​Rhiannon Giddens & Justin Robinson (from the album What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow available on Nonesuch Records) (by Bryant Liggett)
Rhiannon Giddens and Justin Robinson make dance music. Sonically, it is difficult to decipher if the tunes on their latest release were recorded in 1925 or 2025, and you can label it whatever genre you choose. Its stripped down, string heavy, and non-electric Folk music via its instrumentation, aggressive with a head-bobbing and feet moving compliments, a repetitive and rhythmic nature that gives it a trance vibe.
What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow is all that and more, two former Carolina Chocolate Drops members delivering a living music and history lesson via songs that take the audio back a century, as taught to Giddens and Robinson by their mentor, the late North Carolina musician Joe Thompson, a music master well-versed in the old-school scene of the Tarheel State. The term ‘ripper’ may not have been tossed around in 1939 to describe a cut like “Going to Raleigh” but that’s what it is. The same term applies to “Pumpkin Pie”, “Ryestraw”, and “Old Molly Hare”, the fiddle and clawhammer banjo driving an aggressive and pushy rhythm. “Country Waltz” will have you two-stepping around your house, “Ducks Eyeball” and “Ebenezer” are animated bouncers, and “Molly Put the Kettle On” and “Love Somebody” are driven by wooden-percussion. 
The entire recording of What Did the Blackbird Say to the Crow is wonderfully loose, aided by including the before and after song banter caught by leaving the tape rolling. That ear into the studio lets you dig into the recording session, pulling you further into the songs. (by Bryant Liggett)
 
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​Fantastic Cat (Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat (Deluxe Edition) available on Missing Piece Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
As anyone who has spent more than a minute with bands has noticed, from first-gig to stadium shows, reaching a mutual decision between members can be daunting. This is especially true for lead singers who are required to put down the tambourine and microphone case they carry into venues during load-in to think about answers to questions. Fantastic Cat plays host to four lead singers, Anthony D’Amato, Brian Dunne, Mike DiLego, and Mike Montali. To ease any in-fighting or resentments, the band has chosen album titles are appealing in simplicity, though each title comes complete with a wink and a sly smile. The debut release from the band of multi-instrumentalists, 2022’s The Very Best of Fantastic Cat, was followed in 2024 with Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat. Keeping in theme, and squelching any possible complaints, Fantastic Cat has a recent release titled, Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat Now That’s What I Call Fantastic Cat (Deluxe Edition).
For their deluxe edition status, the band includes all the tracks from NTWICFC v1, and adds an acoustic version with, “Later On – Spayed and Neutered” and a live version of “The Hammer and The Nail”, with its classic hook line: ‘sometimes you’re the hammer and sometimes you’re the nail; lately I just keep on getting screwed’. In addition, two outtakes from the session, “Goodnight My Darling” and “Sometimes Things Never Change” are a part of the package. For the recording of “Goodnight My Darling”, DonDiLego recalls that the cut ‘was written for a band that didn’t exist yet. I always had a vision for a collaborative project like this with other songwriters, where everyone could add their creative stamp to the songs. I think we rehearsed this one a couple times and then recorded it our very first day in the studio, and you can hear us already starting to click. Somewhat mysteriously and serendipitously, the tapes for this track disappeared or got erased, so what you hear on the recording is exactly what we did in the studio that day. We never really got to go back and “fix” anything. Thank God’. 
The tracks on NTWICFCNTWICFC mirror its namesake, and sound as good as on the 2024 release. Fantastic Cat roar into the album with first cut “Oh, Man!”, shrugging for the whatever-story of “I Don’t Know Why” and admit “Sometimes Your Heroes Let You Down” as the band hammer a beat into the admissions of “All My Fault”. (by Danny McCloskey)
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​Vicki Peterson, John Cowsill (from the album Long Time After the Fire available on JoviWorks/Label 51 Recordings/Flatiron Recordings) (by Danny McCloskey)
Husband and wife duo Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill offer a beautifully crafted love letter to John’s siblings, Bill and Barry Cowsill. Both brothers have passed away, and the recent release from the couple, Long After the Fire, collects songs written by both Bill and Barry. The album opens with a hearty dose of twang, with John Cowsill taking the lead vocal, and sharing that ‘I love how the track swings. It kicks ass. I get to pretend I'm Elvis or Dwight Yoakam on this one. It has the type of twang and is a hoot to play live. While recording, I remember trying to practice a double shuffle on drums in the studio on this one, but I couldn't get it down, so what you hear is the single shuffle. My brother Bill would've wanted the single shuffle the listener hears on the recording. He would not want what Bill would call a 'Hollywood Shuffle', where the drummer swings the shuffle beats on the snare drums instead of just playing the backbeats on the 2 and the 4’. A dreamscape melody wraps around “Come to Me” where Vicki Peterson takes the lead for the story. Long After the Fire hears Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill trading vocals and blending in harmony seamlessly. A true partnering of voices.
Claiming a long music business pedigree, both Vicki and John have enjoyed careers as crucial members of numerous bands. A founding member of The Bangles, Vicki Peterson has remained part of the band through inception, break-up, and reformation as well as joining sister-in-law Susan Cowsill for multiple projects, including the Continental Drifters and The Psycho Sisters. John Cowsill began work as a full-time band member at seven years old when he found himself sitting behind the drums for his family’s band, The Cowsills. He has been a part of The Beach Boys touring band for twenty years and both Vicki and John have been included on multiple high-profile projects including Tom Petty, John Doe, The Go-Go’s, Hootie & The Blowfish (Vicki) and Bob Dylan, The Mama’s & The Papa’s, Jan and Dean, Harry Chapin, and Mickey Dolenz (John). 
The duo’s debut, Long After the Fire, delivers a wide range of styles, presenting the tracks as intelligent Pop music. A Country touch inhabits “Vagabond” as a determined beat backs the Rock’n’Soul of “Sound on Sound” while a slow-dance heartbeat guides the crooner asking “Is Anybody Here” and a Rock’n’Roll groove drives “Downtown”. A beautiful message of love is the muse for “When Heart Collide” as Long After the Fire watches taillights fade in “Don’t Look Back” and counts “A Thousand Times” on a honky tonk sway as Vicki Peterson and John Cowsill exit the album singing of mortality in “Ol’ Timeless”. (by Danny McCloskey)
 
