Country Round-Up: Kris Kristofferson; Patty Loveless

There was a movement in the late 1960s and into the 70s– the Outlaw Movement– to return country music to its earthy, human roots– and to reject the trendy sounds of Nashville, which had (get this) grown increasingly prone to gloss and dumbed-down polish. Some things never change: It’s 2009, the mainstream country radio is [...]

CT Review: Joe Henry

Has it really been more than a month since my last Joe Henry-related post? Shame on me. For those who just can’t get enough, my Christianity Today review of new album Blood from Stars– still the best record I’ve heard in 2009– is now available online. And of course, my full review of the album [...]

The Avett Brothers: “I and Love and You”

Let’s start by dispensing with the inevitable outrage: Though the Avett Brothers have largely swapped their banjos for pounding pianos and replaced their laid-back ballads and string-band hootenanies with string-drenched pop– and though they recorded new album I and Love and You with slick producer Rick Rubin after signing to their first major label– the [...]

Landmarks: The Year 2004

I think I’ll always look back on 2004 as one of the richest musical years– certainly of this decade. With spectacular new releases, from veterans and rookies alike, and from innumerable different genres and pop idioms, the year was practically a deluge of truly landmark recordings, and I dare say that no other year will [...]

Rain Machine: “Rain Machine”

On last year’s TV on the Radio album Dear Science, love shone as the one true light of hope in an increasingly dark world, a salvation both sure and strong. The album was rich in troubling incantations and ominous prophesies about war and decay, but it ended with a song called “Lover’s Day,” in which [...]

Islands: “Vapours”

There are two defining characteristics of Nick Thorburn’s work of which you need to be aware. For one, he is a tunesmith of uncommon finesse; his melodies are so simple it’s a constant amazement that they weren’t written decades earlier, and so addicting that his work is instantly memorable. And two, he is unusually obsessed [...]

Monsters of Folk: “Monsters of Folk”

It may be reductionist, but it’s nevertheless true: Monsters of Folk is indie rock’s Traveling Wilburys. So what if no one in the band is an archetype unto themselves, as Bob Dylan is, or possesses Roy Orbison’s gravitas, or George Harrison’s gifts as a tunesmith? In the niche world of indie music, there aren’t many [...]

Richard Hawley: “Truelove’s Gutter” (Track-by-track version)

Note: A shorter review of this album can be found here. This much lengthier evaluation is a song-by-song exploration of the work’s central themes, and may be more useful for those who have heard the music already; if you’re new to the world of Richard Hawley, however, the shorter version might be a better starting [...]

Film Break: “The Informant!”

I’m really wild about Steven Soderbergh’s latest, Matt Damon-starring picture, The Informant! You can read my review of this terrific film at CT Movies.

Vic Chesnutt: “At the Cut”

What exactly is so special about a chinaberry tree, that chopping it down should be such a dreadful, cataclysmic event? I have no idea, but hearing Vic Chesnutt narrate the saga of destruction in the garden is one of the most unsettling things I’ve heard this year, a spartan tale told in lean, precise language [...]