The music on Deeper Well, the seven-time Grammy winner’s fifth album, is almost chimeric. Rolling acoustic guitars, puffy clouds of strings and synth, warm bass punctuations, layered harmonies, moments of Celtic melody and plenty of room on the tracks for Musgraves’ silvery vocals. On the bright, almost folky title track, the 30-something songstress surveys her life and priorities, recognizing what feeds her, drains her and even examines the childhood she’s left behind on her way to now.

Saturn returns, cardinals embody a dead friend, love is given and taken, streets rush by, belongings are packed and old chapters deserted, new love blooms, jade bracelets serve as talismans, deep lessons emerge, small details define everything, the woods are a refuge and New York City serves as the same gleaming beacon as Oz.

After crisscrossing the nation for the last half-decade looking for a home,PokeyLaFargefound himself in Mid-Coast Maine. Upon arriving, the Illinois-born singer/songwriter/actor pursued a major life change, working 12-hour days on a local farm—aturn of events that catalyzed an extraordinary burst of creativity and redefined hissense of purpose as an artist.Rhumba Countrywas initially shaped from materialthat emerged while LaFarge was deep in work on the farm. “I’d be pushing a plowor scattering seeds, and the songs would just come to me,” he recalls. “It wastremendously inspirational and made me realize that apart from singing, farming isperhaps the oldest human art form.” While farming, LaFarge began dreaming up akaleidoscopic sound informed by his love of music from far-ranging eras and cornersof the globe, including mambo, tropicália, rocksteady, and mid-century Americanrock-and-roll. “The songs that naturally come to me are upbeat and make you wannadance or at least bop your head—they’re all very colorful,” says LaFarge. “I used tothink of my music in dark blue, but now I see it in technicolor.” Co-produced alongwith Chris Seefried and Elliot Bergman and recorded in L.A., the resulting RhumbaCountry is an invitation to come together to celebrate life and love.

Emily Nennihas written a follow-up to 2022’s critically acclaimed record, OnThe Ranch. Her debut album garnered her much success and introduced her toa devoted audience of music fans who celebrate the traditional side of countrymusic while embracing the modern indie aesthetic that comes with that nod tothe past. While writing her latest record,Drive & Cry, Nenni looked in the rearviewmirror for inspiration but kept focus on the sound that she has become known for.“This is the first record I have completely written on my own. I spent a good bit ofsolitary time ruminating on things that had happened over the last year or two.Rethinking what I’m doing, how I’m doing it, who with, even in just the everyday.Change is hard but also such a gift.”Nenni worked with producer John James Tourville (The Deslondes, Sunny War)to broaden her sound and bring in nuance to the recording. The record wasengineered by Jake Davis and mixed by Matt Ross-Spang in Memphis, TN. Theresulting recording is a matured country sound that focuses on the fun and thetears that come with all changes in life.

From Neil’s sleeve notes: “Why do these old songs live so vividly now? They do to me.”

Neil Young with Crazy Horse in all their “Ragged Glory”.
Neil & The Horse have played together for over 50 years and the performances of these songs is
a true highlight of that long relationship.

9 songs on 2 LPs, with the original song titles replaced with selected lyrics. (“Farmer John”,
being a cover, retains its original title.)

The album was recorded in 2023, with this line-up:
Billy Talbot – Bass, vocal
Ralph Molina – Drums, vocal
Micah Nelson – Guitar, vocal, piano
Nils Lofgren – Guitar, vocal, piano
Neil Young – Guitar, vocal, harmonica

Neil: “In the spirit it’s offered…made this for the Horse lovers. I can’t stop it. The horse is runnin’.
What a ride we have. I don’t want to mess with the vibe. I am so happy to have this to share.”

T Bone Burnett, the multi-Grammy Award-winner and living legend, returns with a solo project, The Other Side. “Waiting For You” is the lead single released with a visualizer and featuring the angelic harmonies of Lucius as its backdrop. The album promises a sweeping return to folk and form for this formidable guitarist and singer-songwriter. Digipak CD.

