​Margo Price (from the album Days of Unrest available on Loma Vista Recordings/Concord Label Group) (by Danny McCloskey)
Collecting songs of political action, immigrant rights, prison reform, and marijuana legalization, Margo Price unveils a protest album with Days of Unrest. She joins with Joan Baez and Memphis Mariachi for a cover of Bob Dylan’s “Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” and shares the studio stage with Billy Swan for a switched-gender cover of a Charlie Daniels Band hit, “Long Haired Country Girl”. Days of Unrest points fingers with a cover of Blaze Foly when Margo Price sings “Oval Room” while the rhythms rumble when she takes a stand for female equality as she lists past problems, current issues, and future plans for herself and her sisters in “Can’t Stand Still”.
Memphis Mariachi return to provide a South of the Border soundtrack for “Los Colores” as a chorus of vocals sends a shout out on a united front for worker’s rights as Margo Price covers Bob Dylan (again), delivering “Maggie’s Farm” on a rambunctious rhythm. Bordering the album is a triple play of instrumentals dedicated to San Marcos, Texas. The album opens with a “San Marcos” as “San Marcos Theme” centers the song cycle while “San Marcos el Fin”, the recordings final track, creates a gentle bed for the politics and activism on Day of Unrest. (by Danny McCloskey)
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​Kacey Musgraves (from the album Middle of Nowhere available on Lost Highway Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
Dusty acoustic chords begin the song cycle with the title track for Middle of Nowhere, the recent release from Kacy Musgraves. The story in the song became a beacon for the songwriter; the story inspired by a road sign heading into her hometown of Golden, Texas. Claiming a population of under 300 souls, the announcement that leads into the tiny town reads ‘Welcome to Golden, TX. Somewhere in the Middle of Nowhere’. Billy Strings joins in for a tale that questions gear versus gumption with “Everybody Wants to Be a Cowboy”. Offering a better night to another lonely bar patron with shared circumstances, Kacey Musgraves suggests turning that frown upside down with the offer ‘I got something in my pocket, we could step out back’ for “Rhinestoned”. A deep rumble supports the confessions of “Dry Spell” and Vintage Country soundtracks the tale of a wayward lover promising change with “Back on the Wagon”.
A heartbeat drum pound sets the stage for “I Believe in Ghosts” as Middle of Nowhere introduces the “Loneliest Girl” as a clip-clop rhythm carries a young woman looking for an exit in “Abilene”. Spitting out lyrics over a swaying groove, Kacey Musgraves sends a love letter South of the Border with “Mexico Honey” as she sifts through both sides of the truth alongside Miranda Lambert for “Horses and Divorces”. Willie Nelson saddles up to join in the Tex Mex rhythms of “Uncertain, TX”. Musically diverse, Kacey Musgraves stacks up the stories in her songs with equal parts honesty and observation before exiting Middle of Nowhere with a goodbye song that sifts through past memories in “Hell on Me”. (by Danny McCloskey)
 
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​Charles Wesley Godwin (from the album Christian Name available on Big Loud Records/Mercury Records/UMG) (by Danny McCloskey)
A “Sermon” opens Christian Name, the recent release from Charles Wesley Godwin. The words rise over an echoey church basement piano amid sonic accents. The track is the perfect opener for an album that relates to the spirit without every proselytizing or choosing a side. Over a gentle sway, Charles Wesley Godwin softly sings pride for his place in the “Gospel of the South” as sharp-edged notes play host to a warning with “Street Advice”. A vibration is created by the instruments gathered in the opening of “Brand New” as the tale reads as the story of a lifetime. The song a co-write with Stephen Wilson Jr and Charles Wesley Godwin shared a pen with other notable songwriters for the tracks of Christian Name, including Travis Meadows, Lori McKenna, Aaron Ratiere, Liz Rose, and others.
