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Meghan Trainor Is More Than Playing
Listening to Meghan Trainor, it is hard to believe she hails from Nantucket, Massachusetts. It is easy to believe, though, that she only recently turned 21. The Grammy-nominated pop singer and songwriter gushes with youthful exuberance over the phenomenal success she has had in the past nine months. Indeed, 2014 was quite a year for…
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Brandi Carlile: The Firewatcher's Daughter
Sometimes, on a record, individual tracks stand out on the very first listen — for better or worse — but the collection, as a whole, takes a few more spins to really sink in. Even then, it might not fully come together as a cohesive listening experience although it might still be enjoyable when taken…
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Transformation and Translation: An Interview with Laura Marling
With her fifth album in seven years dropping later this month, Laura Marling is about as prolific as musicians come. And, being cut from the same cloth as Joni Mitchell and Nick Drake, she\’s also as out-of-the-box as singer/songwriters get. That combination has garnered her multiple accolades, to be sure, but it has also brought…
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Five Questions: Elana James
Elana James has been playing music since she was four years old. At that very young age, she took up her mother\’s instrument — classical violin — and continued those studies while getting a degree in comparative religion at Columbia University. Along the way from there to here, James switched over to fiddle, worked as…
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Andrew Combs: All These Dreams
Prince was right: Albums still matter. And Andrew Combs seems to know that. He also seems to know that songs and production also matter, if the album is to be worth its weight in vinyl. On All These Dreams, it\’s obvious — even with a casual listen — that Combs put his focus on the…
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Drew Holcomb, Holly Williams: Hometown Goodness at Ryman Auditorium
Drew Holcomb is an interesting case study. Though he crafts readily accessible melodies, he doesn\’t pander lyrically to the lowest common denominator. He\’s not up there singing, “Oh, baby baby.” He\’s singing about gratitude for a lost love, acceptance of personal vulnerabilities, and respect for life\’s challenges. And that\’s how he started his sold-out show…
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Refined, Restrained, and Just About Perfect: Gretchen Peters at the Franklin Theatre
Downtown Franklin, Tenn., provided the perfect setting last Friday night for Gretchen Peters\’ album release party/performance. Like the record, the town\’s Main Street is charming, pristine, and just a little bit out of the way. And, also like the record, the performance was refined, restrained, and just about perfect. As she made her way through…
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Brandi Carlile: More to the Story
Most singers blessed with robust voices these days are content to fly their melodies as high and wide as possible, forsaking the song for the histrionics and allowing auto-tune to do the rest with no real craft to be found anywhere in the process. But, for Brandi Carlile, her voice is the instrument through which…
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The Bros. Landreth: Let It Lie
It\’s a little hard to believe that the Bros. Landreth hail from Winnipeg, Manitoba, because of how well they carry the Southern rock mantle of the Allman Brothers on their debut album, Let It Lie. Led by David and Joey Landreth, the foursome does an admirable job of copping a style and a sensibility foreign…
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Kristin Diable: Create Your Own Mythology
Kristin Diable\’s Create Your Own Mythology is an absolute gem of a record. Right out of the gate, the first track is equal parts Dusty Springfield, Lissie, and Neko Case, bringing the best from those renowned artists to bear in one crazy-great piece. Next up, “Hold Steady” deploys a slinky, shuffling groove and stretches out…