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​Johnny Iguana (from the album At Delmark available on Delmark Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
As leader for The Claudettes, Johnny Iguana carved a musical niche for the Garage Band Cabaret genre. As a composer, he created the score for the television series, The Bear (along with writing partner, JQ). For his recent release, Johnny Iguana is solo, sitting behind the piano for the instrumentally sound album, At Delmark. Much like his piano-playing hero, Otis Spann, Johnny’s keyboard playing is grounded in Chicago Blues. In 1994, Johnny Iguana was summoned from his New York City home to Chicago to join the Junior Wells Blues Band Each and every note of At Delmark echoes with the Blues, as his piano playing forms a big band sound with just eighty-eight keys. 
Opening At Delmark with a rowdy bounce, “Bass Key Boogie” busts open the door of the album, setting the standard for the tunes and bringing on the beat for dancing feet. A slowly, measured piano ramble scores “For Dancers Only” as fingers fly on the ivories to deliver “You Belong to Me” while bass notes gather like thunderclouds to hammer out “Riff Raff” and playful not patterns float across the deep rhythms of “Welcome Distractions”. Johnny Iguana presents a keyboard master class with At Delmark, showcasing the many moods and melodies that can be coaxed, pounded, and conjured on piano keys. The tone is as chaotic as the thought of “Tripping in a French Ambulance” as piano notes are shaken like dice for “Roll ‘Em” while the playing is loose for the freeform fantasies of “One More for the Cleaning Crew” and rattles with rhythm in “Messin’ with the Kid”. At Delmark presents re-worked classics from a handful of other artists when Johnny Iguana offers a somber take on Neil Young’s “Heart of Gold” and barrel-rolls Chuck Berry with his cover of “You Never Can Tell”. (by Danny McCloskey)
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​Julien Baker, Torres (from the album Send a Prayer My Way available on Matador Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
Light acoustics opens Send a Prayer My Way, a co-led, joint project release by singer/songwriters Julien Baker (boy genius) and Torres. The first cut, “Dirt”, is dual confession from two women singing the way of the Outlaw; a leaving story that holds its head up high. Send a Prayer My Way stays close to the Outlaw theme, admitting to being “Off the Wagon” on a sluggish groove as angular chords and a determined beat offer a foundation as an on-the-edge relationship unravels in “Tape Runs Out”, Country Folk searches for answers in “Bottom of the Bottle”, and tops off its love in “Sugar in the Tank”.
The catalyst of Send a Prayer My Way was sparked when Julien Baker and TORRES first shared a stage in 2016. In an after-show conversation the idea ‘let’s make a Country album’ surfaced. Send a Prayer My Way is the result of the pairing from two singer/songwriters, taking time as they navigate healthy careers to create a side project gem. “Tuesday” spins its tale out of a rolling rhythm as raw strums lead into “No Desert Flower” while Julien Baker and TORRES combine voices for “Sylvia” and ride a Country sway as they display “The Last Marble I Have Left”. (by Danny McCloskey)
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​Fort Frances (from the album We Will Stop Time available on Roadblock Records) (by Bryant Liggett)
You’ll wander into Fort Frances to follow their seductive piano Pop that comes with a DIY aesthetic; you’ll stay for the hearty Rock riffs they manage to slip in all over the band’s debut album. Their latest in We Will Stop Time is loaded with plenty of ear-catchiness via Pop-tunes while the Chicago-based band also manages to throw some surprises your way.
Album opener, “Burn This House Down”, is anthemic, the great line ‘Happy Birthday baby, lets burn this house down’ is ripe for a full crowd sing-along. “Be The River” is a solid piano ballad that’s positive and uplifting while one of the aforementioned surprises comes via “Goodbye to the Hard Times”, a cut that offers a solid stoner Rock riff. “Till the Wheels Fall Off” is uber-catchy treading into Jam Band territory thanks to Southern Rock inspired guitar fills. That same slinking guitar introduces “There We Are”, another cut that builds like a stadium Rock cut.
“This May Be as Far as We Can Go” brings back the same slowly moving guitar intro as Fort Frances drop a tender nod to their hometown in “Chicago”. The We Will Stop Time closer, “Let Everything Go”, lays out a load of emotion. This record is both celebratory and sad, an emotional intelligent Pop album that’s anthemic, dramatic, and all around a big presence. Fort Frances have delivered a killer album!.  (by Bryant Liggett)
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​Turnpike Troubadours (from the album The Price of Admission available on Boosier City Records/Thirty Tigers)
There an easy sway to “On the Red River”, the track that opens The Price of Admission, the recent release from Turnpike Troubadours. The playing cradles the memories of the tale, the album title grabbed from a line in the song; “pain is the price of admission’. The sounds on The Price of Admission are Red Dirt gold, Folk Country Roots, delivered by a band that pretty much defines the genre. The calm demeanor the band uses to deliver the cuts hides a group that is on the fast-track of a busy schedule. Turnpike Troubadours began the own Boys from Oklahoma stadium run in April, and will be performing a series of July dates on Willie Nelson’s 10th Anniversary Outlaw Music Festival Tour, as well as joining Zach Bryan on European dates. The songs on the album are from the pen of TT frontman Evan Felker, who is joined on co-writes with Ketch Secor (Old Crow Medicine Show) for “On the Red River”, Dave Simonett (solo, Dead Man Winter, Trampled by Turtles) on “Leaving Town (Woody Guthrie Festival)”, and fellow Oklahoman John Fullbright (“Searching for a Light”).  
 