The album is a mirror for the personal experiences of Charles Wesley Godwin, the stories mapping out his journey through mourning, redemption, and ultimately finding peace in his faith. The body rush that is felt with finding your footing is caught up in the effervescent rhythms of “Try Again” as hushed guitar pickings wrap around the salvational textures of “I Caught the Sunrise”. Luke Combs joins in for the highway song “Better That Way” as Wyatt Flores is on board when the love for a child becomes the storyline in “Hey There Son”. The joy that possesses Charles Wesley Godwin is captured in the characters, the choir, the preacher’s words, and the Sunday service meal that become “Hallelujah High”. (by Danny McCloskey)
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Albert Castiglia (from the album Moment in the Sun available on Gulf Coast Records/SRG-ILS Group) (by Danny McCloskey)
A life in the Blues has been the path for guitar man Albert Castiglia. Born in 1969 New York City, his parents, along with a five-year-old Albert, relocated to Miami, Florida when he was five-years-old. He became guitarist for Miami Blues Authority in 1990, and after seven years backed Junior Wells in his Hoodoo Man Band. Albert Castiglia released his debut solo album in 2002, and after shuffling through numerous record labels with subsequent releases, he landed on the Mike Zito imprint, Gulf Coast Records, for his recent release, Grits & Glory.
A swamp crawling death march carries accusations that point fingers when Albert Castiglia champions the folks outside of the give-a-shit borderline in the U.S.A. Albert Castiglia opens Grits & Glory with “In My America”, a cut where his vocals and guitar playing form a united front against the travesties of the current crop of leaders worldwide. A lazy groove floats like a leaf on a stream with “Uncertainty” as Grits & Glory cruises “Michigan Avenue” on an aggressive beat that supports the story of injustice. Long, slow strides carry Albert Castiglia as he accepts his position in the universe, happy for his place on earth, and glad he does not wear the skin of a “Slumlord Billionaire”. Exiting the album on a swamp crawl, Albert Castiglia borrows a John Lennon’s Beatles-era story of heroin addiction with his opus “Yer Blues”. (by Danny McCloskey)
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​Matt Palka (from the album Moment in the Sun available on Moniker Press Records) (by Danny McCloskey)
After completing his bicycling America odyssey in his twenties, Matt Palka was often asked numerous questions. ‘What was it like?’ ‘Who did you meet?’. As an answer, he put together a collaborative audiobook and companion album recording, both titled Moment in the Sun. The two mediums share a common answer to the questions as Matt Palka describes his journey, and introduces the people he encountered along the way. Of the experience, he shared that ‘I always wanted to put people on my ‘handlebars’. That trip transformed my life. Everyone always wanted to know what that was like. You can write a book, you can have a soundtrack with it, and people can imagine how it was’. 
Opening the album, Matt Palka welcomes fellow travelers as he annouces a favorite substance break with “Kerouac, Hemingway, Fitzgerald, Pass That Old Jug of Wine”. A revolving rhythm sways alongside the story of “Colorado Rocky Mountain Roll” while Matt Palka shares the joy he experienced on his journey with “Getting Over Myself”. He tenderly sends out a campfire song to “Angela”, owning his path with the claims in “Even the Wind Can’t Stop Me Now” and introduces the “Gypsy Queen” on a slowly unraveling groove. 
A major life decision connects the line between “Wallflowers and Wildflowers” as Matt Palka rides Highway 1 with “California on My Mind” as a rhythmic rumble courses underneath “Alive and Home” and sharp-edged notes frame the image in “My Ramblin Rose”. A rolling and tumbling beat carries Matt Palka further down his chosen highway as he tells the tale of “Ain’t Nothin Like the Road”. (by Danny McCloskey)
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Swamp Dogg (from the album Swamp Dogg Contemplates the Afterlife available on S-Curve Records) (by Danny McCloskey) 
 
The earth has been besieged with false prophets; the flesh and blood demons that use the troubles of the masses to feed their legions. Some crusaders have long battled these forces of evil, and at the head of the procession is Swamp Dogg. With a musical career that stretches back into the 1950’s as Little Jerry (or Little Jerry Williams), the Swamp Dogg imprint began with his first 1970 independent release (     Total Destruction of Your Mind) before he moved to a major label (Elektra) for Rat On (1971). With a release schedule that saw yearly albums from Swamp Dogg, including Finally Caught Up with Myself (1977) and I’m Not Selling Out, I’m Buying In (1981), he has continually held the powers-that-be accountable. Holding the banner high for independence from the oppressive standard of the norm, Swamp Dogg celebrates the 250th anniversary of freedom as he sets his sights on sweet salvation in the Indie melting pot soundtrack of Funk, and Rock’n’Roll. His Soul shouts with “Searching for Heaven” as he whispers late night R&B croons for a declining relationship in “Unhappy Song” on his recent release, Swamp Dogg Contemplates the Afterlife. 
