JESSE DANIEL, SON OF THE SAN LORENZO

When Jesse Daniel talks about Son of the San Lorenzo, there’s a quiet certainty in his voice. He produced the record himself, wrote and arranged each track with intention, and mapped out the arc like a story, starting with “Child Is Born” and ending with “The End.” It’s not just his fifth album. It’s a pivot point.

The title track first appeared back in 2020 on Rollin’ On, but this time around, it hits differently, slower, more reflective, and more rooted in identity. “A lot of people started calling me the ‘Son of the San Lorenzo,’” he says. “It stuck, and it gave me a sense of pride.” The nickname became the album’s title and, in many ways, its statement of purpose. This was the story he needed to tell before he could move forward.

Daniel's story runs deep. He's been clean since 2017, after years of addiction, jail, and recovery. Songs like “Crankster” and “One’s Too Many (And A Thousand Ain’t Enough)” speak plainly about that history. “He” takes a more reflective turn, written as a message to his younger self, built from the kind of hard-won advice he once got in recovery. “It helps me,” he says, “but I’m also trying to help other people.” Then there’s “Jodi,” a simple love song for his partner and longtime collaborator, Jodi Lyford. It covers a lot, addiction, loss, near-death experiences, but says it plainly. “It wasn’t easy to write,” he admits, “but it needed to be written.”

Sonically, the record pulls from the sounds that shaped him early on. “These are the deepest, most personal songs I’ve ever written,” Daniel says. “I wanted to get back to my roots, and a lot of the things I grew up on were country rock, classic rock, Southern rock, and a lot of country- and folk-influenced things.” The Byrds, the Eagles, the Flying Burrito Brothers, Led Zeppelin, the Allman Brothers, the Stones, they’re all in there. It all feeds into the way this record feels, less polished, more direct, more him.

At 32, Daniel is focused on telling his story in an open, honest way. Son of the San Lorenzo balances lived experience with bigger questions, how to use time well, how to keep creating, how to move forward without forgetting where you’re from. It’s personal, grounded, and sharp in its storytelling, a record about place, recovery, and clarity. It’s a story he needed to tell and was ready to tell it. And it couldn’t have been told better.

STERLING DRAKE, THE SHAPE I'M IN

Sterling Drake is a country singer-songwriter whose music reflects a deep connection to the American West and its traditions. Originally from South Florida, he grew up immersed in diverse musical influences, including hardcore and bluegrass, the latter introduced through his Appalachian roots.

After high school, Drake ventured west, working on ranches across several states before eventually settling in Montana. His travels, hands-on experience with the land, and the people he met along the way informed his songwriting and artistic identity, profoundly shaping his musical direction.

Following two EPs, Drake has now released his debut album, The Shape I’m In. Drawing on classic country, Delta blues, honky-tonk, Western swing, dance hall, and Celtic traditions, the album is a genre-blending exploration of roots music that feels both timeless and fresh. Recorded in East Nashville, the 14-track collection shows reverence for icons like Willie Nelson and Don Williams while establishing Drake's own individual voice. What emerges is an autobiographical album, rooted in tradition yet shaped by Drake’s own lived experiences and perspective. It’s an honest reflection of where he’s been, and where he’s going.

CHARLEY CROCKETT, LONESOME DRIFTER

It’s hard to keep up with Charley Crockett. He’s a man constantly on the move, recording and touring with the kind of urgency that’s become a signature. That includes rejecting the traditional 18- to 24-month album cycle and instead releasing new music roughly every six months for nearly a decade.

Now, the Texas-born troubadour, long known for his fiercely independent approach, is entering a new chapter with the release of his 15th album, Lonesome Drifter. After years of self-releasing music through his own label, Crockett has signed with Universal Music Group’s Island Records, marking his first major label deal. In a message to fans, he wrote, “Some say time is money. I say time is a train, and I'm running alongside of it on the only highway.” It’s a poetic line that perfectly captures his forward motion and refusal to be fenced in.

Despite the shift to a major label, Crockett secured full creative control and ownership in the deal, ensuring the freedom he’s always prized remains intact. And like his previous recordings, he worked with a sense of urgency and momentum with The Lonesome Drifter, recording it in just 10 days in Los Angeles with producer Shooter Jennings.

