New releases from Grey & Greene, Keyland, Gabriella Rose, Alana Springsteen, Don Williams, Magic Tuber Stringband, and Marisa Anderson in this week’s roundup.
Grey & Greene
Grey & Greene
On the heels of a killer solo album and the Cindy Walker tribute she spearheaded, this collaboration with Les Greene continues the absolute tear Grey DeLisle has been on. She’s responsible for some of the most exciting work in the greater country universe these last few years.
This set finds her paired with an artist with similar aesthetic sensibilities and vocal firepower, and they cut loose on a collection of rockabilly, cowpunk, Southern soul, and honky-tonk bangers that bring a modern POV to their vintage sounds. And it closes with a just-perfect capstone cover, too.
Keyland
Knuckle Sandwich
Appreciate that he doesn’t sound like anyone else in the mainstream / -adjacent space; he makes many aesthetic pivots and has a very odd singing voice. Don’t appreciate that he has the same mile-wide streak of casual misogyny as all of the Pledge Week Country guys.
He sings exclusively about women who have no independent agency or about resenting the absolute hell out of women who do, and with a level of condescension and vitriol that is yet another data point for a study in what’s gone wrong with the men of his generation. So watch him take off, most likely.
Gabriella Rose
I Just Wanna Be Loved
It’s interesting that she emphasizes her sexual agency so forcefully at this exact moment. It’s disappointing that she does so via the same clichés, lifestyle signifiers in lieu of interiority, rote Music Row production, and piss-poor singing as the genre’s man-children.
Alana Springsteen
I Hope This Helps
Her most thoughtful and thematically coherent work to date, and with her best-ever singing, too. But the MOR 80s rock aesthetic doesn’t work quite as well for her as it does for Kip Moore on his new soundalike record. Still, she’s a major talent to follow.
Don Williams
Epilogue: The Cellar Tapes
Longtime producer Garth Fundis more than did right by Williams in restoring these unearthed vault tracks in such a way that this plays like what would otherwise have been a worthy late-career addition to his catalog. “I’m the One” ranks among his loveliest work.
Magic Tuber Stringband
Heavy Water
Inspired by the environmental impact of a nuclear plant on a rural community, this set of instrumentals is a fascinating and heady work that embeds looped found elements into meticulous and convention-upending Appalachian folk music. Truly disruptive.
Marisa Anderson
The Anthology of UnAmerican Folk Music
At a time when contemporary American “folk” is so often terrified of either sounding like or saying much of anything at all, Anderson’s de-centering of American folk conventions makes for an essential listen that’s thoughtfully curated and expertly performed.
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