T Bone Burnett, the multi-Grammy Award-winner and living legend, returns with a solo project, The Other Side. “Waiting For You” is the lead single released with a visualizer and featuring the angelic harmonies of Lucius as its backdrop. The album promises a sweeping return to folk and form for this formidable guitarist and singer-songwriter.

Produced by Mike Elizondo (Fiona Apple, Sheryl Crow), Lake Street Dive’s new album Good Together is an eclectic set of genre-bending songs that could only have come from popular music’s most agile and compelling outliers. Fusing pop, R&B, soul and jazz, Lake Street Dive: Rachael Price (vocals), Bridget Kearney (bass), Mike Calabrese (drums), Akie Bermiss (keyboards), and James Cornelison (guitar), have created the most confident and accomplished recording of their career.

66 is the 17th solo album from Paul Weller, marking his 66th journey around the sun, released on Polydor Records on 24 May. Artwork by Sir Peter Blake. 180g black vinyl. Includes a 12 page full size booklet and large fold out poster.

66 is the 17th solo album from Paul Weller, marking his 66th journey around the sun, released on Polydor Records on 24 May. Artwork by Sir Peter Blake. Includes 12 page booklet.

66 is the 17th solo album from Paul Weller, marking his 66th journey around the sun, released on Polydor Records on 24 May. Artwork by Sir Peter Blake. Indie Exclusive Limited Edition 180g Blue vinyl. Includes a 12pg full size booklet and large foldout poster.

Luke Grimes self-titled debut album on Mercury Nashville features 13 tracks, including “Burn,” “Hold On,” and “Oh Ohio.” Known for his role as Kayce Dutton on the hit television series Yellowstone, Grimes has been making music for years. He closed out 2023 with a sold-out tour after playing fairs and festivals around the country, including
Stagecoach, Pilgrimage Music & Cultural Festival, Under The Big Sky Festival, and more. Grimes grew up playing music in church as the son of a Pentecostal pastor. His father also laid the foundation for the music he loves, introducing him to the works of Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings. Indie Exclusive
Clear LP. Limited Edition.

Carly Pearce’s highly anticipated fourth studio album, hummingbird, marks Pearce’s debut as a co-producer and fully represents her new musical chapter – one of forward motion. Following the success of her last studio album, 29: Written In Stone, Pearce leans in to her authentic country sound encompassed by the symbolism of the hummingbird which represents the album’s themes of growth, humility, understanding, playfulness, and optimism.

The Border is legendary country artist Willie Nelson’s 75th solo studio record of new material. Produced by Willie’s longtime collaborator, Buddy Cannon, The Border features four newly penned tracks by the pair combined with a half dozen tunes from some of their favorite songwriters including two cowritten by Rodney Crowell plus Shawn Camp,  Mike Reid and Bobby Tomberlin. Backed by some of Nashville’s finest musicians, the album is another instant classic to follow up their last album of new material, A Beautiful Time which won Best Country Album at the 2023 Grammys.

Alisa Amador is a bilingual singer-songwriter and the winner of the 2022 NPR Tiny Desk Contest. Alisa Amador’s music is a synthesis of the many styles she’s voraciously absorbed: rock, jazz, funk and alternative folk, all wrapped in the spirit of the Latin music she grew up with. NPR's Cyrena Touros calls her “a pitch-perfect rendition of my wildest dreams,” and NPR's Bob Boilen calls Alisa "a powerful voice whose tender performance commands attention and fosters connection." Alisa has opened for artists including Hozier, Lake Street Dive, Madison Cunningham, Watchhouse, Hiss Golden Messenger, and countless others. Alisa's soulful singing, poetically incisive lyrics, and syncopated rhythms are likely to make you cry, laugh, and dance all within one set.