Musically, Lonesome Drifter is classic Crockett: storytelling-rich, rooted in country, folk, and blues, and deeply reflective of everyday struggles. “Game I Can’t Win,” inspired by Woody Guthrie, critiques systemic inequity, while “Easy Money,” born from a poem he wrote while watching Midnight Cowboy, explores illusions of fast wealth. The album closes with a bold take on George Strait’s “Amarillo By Morning”—a song Crockett initially hesitated to touch, but ultimately embraced for its honesty and grit. “I’m not George Strait,” he said. “I’m not a rodeo guy. But ‘I’m not rich, but Lord, I’m free’—that’s how I live my life.”

Crockett’s story, from busking on the streets of New Orleans, California, and Paris to handing out homemade CDs, has always been rooted in hustle, instinct, and staying true to his vision. With Lonesome Drifter, he’s not slowing down. In fact, it’s just the beginning of a planned trilogy. The second installment is already complete, and the third is underway.

Charley Crockett may be running alongside time like it’s a train on the only highway, but make no mistake, he’s the one laying down the tracks.

TOP 10 ALBUMS OF 2024

2024 was a fantastic year for new music. One of the best in recent memory. With this, here are my top ten albums of the year.

10. Phosphorescent, Revelator

I have been a big fan of Matthew Houk, aka Phosphorescent, for many years. He's a fantastic songwriter, singer, and musician and has this uncanny way of digging deep into the human condition, pulling up truths most of us try to keep buried. A highlight for me was his 2013 album, Muchacho. With Revelator, his eighth studio album and first in six years, Houk turns inwards to explore the “gravity of navigating home, partnership, and family, contemplating the dark sides bubbling beneath one's seemingly idyllic life." 

 

Houk's albums are always contemplative and heavy, but the instrumentation on Revelator creates a more dreamlike state than on past albums. It has a calming effect that is welcomed while pondering Houk's sharp introspection and the heavy truths he unearths. By the time the closing track quietly admits, "To get it right is hard to do," Houck has already shown how beautifully he’s managed to do just that. This may be my favorite Phosphorescent album to date.

9. Hurray For The Riff Raff, The Past Is Still Alive

Segarra, raised in the Puerto Rican section of the Bronx, left home at 17 to ride the rails and hitchhike across the country, eventually finding community and creative inspiration in New Orleans. This journey led to the formation of Hurray for the Riff Raff, where Segarra channeled their experiences into powerful, narrative-driven music. 

Their 2017 album The Navigator was a high point, a concept album about Navita, a 16-year-old navigating an over-gentrified city. It masterfully captured the challenges of cultural erasure and the fight to reclaim identity, blending storytelling and activism with stunning artistry. 

Segarra’s latest album, The Past Is Still Alive, delves even deeper, reflecting on their years on the road. Through vivid, autobiographical lyrics, the album explores themes of friendship, loss, identity, and the search for a true sense of home in an increasingly fractured world. Segarra’s Americana-infused indie-rock sound perfectly complements their introspective storytelling, creating a poignant and classic album.

This deeply personal album stands as a love letter to the people and places that shaped Segarra’s journey and is a reminder why of why they are one of the most compelling artists around today. The Past Is Still Alive is another wonderful album by Segarra.

8. Oisín Leech, Cold Sea

Irish singer-songwriter Oisín Leech, known for his expressive songwriting as one-half of The Lost Brothers, ventures into new territory with his debut solo album, Cold Sea. After 15 years and seven acclaimed albums with the duo, Leech delivers heartfelt storytelling and soulful melodies in a project that feels both personal and universal. While The Lost Brothers’ sound leaned on harmony and collaboration, Cold Sea embraces solitude, offering an introspective journey shaped by Donegal, Ireland's rugged landscapes and the quiet influence of poets like Seamus Heaney.

Cold Sea is a stunning exploration of space and emotion, blending sparse instrumentation with Leech’s unguarded voice. It evokes the introspective beauty of Nick Drake, balancing melancholy and hope. Produced by Steve Gunn, the album is enriched by contributions from musicians like Tony Garnier and M. Ward, giving its textured sound depth and intimacy. Tracks feel less like songs and more like streams of consciousness, touching on themes of healing, connection, and renewal.

