The friends and family of the late Neal Casal have done yeoman’s work in recent years, not just honoring his redoubtable legacy, but expanding it. For instance, No One Above You (The Early Years 1991-1998), a 13-track audio anthology, complements No One Above You: A Love Story in Photographs, a 308-page photo book.
And then there is Highway Butterfly: The Songs of Neal Casal, a massive 41-song, 130-musician tribute album benefiting the Neal Casal Music Foundation (which supports musician mental wellness). Book of Stories (Home Recordings 1998-2003) follows stylishly in the wake of those titles, but is resonant in even greater distinctness: it is a certifiably great album on its own terms.
Compiled by Casal’s long-time manager and…
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This week, states that most people never imagined could ever turn blue did just that, as part of a massive Democratic sweep in the midterm elections. Most people, that is, except for the residents actually living in them. Texas, Kansas, Iowa, possibly even Mississippi. No place is a monolith, and our country is a rich, vibrant, and diverse place in every corner, where real people rarely line up with the stereotypes we thrust upon them. They may not all be Instagram-glamorous, but they believe in meaningful work, family (chosen, born or both), and a good joke. They love hard, they struggle, and they get shit done.
On their fourth studio album, Abalone, New York-based 
Given that 
It’s Lyal Strickland’s unpolished voice that makes the first impression. Immediately, it’s clear he is not your dressed-up singer-songwriter making a slick record. His songs come from the soil that he tills as a part-time farmer, from the babble of small-town drinking holes, from the sweat and pain of hard work, life’s defeats, and hard-earned small victories. His gutsy songs earn him the title Shooter of Truth, and this is Strickland’s return to recording after a ten-year absence.
…includes three brand-new songs.
JP Harris has always understood that old songs are not relics or something to be appreciated from afar. They are passed down from one generation to another by people who alter them simply by singing them. On 
Rayland Baxter has spent much of his career chasing clarity – but his newest record 
A New Jersey native and former member of bands in New Jersey, Maryland, and N.Y.C. (where he attended grad school), 
There are few duos in modern Country music as consistently adventurous as Brothers Osborne. Bound by blood, a lifetime of playing music together and a shared working-class upbringing in Deale, Maryland, John and TJ Osborne have spent more than a decade establishing themselves as one of Nashville’s most distinctive acts.
Sharing secrets with strangers is more common than many realize. Sometimes it’s just a way to test a reaction, so you’re better prepared to share the secret when it counts. This is one of singer-songwriter Mary Bragg’s subjects on her album of the same name, Secrets to Strangers. She also wrestles with uncertainty throughout the album, bringing problems into the open, often without resolving them. In that sense, we are all the receptive stranger to her conversations. Said another way, it’s her way of being relatable. We all have baggage that we need to shed.
…includes three new acoustic versions of previously released songs as well as two entirely new tracks including previously released single ‘Pity,’ and fun, rocking indie folk anthem, ‘Fell in Love (Couldn’t Get Out)’ featuring Cat Clyde.
…The deluxe version of Appalachia includes 6 live tracks recorded at a sold-out show in April 2026 at The Grey Eagle in Asheville, North Carolina.
Dave Alvin, singer, songwriter, guitarist, producer, author, has touched so many forms of American music that it can be daunting to peg one’s favorite part of his career. Even today, with his psychedelic jam band The Third Mind, he is exploring jazz and early ’60s folk music. Yet the pure Americana audience likely gravitates to his mid-’90s period, when he released two straightforward acoustic folk albums and a third that was close to the same. The first, King of California (1994), a mix of covers and originals, shocked many who had long since labeled Alvin a ferocious rocker.
Anytime is a good time for a new John Prine album.