"This record is called Multitudes. It is a cognate, meaning that it’s spelled identically and has the same meaning in both Spanish and English. It took months to land upon this title, because no word felt like it could contain the multitudes of these 12 songs - songs of grief, love, fear, anger, and a constant search for belonging. I love this album with all my heart. So much has changed since my last album came out. I almost left music behind, and then won the NPR Tiny Desk contest. I traveled the world. I lost loved ones. I learned a lot, often the hard way. Many tears and many hugs were involved in the making of this album. If you love it, please share it. This job is very difficult. Knowing that you are listening gives me the strength to go on."

“Not a lot of people talk about the true origins of bluegrass music,” says Swamp Dogg, “but it came from Black people. The banjo, the washtub, all that stuff started with African Americans. We were playing it before it even had a name.”

Blackgrass, Swamp Dogg’s remarkable new album, is no history lesson, though. Produced by Ryan Olson (Bon Iver, Poliça) and recorded with an all-star band including Noam Pikelny, Sierra Hull, Jerry Douglas, Chris Scruggs, Billy Contreras, and Kenny Vaughan, the collection is a riotous blend of past and present, mixing the sacred and the profane in typical Swamp Dogg fashion as it blurs the lines between folk, roots, country, blues, and soul. The tracklist is an eclectic one—brand new originals and vintage Swamp Dogg classics sit side by side with reimaginings of ’70s R&B hits and timeless ’50s pop tunes—but the performances are thoroughly cohesive, filtering everything through a progressive Appalachian lens that nods to tradition without ever being bound by it. Special guests like Margo Price, Jenny Lewis, Justin Vernon, and The Cactus Blossoms all add to the excitement here, but it’s ultimately the 81-year-old Swamp Dogg’s delivery—sly and playful and full of genuine joy and ache—that steals the show. The result is a record that’s as reverent as it is raunchy, a collection that challenges conventional notions of genre and race while at the same time celebrating the music that helped make Swamp Dogg the beloved iconoclast he’s known as today.

Out on May 3rd, "Anniversary" is the new studio album from critically acclaimed artist Adeem the Artist. The album was produced by Butch Walker who has produced hits for artists including Weezer, Fall Out Boy, Pink, Katy Perry, Panic! At the Disco, Dashboard Confessional, Avril Lavigne and many others. This record is the continuation of a project that they began four years ago, directing their attention both inwards & outwards simultaneously and to exact correlating values so that they might be able to unbind the inner workings of themself while imagining new tools for stitching the fabric of society together again. It mostly just made some gay people like country music again.

You wanna know how Brian Kelley lives? Turn up the dial on Tennessee Truth. Across 12 pumped-up country anthems, Kelley testifies to the restorative power of rural living, everlasting love, and badass guitars. He sings about John Deere joyrides, front porch swinging, and long nights out where the cattails sway. With rich vocal styling, blistering fretwork, stadium-sized choruses, and heavier-than-hell drums, Tennessee Truth doesn’t just rock – it roars.

For over 20 years, The Decemberists have been one of the most original, daring, and thrilling American rock bands. Their distinctive brand of hyperliterate folk-rock set them apart from the start, releasing nine full-length albums that are unbound by genre and highly ambitious. Now the beloved indie band is back with their first new album in six years, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again - not only the longest Decemberists album to date (and their first intentional, proper double-LP) but also their most empathetic and accessible, its 13 songs like semaphores of mutual recognition for our fraught times and faint hope. The first dozen songs are punchy, pithy gems all, reflections on mortality and loneliness, longing and cynicism, expectation and unease. The band animates them brilliantly, pushing out and pulling in at the perfect moments. John Moen practically dances beneath the jangle of opener “Burial Ground,” breathing the life into this song about spiraling toward the end. From the irrepressible “Oh No!" and guileless tenderness and absolute surrender of “All I Want Is You,” to the romantic ghost story that shimmers behind pedal steel in spite of the specter in "Long White Veil," these 12 songs alone would constitute a dazzling Decemberists album, rich with woe and love, anxiety and honesty. But a keening little choir and arid electric guitar invoke “Joan in the Garden,” the band’s first full-on prog escapade since The Crane Wife. Though rooted in doubt, much like the album it ends, “Joan in the Garden” ultimately lands as a celebration of music’s ability to convey valence and ambiguity, to frame an endlessly complicated story in instantly compelling terms.