With Cold Sea, Leech has crafted an album that lingers in the mind and heart long after the final note fades. Rich in atmosphere and emotion, Cold Sea feels timeless and is one of the year’s most memorable releases.

7. Kid Kapichi, There Goes The Neighbourhood

Hastings, UK band, Kid Kapichi, has been on quite a ride over the past five years. With their social commentary on daily life in Britain, these self-proclaimed "beat punks," have grown in popularity and stature. On their third album, There Goes The Neighbourhood, the band leans further into spotlighting the political landscape that has impacted that daily life. 

“Three terms and a potential fourth of Tory rule is enough to ‘inspire’ any band. Brexit has been the icing on the cake, and touring through it has been an experience. Seeing how our police and others around the world have protected those in power and behaved with impunity, as the right-wing legislations of our governments have become more and more radical and common, has been pretty shocking. To see how we’ve let this happen and given up our civil liberties, it is honestly scary. A lot of these thoughts have inspired the album.” -Jack Wilson, Frontman-

Kid Kapichi's rough, punk sound and catchy songs are the perfect package to deliver their acid-tongued lyrics and biting commentary. The album pulses with energy, blending gritty guitars and relentless drums with anthemic hooks that make their messages impossible to ignore. Tracks like Artillery and 999 channel raw frustration, but beneath the anger lies a defiant call for unity and resistance. The neighbourhood may be going down, but this band is clearly on their way up.

6. Color Green, Fools Parade

"All of us are fans of all types of music. We like to wear our influences on our sleeves, but we try to keep our eye on timelessness and originality within the process. We try not to be too obvious about where we’re pulling from, but rather aim to pay respect to the legends that have shaped our musical taste." -Corey Maden, Guitarist-

On their sophomore album, Fools Parade, California-based quartet Color Green straddle '70's psychedelic and southern rock as well as '60's SoCal folk-rock and '80's underground rock to great success. As soon as I started listening to it, I felt like I was revisiting a great forgotten album. 

But the real magic of Fools Parade lies in its ability to feel familiar without falling into nostalgia's trap. There’s a subtle edge throughout, as Color Green balances homage with some raw contemporary energy. Sun-drenched harmonies, wandering guitars lines, and steady rhythms evoking both the breezy charm of Laurel Canyon and the gritty allure of CBGB’s. It’s a love letter to rock’s golden eras for sure, but one written with fresh ink and a knowing wink, making it feel timeless yet undeniably of the moment. Perhaps someday I will forget about this album, but not anytime soon. 

5. Amyl And The Sniffers, Cartoon Darkness

Amyl And The Sniffers are back, and they really want you to fuck off. No, seriously—don’t even try to get comfortable. From the first note of Cartoon Darkness, frontwoman Amy Taylor greets us with a venomous spit: “You’re a dumb c**t, You’re an asshole, Every time you talk you mumble, grumble, Need to wipe your mouth after you speak cuz it’s an asshole.” After that intro, you’re either going to be shocked and/or offended and stop listening or submit to this Aussie band's brash and bodaciousness and hang on tight for the next 35 minutes. Either way, the band is not bothered. They’ve already moved on.

Cartoon Darkness is an album that doesn’t beg for your attention. It doesn't soften its edges. It's still got that relentless punk energy that made them notorious. But musically, Guitarist Declan Mehrtens has said he wanted to try and get a cleaner, less aggressive sound than what they've done in the past and experiment with some more nuanced sounds. That intentionality elevates the band's music to new heights while Taylor’s uncompromising wit still never dips below razor-sharp with her lyrics. The more you dig into Cartoon Darkness, the more you realize this is a band’s final word on anything resembling compromise. They’re unapologetic, untouchable, and undeniably one of the most exciting acts around right now.

Take them or leave them, the band really doesn't care. As Taylor has said, "If you don't like us, then that's on you." What's also on you is choosing not listening to Cartoon Darkness, and missing out on one of the best albums of the year. The ball's in your court.

 

4. Father John Misty, Mahashmashana

Let me get this out of the way: I’m not a Father John Misty fan. Since Josh Tillman stepped away from Fleet Foxes and adopted the FJM persona as a way to “spring free his sense of humor, absurdity, and playfulness,” I’ve found his music self-indulgent and pretentious. Yet, each time he releases an album, I can’t help but acknowledge his talent and the craftsmanship of his work. It’s incredibly frustrating.