A sturdy beat brings in the tale in “What Was Advertised” while a heartbeat rhythm fortifies the marching cadence of the lyrics and choral vocals found on “Be Here” as a fiddle-driven reel propels the tale in “The Devil Plies His Trade (Sn 6 Ep3)” and Country sway encourages a dance floor spin for “A Lie Agreed Upon”. Turnpike Troubadours have carved out their own unique niche for the style of Red Dirt Roots Music, Country, and Americana. The Price of Admission slows to a walk as it searches for lost love in “Forgiving You” and introduces “Ruby Ann” on a runaway rhythm while Turnpike Troubadours exit the album singing a song of acceptance in “Nothing You Can Do”. (by Danny McCloskey)
 
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​Valerie June (from the album Owls, Omens, and Oracles available on June Tunes Music/Concord)
A sense of mystical magic surrounds Valerie June. Her persona and her music are inseparable. On her recent release, Owls, Omens, and Oracles she dons the mantle of a Medicine Woman when the album banishes skepticism and doom scrolling with its optimistic outlook. Armed with pen and paper, laughter and truth, Valerie June opens the album on a rumble of rhythm as she points out ‘there is a light you find if you stop to take the time’ among other kernels of wisdom collected in “Joy, Joy”. She layers on the good that is within reach as she counsels to ‘find joy, joy in your soul’. A heartbeat welcomes a DIY guide to counter the ever-present conflict seeking to keep us distracted in “Endless Tree”. The story offers encouragement and suggests that we need to take action after listening to sage advice, ‘a world where we can be free as branches of an endless tree…and may you seek and find it, and though we may not all agree, still live together peacefully’.  Sensing a theme? Valerie June offers a salve for modern times with grace and poise. A loving teacher who delivers options in words and music. 
 
