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Matthew Perryman Jones: The Waking Hours
\”One day I’ll know as I am known,” Matthew Perryman Jones sings in “Happy,” the opening track of his fantastic new album, The Waking Hours. The line is both a hopeful prayer and a knowing promise that tugs at the heartstrings of the song cycle: the idea of letting control go and giving ourselves over…
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10 String Symphony: Generation Frustration
Millennial memes are a dime a dozen these days. If the rumors are true, they have traded homeownership for avocado toast, courtship for hook-ups, bongs for vapes, and low rises for high waists. How much can we really expect from the generation that has killed mayonnaise, in the end? A lot, actually. Because all that…
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Rodney Crowell: Acoustic Classics
At different points in our lives, we all take a moment to look back and reflect upon the steps that led us to where we are. We take stock of the things that worked and the things that didn\’t, the lessons we learned and the hardships we endured. It\’s all part of the process of…
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Amy Ray
A lot of artists defy categorization. Some do so because they are tirelessly searching for the place they fit, while others are constantly chasing trends. Some, though, are genuinely exploring and expressing their myriad influences. Amy Ray belongs in the latter group. Pulling from every direction — Patty Griffin to Patti Smith, Big Star to…
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River Whyless: Kindness, a Rebel
There are a number of elements that go into making a band a great band. Quality songwriting and engaging performances are certainly on the list. But one of the most basic pieces of that puzzle? A creative drummer. Four-on-the-floor is fine, of course. It has gotten a LOT of jobs done. Still, you can tell…
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Kaia Kater: Grenades
“You know me. Ain’t you seen me before?” Kaia Kater asks in “The Heavenly Track,” off her new release, Grenades. She answers with, “I’m the comfort of the stranger in the writings on the stall.” The album is full of quietly explosive lines like that, details of life rendered with precision, purpose, and poetry. “I…
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Indigo Girls: Live with the University of Colorado Symphony Orchestra
Live music, when it\’s good, is a full-body experience. It is an energetic give and take between the artist and the audience. That\’s why live albums have such a hard time capturing a concert well. At best, if you saw that particular show or tour, a live record makes for a nice souvenir. With a…
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Lori McKenna: The Tree
Truth is something that we each have our own version of, based on our unique perspective of a shared world. Two people could look at the same building from different sides and describe seemingly disparate experiences. One sees windows. One does not. Each tells their truth of that moment in this world, without elision or…
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Birdtalker: One
In her stunningly brilliant piece, Nanette, comedian Hannah Gadsby talks about how jokes have two parts: tension and release. The performer creates the former in order to provide the latter and, essentially, come out looking like a champ. She laughs that it\’s a somewhat abusive relationship, that of comedian and audience. Songs can be similarly…
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Lera Lynn: Plays Well with Others
Finding your voice, as an artist, is a multi-faceted endeavor. There\’s the style of singing that, albeit weighted with inherent gifts, still demands work on technique and timbre to be really great. Then there\’s the craft of songwriting which requires even more effort to hone. Figuring out what to say and how to say it,…