Frustrating is not a word I'd use to describe FJM's sixth album, Mahashmashana. It's a fantastic work of art. Taking its title from the Sanskrit word for ‘great cremation ground,’ the album picks up where his last album, Chloë and the Next 20th Century left off, with themes of death and self-erasure. Tillman has said this is a record about removing himself entirely, which raises the question: is this the death of his FJM persona or a deeper dissolution of identity? The album’s sprawling sound ranging from lush orchestration to surreal sonic textures, creates a disorienting but powerful atmosphere, feeling more like an experience than a conventional album.

In Mahashmashana's complexity, Tillman reveals some vulnerability. As his persona steps back, the album dives into deep existential themes with more open and conflicting emotions. The playful absurdity of his earlier work is replaced by a reflective and a more fragile tone. If this truly marks the end of the FJM project, as Tillman has suggested, it feels like a powerful farewell—an elegy to a self that was never fully real.

3. Charlie Crockett, $10 Cowboy

Charlie Crockett's output of studio albums since 2015 has been prolific. Twelve in all. For me, 2022's The Man from Waco was a highlight. But his latest album, $10 Cowboy, is in a league by itself. 

“America is a place where the casino that is America is rigged in favour of the house, but you can still win. Every American knows and believes that, on some level. That’s very much what makes us American. Travelling the world, you see the darkness and the beauty in it. There’s a lot of darkness. The fact that we even get to roll the dice, I know there’s a great amount of privilege that comes at the expense of a lot of the world that we just deal with or that I’m aware of as a traveller”.

-Charlie Crockett-

Crockett is a singular storyteller, and on $10 Cowboy, he weaves stories of this America. They are ones filled with characters who are struggling and succeeding, winning and losing, but hopeful and resilient. There’s a timelessness to his approach, as though these tales could have been told over campfires or in smoky backrooms of roadside bars today. Crockett’s ability to balance the grit of hard truths with the glimmer of hope feels uniquely his own. Backed by a stellar band, with horns that dance and strings that ache, Crockett has simply never sounded better. His voice, a mixture of weariness and determination, grounds each track with authenticity. A $10 cowboy…he is not, but he sure knows how to tell their stories.

2. Laura Marling, Patterns In Repeat

"Everything you want is in your reach right now

And anything that's not I have to teach somehow

Everything about you is intuitive

So those who miss the point might rush right through it

'Cause it's fine

But I don't want to miss it, child of mine"

Laura Marling is long from the young age of sixteen when she joined her older sister in London to pursue music. Now 34, Marling is a celebrated artists who has been recognized for her art with multiple Mercury Prize, Brit Award, and Grammy nominations. Most recently for her 2020 album, Songs Of Our Daughter, which Marling described as being written to an imaginary child.

Four years later, Marling is now a mother and has written and recorded a new collection of songs on which she celebrates her daughter and finds her ruminating about motherhood, the passage of time, and all the things that we inherit from our parents and the cycles we repeat. Recorded in her living room with her four month old daughter in the room, Patterns In Repeat, Marling's eight album, is an 'open-hearted' and intimate affair. Marling has never been more captivating. Patterns In Repeat is simply one of the most beautiful albums that I have heard in years and I found myself hanging on her every word, guitar note, chord, and strum.

1. The Cure, Songs For A Lost World

In 1988, nearing the age of 30, The Cure's Robert Smith was struggling with depression, the not-so-great parting of ways with his band's co-founder, coping with the band's increased popularity, and the pressure he felt to produce their next great album. It was a dark period of time, but rather than try to escape it, Smith embraced it and used it as the source to create the band's 1989 masterpiece, Disintegration. 

Thirty five years on, at the age of 65, mourning the loss of his parents and brother, and watching his band mates loose loved ones, Smith is acutely aware of the passage of time and his own mortality. And that awareness has washed away any of the romanticizing of death and dying that he felt or sang about in his youth. And once again, rather than try to escape what is real, Smith embraces it. 