 
Acoustic guitar strings partner with the swells of a high-in-the-clouds church organ to begin the procession in to Swamp Dogg Contemplates the Afterlife. He walks down the center aisle and, as a majestic mix of instruments coax him on, Swamp Dogg ascends to the pulpit to deliver “Searching for Heaven’, summing up his sermon with the promise ‘if you’re searching for heaven, go home’ as he uses the repetitive chorus of the opening track to let those seeking salvation know that all they wish for is right in their own home. A hard-charging uptown Saturday night beat lends an ear to a down-on-his-luck soldier trying to live in “A Million Tears Ago” as he watches a laughing youngster grow up in “Daddy’s Little Girl”, watching the times that ‘Sponge Bob doesn’t mean as much as he did’ and ‘Mickey Mouse was her whole world’ disappear like smoke.
 
Eighty-four-year-old Swamp Dogg points fingers on the Funky groove of “Hot to Trot” while a driving Blues Rock makes a request of “Please Don’t Bury Me” on the second line beat he puts underneath a cover of John Prine. The music hushes as Swamp Dogg cures a life of lying with a prescription of psychedelics in “Acid Tongue” (a co-write with Jenny Lewis – solo, Rilo Kiley) as he is joined by Gary U.S. Bonds on “Waka Waka Waka”. Exiting Swamp Dogg Contemplates the Afterlifeadmitting he is ‘not the holiest ghost’, Swamp Dogg sways on the sweet breeze of island rhythms in “Final Approach”. (by Danny McCloskey)
 
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​Rodney Crowell (from the album Then Again available on New West Records) (by Bryant Liggett)
It’s time to take a trip twenty years back in time with Rodney Crowell. That then is the timeframe for his latest release, Then Again; a recording that was soon shelved and forgotten about. However, musicians make records to be heard, shared, and enjoyed by an audience. The tunes on Then Againare finally seeing the light of day.
Rodney Crowell has seen Country turn to Roots turn to Americana, and this release is a bit of everything. There’s the haunting, mellow “I Won’t Lie”, a cut with NuGrass leanings that also takes on a sound of haunting Folk. “Are You One of Us” finds Crowell giving us something new, not only from him, but his late pal Guy Clark. “Bring It on Home to Memphis” is a mid-tempo, harmony heavy Rock cut that drops a quick reference to the aforementioned Guy Clark while nodding to a gem of a music town, and “The Ballad of Artemis and Orion” is a playful front porch pick.
Rodney Crowell then throws a subtle curve ball. “Whatcha Gonna Do Now #2” finds him joined by pals Lyle Lovett and Chely Wright in a cut where gorgeous pedal steel floats over an electro-rhythm. “Go Light a Candle” brings out more voices, in particular Lera Lynn and Emmylou Harris, in a tune that serves as an ambient hymn, a closer that’s a solid addition to an already solid catalog. (by Bryant Liggett)
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​GA-20 featuring Charlie Musselwhite (from the album Blues Now available on New West Records) (by Bryant Liggett)
GA-20 is the perfect band to match Charlie Musselwhite. Not only because guitar player Matthew Stubbs has spent close to the last twenty years playing in Musselwhite’s band, but also because the New England-based Blues trio has a no-mess-around approach to the music, leaving little fluff or filler to their sound. They are a perfect band to have a Blues legend join in on the grit and guts the recent joint release, Blues Now.
