his third-ever solo album, last living Bee Gee Barry Gibb rarely sounds like the star of the show; at best,…