On Songs Of A Lost World, the band's first new album in 16 years, Smith sings "I know, I know that my world has grown old and nothing is forever." It's a theme that stretches out across eight epic songs that ends with Endsong on which Smith sings, "And I'm outside in the dark staring at the blood red moon. Remembering the hopes and dreams I had and all I had to do. And wondering what became of that boy and world he called his own. I'm outside in the dark wondering how I got so old." It's powerful self-reflection that captures the weight of a lifetime's experiences, woven into a hauntingly beautiful meditation of loss, memory, and the passage of time.

With its brooding and atmospheric soundscape, Songs Of A Lost World feels like a natural successor to Disintegration. The album's lush melancholic aesthetic serves the perfect backdrop for Smith's lyrics and a welcomed return to form. This is the band's best album in 35 years and their second masterpiece.

TYLER-JAMES KELLY, DREAM RIVER

As a child, Tyler-James Kelly spent countless hours at his Nanna’s house, captivated by the sounds of old 45s rather than mingling with kids his age. Drawn to 1970s country legends like Hank Williams, Jerry Reed, Merle Haggard, and Kris Kristofferson, Kelly began playing guitar at the age of ten and never looked back. His parents often joked about his "old soul," saying he must have walked into a corn maze in 1975 and never emerged. Now a seasoned songwriter and skilled guitarist, Kelly blends the vintage tones and timeless storytelling of his heroes with a contemporary edge.

His solo debut album, Dream River, was born from a time of personal change and introspection. Moving into a new home with his partner, coupled with the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic and the loss of close friends, prompted Kelly to reevaluate his artistic identity. Shedding past personas, he embraced authenticity, crafting an album steeped in the rich traditions of 1970s country music. The record delves into themes of temptation, guilt, small-town struggles, gratitude, and life's simple pleasures, all conveyed with emotional honesty and a deep respect for the genre.

Recorded with contributions from top-tier musicians, Dream River beautifully captures the essence of American roots music. Standout tracks include the lilting waltz of the title song, the honky-tonk energy of "Travelin' Troubadour," and the haunting ballad "Hard Times." With his commanding baritone voice and wonderful guitar work, Kelly seeks to honor the legacy of country and folk music while creating timeless stories that resonate across generations. He does all of this with great success. Dream River is a wonderful, standout album in a year of a lot of great music. 

LAUREL LEWIS, LAUREL LEWIS

Laurel Lewis sounds well beyond her years on her self-titled album. Growing up in Appalachia, Lewis saw the struggle of those around her. She also experienced her own growing up in an unstable household. Her parents loved her, but not always well and not always how she needed them to. It forced Lewis to grow up fast, and often left her feeling painful and with overwhelming emotions without the tools she needed to address them. So she wrote them down.

For so long, Lewis has said that she didn't enjoy her life. She felt miserable and anxious and questioned the reason to keep going. But she says that "everything gets better in the morning. Everything always gets better when the sun comes out. Equipped with her words and music, Lewis looks to shine a light on the things that try to hide in the darkness. It's a warm and healing light and it's a beautiful thing to experience.

 

CHARLIE CROCKETT, $10 COWBOY

Charlie Crockett's output of studio albums since 2015 has been prolific. Twelve in all! For me, 2022's The Man from Waco was a highlight. But his latest album, $10 Cowboy is in a league by itself. 

“America is a place where the casino that is America is rigged in favour of the house, but you can still win. Every American knows and believes that, on some level. That’s very much what makes us American. Travelling the world, you see the darkness and the beauty in it. There’s a lot of darkness. The fact that we even get to roll the dice, I know there’s a great amount of privilege that comes at the expense of a lot of the world that we just deal with or that I’m aware of as a traveller”.

Charlie Crockett

Crockett is a singular storyteller, and on $10 Cowboy, he weaves stories of this America. They are ones filled with characters who are struggling and succeeding, winning and losing, but hopeful and resilient. There’s a timelessness to his approach, as though these tales could have been told over campfires or in smoky backrooms of roadside bars today. Crockett’s ability to balance the grit of hard truths with the glimmer of hope feels uniquely his own. Backed by a stellar band, with horns that dance and strings that ache, Crockett has simply never sounded better. His voice, a mixture of weariness and determination, grounds each track with authenticity. A $10 cowboy…he is not, but he sure knows how to tell their stories.

