Getting so obsessed with a band that you book a local show just to see them play — we need more freaks like that in the world, and that’s what Merge Records’ Mike Krol did this spring when he put together a bill featuring himself, Shannon Shaw’s new group Voilà!, and this not-so-known New Orleans duo Twisted Teens, Krol’s recent fixation, here in Los Angeles. “I blasted it in the car at night with the windows down, tracked down records, mailordered merch like I was 16, and all of a sudden I felt excited about THE CREATION OF MUSIC again,” he wrote on Instagram. “I couldn’t believe a band I didn’t even know existed at the beginning of this year made — quite possibly — my favorite record of the past 2 decades.” Amen, Mike. This shit tears.
You need to be logged in to view the rest of the content. Please Log In.
The guys who make up the country group 
The second album of collaboration between former journalist and current label owner Eric Brace and talented wandering guitarist Thomm Jutz, Circle and Square is a comforting mix of harmonies and carefully constructed acoustic tunes. The duos’ guitars are here fleshed out as required by bass, drums and piano, adding colour and sonic range where required. This is not music to challenge the listener, but to provide a tasteful and thoughtful frame for the ten songs which make up Circle and Square. Looking at the world around them, the two singers share leads and harmonies over stories of art, of neighbours, of memories, of lost friends. But the tone is also upbeat, finding the positive of creation amidst the destruction of all we once held sane around us.
Subtle and sleepy, gentle and resonant, Eric Thompson’s shimmering take on country-rock takes Nashville’s emotive vocal style, throws in a pedal steel and rootsy rock riffs, and turns out a dusty, feel-good – if slightly too slick – album called 
Not quite a new album and not quite a compilation, 
Acclaimed country troubadour Ward Davis steps into a new chapter with the release of his latest studio album, 
Singer-songwriter Jeremy Ivey has released his new album, 
Erik Vincent Huey is an Austin-based American singer-songwriter issuing his second full-length album, Fort Defiance. He collaborates with one of the best, Eric “Roscoe” Ambel, who plays his trademark electric guitar, produces the record, and recruits high-profile guests. Huey is hailed for his 2023 debut, 
The 
On their 2013 debut and 2015’s Then Came the Morning, 
With two decades under their collective belts, The Infamous Stringdusters are suddenly finding themselves with plenty of reasons to celebrate. Twenty of them, to be exact.
It’s safe to say that back in 2009 when punk rockers The Bronx released their self-titled debut by their mariachi alter-egos, no-one would have thought this enterprise would still be going 17 years later. What started as a playful experiment in paying tribute to the thriving mariachi tradition that has suffused their native Los Angeles, has become an identity all its own – vibrant and intoxicating.
Have you ever wondered what would have happened if Lou Reed became interested in Americana and recorded with Gram Parsons? Well, if that unlikely combination seems intriguing, then The Nude Party’s Look Who’s Back is for you.
In the early 1990s, Stephen McCarthy and Kevin Pittman holed up together for a year in a 100-year-old bungalow. McCarthy is well known as a guitarist and vocalist for 
Turner Cody first collaborated with Nicolas Michaux and the Soldiers of Love (Clément Nourry, Ted Clark, and Morgan Vigilante) on his album 
Most of us have had enough of winter now. But wait. Shout “Taxi” – here’s a band offering a balmy chink of summery light.
Jay Buchanan has spent the last seventeen years as the frontman for 
Five days after the all-star