Produced by M. Ward, Owls, Omens, and Oracles sends a powerful message cradled in gentle rhythms with “Love and Let Go” as Valerie June admits “My Life is a Country Song”, walks across a chorus of beats to hammer in the truisms of “Superpower”, and lets the sonics come back to easy guitar plucking complemented by the power in her voice for “Missin’ You (Yeah Yeah)”. The divide between performer and audience is erased as Valerie June supports our journey, and advises to “Trust the Path” as she pushes us out of the nest with her own experiences, assuring that her steps can become ours. The ambient sound of nature is the bed that she uses to speak her words in the acapella harmonies of “Calling My Spirit” as Valerie June is joined by The Blind Boys of Alabama for the funky groove of “Changed”.
 
Valerie June will be the subject of a new exhibit opening at the National Museum of African American Music (NMAAM) in Nashville, Tennessee. Her exhibit feature artifacts such as instruments, clothing, published works, and other items from her storied career. The unveiling will take place on Saturday, April 26, at 12:30pm CT. Valerie June will be at th3 exhibit in person to discuss her new album as well as providing a guided meditation and reading. The event will be livestreamed globally. More details at NMAAM website. (by Danny McCloskey)
 
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​Susto Stringband (from the album Susto Stringband, Volume 1 available on New West Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
The recent collaborative release from SUSTO frontman, Justin Osbourne, seems less like a side project than an expansion on the band’s brand. Recorded at Mitch Easter’s Fidelitorium Recordings in Kernersville, NC with Ryan Stigmon in the producer seat, the album is a joint effort with Asheville, NC string band, Holler Choir. Susto Stringband, Volume 1 showcases the words of Justin Osbourne and his continuing exploration of the human condition. The nine tracks are comprised of re-worked versions of cuts found on previous SUSTO releases as well as two new songs recorded solely for Susto Stringband, Volume 1. While citing challenges and pitfalls, each storyline contains inspiration wrapped in the sparkling sound of a string band. Promises are made when Susto Stringband pledges commitment in “Never Losing Me” while the rhythm of combined chord strums holds the troubled road each day can bring for “Life is Suffering” as Volume 1 offers a somber sonic frame to surround “God of Death”.
The album opens on the fast-track when “Mt. Caroline” begins the song cycle for Susto Stringband, Volume 1. Soft strums and a gentle note patterns gently cradle the exit plan in “Acid Boys” while a strong playing supports the memories of “Friends, Lovers, Ex-Lovers: Whatever” as Susto Stringband wear the “Double Crown” for an after-dark love song and “Rooster” works on doing better over a determined rhythm. (by Danny McCloskey)
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​Mike Delevante  (from the album September Days available as a self-release) (by Bryant Liggett)
Hooray for Power Pop. The upbeat vibe and solid guitar jangle will make anyone with a sense for the greatness in a song (along with a set of ears) bob their head, especially if listening to Mike Delevante’s solo debut in September Days. This offering is clean and crisp, a record that hints at New Wave and LA’s late 1980’s Paisley Underground music scene, while also giving a nod to an act like Marshall Crenshaw, or even The Fab Four.
That aforementioned nod comes right out of the gate, as “The Rain Never Came Down” mirrors The Beatles’ “And Your Bird Can Sing”. The jangly guitar continues into “When You’re Around”, a cut that reminds us about missing someone, while “Don’t Count Me Out” is a catchy plea to be relied upon. “Still Me” is a cool cut, ripe for a dark lounge, “Good Cry” is made for crying in your beer, and “Make Believe” comes with a subtle, sad psychedelic swirl. “I Wrote to You” is a rhythmic driver that could inspire an Old School pogoing, “Sunset” will pull that flower off the wall and score your next your dance steps, and the album closer in “Coming Home” treads into Folk Pop while keeping that clean jangle.
Lyrically, personal reflections and honest admissions are right up front, all coming via Old School Pop where the jangle never stops. (by Bryant Liggett)
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