SIERRA FERRELL, TRAIL OF FLOWERS

Sierra Ferrell is a rising star in roots music, known for her distinctive blend of old-time, bluegrass, honky-tonk, and folk. Born in West Virginia, she gained widespread recognition with her debut album Long Time Coming, earning the Emerging Act of the Year at the Americana Honors & Awards. Since then, Ferrell has collaborated with artists like Margo Price, Zach Bryan, Diplo, and the Black Keys, captivating audiences across North America and Europe.

Her sophomore album Trail of Flowers, produced by Eddie Spear and Gary Paczosa, deepens her sound while preserving her whimsical, imaginative storytelling. The album spans a range of styles, from bluegrass to haunting ballads, and reflects Ferrell's personal experiences and reflections on modern life, including themes like the struggle for the "American dream" in the face of capitalism (American Dreaming) and the importance of self-sufficiency (Fox Hunt).

Ferrell’s unique voice and poetic lyrics shine on tracks like Dollar Bill Bar and the playful I Could Drive You Crazy, while Chittlin’ Cookin’ Time in Cheatham County honors the history of blues and old-time music. With a love for flowers that inspired the album title, Trail of Flowers is a rich, heartfelt collection that invites listeners to find comfort and healing through her music.

ON ROTATION

 Lots of great music. Not enough time to write about it all...but here's what's on rotation for me right now. 

Miles Miller, Solid Gold

Victoria Bailey, A Cowgirl Rides On 

ON ROTATION

 Lots of great music. Not enough time to write about it all...but here's what's on rotation for me right now. 

Vincent Neil Emerson, The Golden Crystal Kingdom

Cat Power, Sings Dylan:The 1966 Royal Albert Hall Concert

BRENT COBB, SOUTHERN STAR

I have been a big fan of Brent Cobb's music since I first listened to his debut album, Shine On a Rainy Day in 2016. Over the past seven years, Cobb has continued to grace us with albums and songs that celebrate and spotlight his southern roots and the rich musical heritage of the south. Given all this, one would think that the naming of his latest album, Southern Star, is a kind of omage to those things that have been a guiding light for him and his music. They are in a way. But Southern Star is an actual place. 

Southern Star is a small,'seedy' little bar, as Cobb describes it, about 45 minutes outside of Nashville. It is here where Cobb would hang out with guitarist and mentor 'Rowdy', Jason Cope. Cope passed a way a few years ago, but he is always with Cobb. In an interview, Cobb said about his friend, "I often thought about my buddy as someone who sort of behind the scenes had a lot of influence on a lot of people, but they may not even be aware of it. He never got to be a superstar, but if nothing else he was a Southern star.....I miss him everyday." 

Southern Star is a kind of love letter to Cobb's home state of George which from the outside looking in might be a bit eye-brow raising given much of the state's history. But Cobb has a response to those raises. "Where I’m from, every school I went to, we’re all mixed in together down here. We’re living and praying and learning and working all together. It’s easy to be on the outside and look in, and go, ‘Man, the South, what a terrible place.’ And there are some terrible things that still happen to this day, and historically that are terrible, but for the most part we’re all living and working and eating and breathing together. You don’t hear about that side of the South so much. But I think that’s why the music from here is so influencing and so profound – it isn’t just one way. And you got people that obviously have had to struggle and people who still struggle to this day, but that’s where the good shit comes from. That’s where the great art comes from, for better or worse.

Cobb is a wonderful artist makes wonderful art and Southern Star is a wonderful addition to his ever growing and celebrated body of work. 

ROSE CITY BAND, GARDEN PARTY

Ripley Johnson is a guitarist and musician that I has been making his own blend of psychedelic and experimental rock with his band Wooden Shjips and musical project Moon Duo for many years. While I have been a big fan of Johnson's, I will confess that some of his music has been a bit too experimental for my taste. So I was very excited in 2020 when he stepped out with his third and most approachable band/project Rose City Band. In the studio, Rose City has been more or less a solo project for Johnson. It's one that has him leaning heavily into a fantastic blend of country and psychedelic rock. On his latest album, Garden Party, Johnson pays a bit of homage to the Grateful Dead and prepares us for summer with a set of songs that will keep you movin' and groovin' and put a big smile on your face.

