Hiss Golden Messenger: Terms of Surrender review – country-rock with a conscience
Hiss Golden Messenger: Terms of Surrender review – restless southern country-rock with a conscience
The Highwomen: The Highwomen review – country supergroup shatter macho cliches
The all-star quartet upend rootsy conventions to hit some rollicking highs – but can’t fully escape the classic pitfalls
Cam review – everything about this country star rings true
One of Nashville’s most potent truth-tellers does a remarkable job of fusing west coast liberalism and country tropes in a show underpinned by modern dictates
Sheryl Crow: Threads review – Americana-pop queen stitches genre-hop farewell
Big-name guests abound in a valedictory 11th album that offers a fitting reminder of Crow’s melancholy magic
Leslie Stevens: Sinner review – potent ‘cosmic country’
(Thirty Tigers)
Lucinda Williams review – battle-scarred alt.country star burns bright
The singer brings poignancy and raw feeling to this revealing celebration of her defining album Car Wheels on a Gravel Road
kd lang review – hypnotic revival of an LGBT classic
lang’s Ingénue album may be 27 years old, but it’s more relevant than ever, in a crystalline show of humour and humanity
Willie Nelson: Ride Me Back Home review – upbeat and defiant
Overturning customary ideas about older artists slowing down, Nelson – now 86 – has been in prodigious form over the past decade, pumping out a dozen albums of assorted duets, originals, covers and tributes. Nine months after My Way, his … Continue reading
Sheryl Crow review – sublime anthems from defiant country-rocker
Though she may not be as zeitgeisty as she once was, the nine-time Grammy-winner just keeps getting better as a live performer
Kiefer Sutherland review – off-duty star turns country outlaw
Jack Bauer puts on his cowboy hat and uncorks his cask-aged vocals for a gleeful, low-key acoustic set of self-penned songs
Maren Morris: Girl review – country or pop, or stuck in the middle
After a lauded debut album and a dance hit, Morris seemed poised to go mainstream, but her follow-up to Hero is unconvincing
Yola: Walk Through Fire review – glorious, sun-soaked contentment
For all the richness of her dramatic retro soul, British singer-songwriter Yola’s words make an immediate, concrete connection. The country-righteous title of her debut album, for example, was inspired not by the flames of love, but by a real house … Continue reading
Florida Georgia Line: Can’t Say I Ain’t Country review – bro diddly-squat
Brian Kelley and Tyler Hubbard pay lip service to modernity in shopping-mall-feel country pop that is industrially catchy
Mercury Rev: Bobbie Gentry’s The Delta Sweete Revisited review – fun but overdone
Gathering singers including Hope Sandoval, Phoebe Bridgers and Beth Orton, Mercury Rev up the ante on this upending of Gentry’s masterpiece