This, songwriter Colin Meloy will tell you proudly, is the best Decemberists albums and perhaps the ultimate realization of 22 years of work. In many ways, As It Ever Was, So It Will Be Again feels like an aptly titled renewal for The Decemberists. The first full-length release on YABB Records, the band’s own label, after a run of nearly two decades with Capitol. As they were once, here are the Decemberists again, now an independent band empowered by singing stories that sound instantly familiar and convey some bit of hard-won wisdom.

These days, every artist’s album needs to have a story. The music can’t speak for itself.

But after 22 records, why can’t Ani DiFranco’s work speak for itself? Yes, her forthcoming album is shaped by stories — ones about reproductive freedom, the double-edged sword of the pandemic, identity and ever-evolving belief systems that have shaped each of its 11 songs. It was paramount to the folk-feminist hero that listeners not be saddled with preconceived notions while diving into her 23rd album Unprecedented Sh!t. “I believe there is a rhyme and a reason as to why these songs have come together in this way now and I want people to experience this album as a journey, a piece of art, without being influenced by a cacophony of surrounding narratives.”

While many of DiFranco’s albums were made more insularly, she’s opened herself up to collaboration in recent years. For 21 of DiFranco’s 22 albums, she opted to self-produce. With Unprecedented Sh!t, she wanted to try working with a producer and tapped BJ Burton, who produced one of her favorite albums, Bon Iver’s 22, A Million.

The title Unprecedented Sh!t is not only representative of how much of a sonic departure the 11-track album is from Ani’s other work, but also a political and social commentary on the current state of the world. “We find ourselves in unprecedented times in many ways, faced with unprecedented challenges. So, our responses to them and our discourse around them, need to rise to that level.”

“He's the Real Deal” - Bob Harris OBE (BBC Radio 2)

 

Beyoncé - Cowboy Carter - Country Vinyl LP

For singer/songwriter Jesse Daniel, country music is nothing short of a life force. Hailing from a rural mountain town on California’s Central Coast, the Austin-based artist first explored his innate passion for music by playing drums in punk bands, then drifted down a troubled path that included years of battling addiction and spending time in and out of jail and rehab. As he took his first steps toward getting clean, Daniel immersed himself in the pure joy of writing country songs, fully embracing the unbridled vitality of California country and bringing a lived-in honesty to his lyrical storytelling. Since releasing his 2018 self-titled debut on his own record label, he’s earned great esteem as a country traditionalist and built a wildly devoted international following—thanks in no small part to his freewheeling live show and tendency to tour nearly 200 days a year. Recently signed to Lightning Rod Records, Daniel now offers up his fourth studio album Countin’ The Miles: a high-powered body of work born from his ardent belief in preserving country’s legacy.

Russell County, Virginia-based 49 Winchester is following up their 2022 breakthrough hit, Fortune Favors The Bold with their latest album, Leavin’ This Holler. Since their last release in 2022 the band has mined success across the globe by playing multiple sold out tours in the US as well as a sold out run of arena concerts opening for Luke Combs across Europe. Crowds have celebrated and supported this band across the globe and the band’s hard workin ways continue to help build their devoted following.

Leavin’ This Holler is a soulful anthem of liberation and renewal. The album narrates a journey of breaking free from the chains of the past to pursue happiness and freedom. With a resolute spirit and a clean washed heart, 49 Winchester embraces change and sets out on a quest for new heights. Fortune has favored these bold boys and fueled by determination and the promise of a bright future, ‘Leavin’ this holler’ is a powerful ode to resilience and the pursuit of personal fulfillment.