JD Clayton, Long Way From Home

The pandemic was the worst of times that JD Clayton managed to turn into the best of times, musically speaking. The coffee shop where Clayton worked shut down, so he signed on with a landscape company working on heavy commercial and residential projects. Driving from job to job, Clayton would throw on his headphones and listen to old albums and then write songs. The Band, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Creedence Clearwater Revival....Clayton became enamored by the production choices and musicality of those records and it helped reframe his own music.

 

"Arkansas, where I’m from, is the natural state. So I felt like I needed to get back to my roots and start making music that felt natural and organic,” he explains. “Production needed to be basic and simplistic with a focus on the story and the song. We would plug in a mic, set it in front of an amp, and let the player share their own story with their instrument. Now, that’s making music.” 

On his debut album, Long Way From Home, JD Clayton's songs and music reflects this simplicity. Clayton is not trying to push any boundaries or create a big bang to attract an audience. He lets his songs and storytelling speak for themselves. In this regard, there is a level of earnestness and genuineness to Clayton's songs that I rarely experience on a debut album. It's a joy to listen to and take in. Now, that's music.

 

Texas Hill, Heaven Down Here

Adam Wakefield, Casey James, and Craig Wayne Boyd have all enjoyed individual success as musicians. Yet, they all are part a unique club of musicians. All three initially found notoriety and fame after competing on music competition shows; Wakefield and Boyd on The Voice and James on American Idol. 

In 2019 the three met and became fast appreciators of each others abilities as song-writers and musicians and from there Texas Hill was born. Now, three years later, they have released their debut album Heaven Down Here. And it is a great one.

As a trio, Wakefield, James, and Boyd not only bring out the best in each other, they also just sound so darn terrific together. Talk about inspired vocal harmonies. As Wakefield said about their vocals in a recent interview, "We have our own sound as a collective, and nothing shows that more than when we flip parts around and still sound the same. These three timbres together, regardless of what register they're in, they create their own sound." That sound shines throughout this collection of twelve great songs. As Sounds Like Nashville best wrote, "With its real-life-inspired lyricism and multi-genre stylistic influences - which melds soul, R&B, country, southern rock, and even some Memphis blues - Heaven Down Here encapsulates the true spirit of down-home music." And who can't use more of that?

 

Dori Freeman, Ten Thousand Roses

I've been a big fan of Appalachian born Dori Freeman since I first heard her sophomore album, Letters Never Read. I was immediately taken by every aspect of Freeman's music and musicianship. More than most artists that I have experienced, Freeman just presents herself with such genuineness and authenticity. I honestly cannot recall another artist who's strength, confidence, and humbleness can be sensed and felt simultaneously in their music.   

Working with an expanded band that includes her husband, drummer and producer Nickolas Falk, Freeman finds a new musical footing on her latest album, Ten Thousand Roses. It's one that is a joy to hear and experience as it brings sonic textures to her music that make Freeman's songs, with their sharp and thoughtful lyrics and wonderful melodies and choruses, pop and soar. For those familiar with Freeman, it's about as far away from Ern & Zorry's Sneakin' Bitin' Dog as she can get. But musically I will say that Freeman is in exactly the right place right now and I hope that Ten Thousand Roses introduces Freeman to a wider audience.

Charlie Marie, Ramble On

The first time I heard Charlie Marie's debut album Rambling On, it just blew my socks off. This does not happen that often with me. But right from the beginning I knew that I was discovering and experiencing something special. 

"I wanted the record to sound like if Patsy Cline and Dwight Yoakam had a child...It doesn't just symbolize everything I'm working toward: it symbolizes where I come from, too."

Marie, who grew up in Rhode Island, fell in love with country music at a young age. By her mid-teens she was fronting a band and playing fairs and festivals in New England...a far cry from the heart of country music land. That all changes when she made her way to Nashville for college. There, Marie honed her songwriting skills. Writing songs about her own experiences, Marie portrayed herself not as some 'guitar-strumming southern belle, but as a proud outsider who had fallen in love with country while living far from the genre's Bible Belt headquarters.' 

You can hear Nashville by way of Rhode Island in Marie's songwriting. While she no doubt pays homage to her musical idols and influences, she is not afraid to step outside their very traditional country lanes. It is how she so perfectly balances the two that sets her songwriting and songs apart from so many others. 

I will say that Marie's debut album is simply a stunner. It's a classic country affair for the times that we are living in today and by far one of best albums that I have heard so far this year.