MUSIC REVIEWS

“Dancing in Paris” begins light and breezy, with Michael Dulin’s bright piano setting a mood that is comforting without asking you to swoon. The track has an appealing sense of motion. Its relaxed feel never becomes sleepy; there is a gentle push forward, as if the night might still have …

Margaret Maria & Bill Gilliam go beyond compare with PORTALZ, which starts with the duo’s combination of prominent cellist/producer and cultural builder’s global reach of Margaret Maria, and Toronto based, UK born, Bill Gilliam. Together they produce a real ambient sort of chamber pop instrumental music with a cinematic quality. …

After twelve hundred gigs in five years, a musician can learn how to work a room—or become trapped inside what the room expects. James Hearne, the Austin songwriter and multi-instrumentalist behind King Pine, has apparently decided he has spent enough time being reasonable. On Running Out Of Future, his six-song …

You have to admire an artist who calls himself Blond Jesus and then opens this record by admitting he is trying to hear himself think. That tension—between the fellow who enters the room wearing a halo and the one quietly wondering whether he belongs there—is what makes I Hear You …

Ruby Dice has now developed a collaborative album Take Me Back, and a short documentary Making A Life Out Of Art, celebrating the artists, friendships, and creative spirit that make Austin unique. This album is excellent and features lots of musicians and different musical influences. URL: https://www.rubydice.com/ Take Me Back features Ruby Dice’s …

Well howdy, friends. Pull up a chair on the porch and let’s talk about something that’s getting harder and harder to find these days: honest-to-goodness, down-home music that speaks right to the heart. If you’ve been keeping up with bluegrass music over the last few decades, the name Daryl Mosley …

If you’ve spent any time on the bluegrass festival circuit over the past few years, you already know that Nick Chandler and Delivered don’t mess around. They bring that high-octane, real-deal mountain bluegrass that gets folks out of their lawn chairs and down to the stage. Their album Look For Me captures …

“Freedom Chillin’ (Dave Aude Remix)” by Courtney Elle, arrives with a simple mission to preserve the carefree spirit of “Freedom” while giving the song a fresh frame. Rather than treating the original as something that needs replacing, this remix approaches it as a foundation, keeping its central groove and message …

Debut albums usually announce an arrival. Claude Carmichael’s Tennessee Hill asks what happens after the moving boxes are unpacked and the excitement wears off: When does an address become a home? For this veteran session singer and film music producer, the answer arrived on a country road outside Franklin, Tennessee, …

Some tribute albums arrive embalmed in reverence. Chrissi Poland’s Forever Muscle Shoals comes through the door breathing hard. Recorded live at FAME Studios and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio, this twelve-song collection honors an extraordinary American musical legacy without treating it as museum property. Poland approaches songs associated with Aretha Franklin, …