Queen Esther rules the week.
Queen Esther
Blackbirding
Her magnum opus, this set astonishes for the effectiveness of each individual track and for its artfully woven throughlines. These songs foreground resilience and black experience in narratives that highlight systems of oppression in recent history and present.
It’s an album about how oppressed people attempt to reclaim power and agency, and Queen Esther reads 2026’s room correctly, knowing that such a message must be delivered with authority and without apology.
And no one in this space is better equipped to do that; hers is a singular talent.
She grounds her arrangements in a true mastery of country, folk, and blues conventions, and then she upends those conventions with the improvisational phrasing drawn from her background as a gifted jazz singer.
Every aspect of her art is disruptive, and long may she reign.
Country Sirens
Almost Forever
Look past the dreadful AI cover art, and this is quite the strong debut from another co-ed duo act. Some of the lyrics lean just a bit too far into genre pastiche, but the song construction is aces, and Abby Irons has a tremendous voice. Lots of upside here.
The Kruse Brothers
Heartbreak & Honky-Tonk
The edges are still rough enough to appeal to my alt-country sensibility, while the craft and overall style actually learned the right lessons from 90s radio country without resorting to mere mimicry. Catchy as all get-out and with great lead vocals. I’m fully on board.
Ramsey & Broemel
Celestun
Not a lot of variety in tempo or range on this (mostly) instrumental collection of country and folk tunes, but when the one note is as lovely and expertly performed as this is, that’s less of a concern. Works best as a mellow, thoughtful mood piece.
Eric Church
Evangeline vs The Machine: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack
No idea what he’s on about with the soundtrack angle to this, which plays just fine as a standalone live album, esp. once he gets past playing “Evangeline” in full. Some setlist quibbles in the back half, but he always cooks live. Needs more J. Cotten, though.
The Lone Bellow
What a Time to Be Alive
The overall aesthetic is far heftier and far less StompClapHey than I associate, fairly or not, with this outfit. The overall vibe of the songs suggests the album title is a positive sentiment and not one of exhaustion, but they do intermittently justify that choice.
Boy Golden
Best of Our Possible Lives
A heady, introspective triumph that explores many a corner of the ol’ frontal cortex, and on songs that twang and swagger and land a few punches. The balance between neuroses and optimism impresses, as does the subversive queering of genre conventions.
Meels
Across the Raccoon Strait [EP]
A few moments when the quirk veers just a bit too far into affectation, but the remainder is so charming and odd and funny that it doesn’t matter. Smart enough to know exactly what joke she’s in on, and skilled enough to hold it all together. Utterly delightful.
Vince Gill
Down at the Borderline [EP]
In as much as I don’t typically go for uptempo Vince, and in as much as I’m super burnt out on this neverending series of EPs from him, this particular set is on the whole the most fun he’s been on record in ages. His best guitar-slinging of these EPs, too.
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