CD Reviews

Miranda Lambert Jack Ingram Jon Randall
The Marfa Tapes

While Miranda Lambert is the biggest celebrity in a threesome that also includes Jack Ingram and Jon Randall, she's just one member of a songwriting power trio on "The Marfa Tapes." Each participant is a country songwriting superstar, even though many casual mainstream country fans may ...

Thomas Rhett
Country Again: Side A

Thomas Rhett is in the artistic zone. Rhett Atkins' boy never really struggled to get noticed, but starting around 2015, his impact went nuclear – "Die A Happy Man" wasn't just a number one, but a monster that stayed there for two months. The ACM Award for Entertainer of the ...

Luke Bryan
Born Here Live Here Die Here deluxe

If there's one thing Luke Bryan knows how to do, it's to stay in his lane. And why not? It often leads to great chart position. The Deluxe edition of his seventh album "Born Here, Live Here, Die Here" was born out of the pandemic tour stoppage. It includes six new songs and ...

Carrie Underwood
My Savior

Carrie Underwood's gospel music album may not be traditional in the sense that she sings these songs the same way she heard them as a child growing up. However, on the traditional/modern country music spectrum, this album leans closer to traditional country music than just about anything ...

Wild & Blue
Restless

The debut release from the Santa Cruz, Cal. father/daughter duo known as Wild & Blue is a pleasing mix of classic country and '60s soul. Dad Steve Bennett is the creative force of the family band writing all of the nine original tracks, but the album is driven by the powerful vocals of daughter April Bennett. ...

Sara Watkins
Under the Pepper Tree

Understand that this is a children's album. Yet, if you're looking for the sounds of Sara Watkins with her groups Nickel Creek and I'm With Her bandmates, they are here on "Under the Pepper Tree," just not in the way you typically hear them. The album also features guest ...

Melissa Carper
Daddy's Country Gold

Singer/songwriter and upright bassist Melissa Carper is the genuine article. Her style evokes greats like Kitty Wells, Billie Holiday and Loretta Lynn, as heard in the dozen tunes on "Daddy's Country Gold." The "daddy" is not her father, but in a way the title owes to him too. ...

David Olney and Anana Kaye
Whispers and Sighs

With the passing of David Olney in January 2020, "Whispers and Sighs" serves not only as a posthumous tribute to the singer/songwriter, but as a document that his gift remained intact until the end. Olney shares the spotlight and co-wrote all tracks with Nashville-based singer/songwriter ...

Jason Ringenberg
Rhinestoned

He's been called the 'godfather of Americana,' and while memory of folks like Gram, the rest of The Byrds, John Stewart and many others may challenge the assertion, it is safe to suggest that Jason Ringenberg is nothing less than the Americana's Fun Uncle. A central figure in the ...

Mando Saenz
All My Shame

Texas native Mando Saenz, once part of the burgeoning Austin scene, has spent the better part of the last 15 years as a musician and songwriter in Music City. He delivered three solo albums in that time but "All My Shame" marks his first in eight years. He's also penned songs for Lee ...

Nate Fredrick
Different Shade of Blue

This is the debut for Nashville-based, Missouri born and raised Nate Fredrick. While he's relatively new to songwriting, his name is on all 11 tracks, nine of them with eight different co-writers. Yet the album sounds much more familiar, comfortable and in its own way, 'old' rather than new. ...

Simon Flory
Haul These Blues Away

Simon Flory invites you into his infectious sound, taking a cue perhaps from the infamous Townes Van Zandt's "White Freight Liner," with his opening "Peter Mack Built a Semi-Truck" and its title phrase, a plea to "haul these blues away." Born in rural Indiana to a ...

Hailey Whitters
Living the Dream

Hailey Whitters has reissued her "The Dream" album as "Living The Dream" with five bonus collaboration songs. With these added treats, it makes a good album even better. The weakest of the new additions is "Fillin' My Cup" with Little Big Town. ...

Sara Petite
Rare Bird

San Diego's Sara Petite wants to make sure you know that she has come up the hard way – no big record deals or over-the-top fawning from industry types. The title "Rare Bird," her sixth studio album, says it as did her previous album, 2016's "The Road Less Traveled. ...

Willie Nelson
That's Life

Willie Nelson's decades-old explorations into the Great American Songbook continue with his second Frank Sinatra tribute in less than three years - the solid and satisfying "That's Life." As with its 2018 predecessor "My Way," Nelson once again joined forces with the ...

Mac Leaphart
Music City Joke

Nashville-based, South Carolinian singer-songwriter Mac Leaphart is a storyteller of first order, evoking John Prine and Hayes Carll. It's perhaps no coincidence that Carll's producer, Brad Jones, is at the helm for Leaphart's "Music City Joke," filled with wry humor, plenty ...

Rod Abernethy
Normal Isn't Normal Anymore

Sometimes a listener can be humbled to confess little to no knowledge of the artist. So, the first step is to go to the credits. In the case of singer-songwriter/educator/master guitarist Rod Abernethy, we notice Neilson Hubbard (Mary Gauthier, Kim Richey, Wild Ponies) is the producer/drummer and ...

Uncle Walt's Band
Recorded Live at Waterloo Ice House

Originally released in 1982 as a 14-song set recorded at Austin's Waterloo Ice House, this expanded edition of 21 tracks by the trio of Walter Hyatt, Champ Hood and David Ball is an entertaining mix of originals and nicely chosen covers. Hyatt contributes one of the stronger country ...

Pony Bradshaw
Calico Jim

James "Pony" Bradshaw's "Calico Jim" is unlike almost any singer-songwriter album you'll hear due to the imagery he conjures up, but especially by his unique phrasing. It would be downright difficult to imagine anyone other than Bradshaw singing these songs, which ...

Justin Moses
Fall Like Rain

If one were to put together an elite group of acoustic bluegrass players and furnish them with a strong mix of original and cover songs, it would be nearly impossible to surpass what multi-instrumentalist/vocalist/songwriter Justin Moses has created with "Fall Like Rain." The self-produced ...