“Crazy Love” is a solid opener of Boogie Blues, the slide guitar and Musselwhite’s harmonica creating a thick wall of Punk-era distortion on “I Can’t Hold Out” while “I’ll Change My Style” is a soulful weeper that sounds like it could have come from a 1960’s radio dial. The instrumental cut, “Universal Rock”, wouldn’t be out of place as a chicken-picking Rockabilly romp, “The Blues Will Never Die” is a reminder that this music has stood the test of time and isn’t going anywhere, and “Short Dressed Woman” nods to all a history of gritty Blues, whether the sound comes from the Southside of Chicago or North Mississippi Hill Country. 
GA-20 is a power trio, and with the addition of Musselwhite, the band becomes a powerhouse quartet. Forget the radio friendly Blues some hit-radio conscious programmers spun in the 1980’s. This is the type of Blues played for the Punks, Rock’n’Rollers, and traditionalists. (by Bryant Liggett)
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​Johnny Delaware (from the album On God’s Time available on Normaltown Records) (by Bryant Liggett)
Peel back the onion that is Johnny Delaware and you’ll find much more than a cowboy hat Folkie. Beyond his Roots and Americana leanings, you’ll find an epic storyteller and soulful crooner whose lyrics float above the ambient and dreamy melodies. His latest release, On God’s Time, a record that is both dramatic and personal.
The drama oozes from the over five-minute album opener, “Sue Lee of Big Sky”, it’s big screen Western tale of outcasts and the truth where the music is big, and the story mysterious. “Crystal Ball” is a dose of Country Soul with hook and Pop sensibilities, a cut ready for a slow dance, “Entertaining the Fantasy” has a laidback groove that could come from 1970’s Laurel Canyon. More Western mystery lives in the tale of “Apache Legend of the Reptilians on Superstition Mountain”, and heartbreak Pop returns to ooze when you’re living in “Regret Town.”
Johnny Delaware rolls with a pen ready to note anything for that forever lyrical reference. He name drops The Clash and Brian Wilson, paints vivid pictures of mezcal or ‘little Tito soda in a big plastic cup’ while singing of Punk Rock hippies and missed opportunities, his lyrics a perfect pairing to the music that scores the soundtracks a dusty America.  (by Bryant Liggett)
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​American Aquarium (from the album New Ways to Lose available on Losing Side Records/ Thirty Tigers) (by Bryant Liggett)
BJ Barham wants to bring out the best in everyone. Call it musical motivation and lyrical education, as the captain of the American Aquarium ship for years, he has called it like he sees it. He has criticized all that should, and needs to be criticized, and done what he can to better everything around him. That’s the lyrical modus operandi for BJ Barham and band, while the musical machine remains chugging Roots Rock or heady ballads driven by the message; both ever-present on their latest release, New Ways to Lose. 
He remains a voice for the voiceless, a megaphone for small town America, the album opener, “Dollar Store”, a reminder that those spots are hurting. “Can’t into Could” is a tune of positive affirmation, “4x60” is a twangy thumper of solid memories, and American Aquarium digs into horn-heavy R&B on the dedicate-yourself-to-your-partner love song in “Twin Flames”. “Out There in the Dark” is a ballad reminding anyone living a troubled life that they are not alone while the rebellious vibe of “History Repeats Itself” serves as a reminder to forever question those in power.
With both an Uncle Tupelo and Bruce Springsteen nod, the Shooter Jennings-produced record captures American Aquarium’s rough around the edges Alt Country vibe, and their ability to be a radio friendly and big-festival ready Roots Rock outfit. Displaying Rock, Country, and soulful-Americana in their audio package. New Ways to Lose is a like-minded companion that lets listeners know that the whole message is to stand tall. (by Bryant Liggett)
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