The Moderate's track "Small Pills" off the recent album The Rest is Up to You starts all alt-country song before a chorus of jolting, uptempo power chords. While the song was originally written as a ballad about a disintegrating relationship, singer Jim Dempsey used the band's new lineup switch last year to make the song [...]
People who hear Dawes before learning anything about the band are generally surprised to learn they’re from Los Angeles. What, like L.A. never had cowboys?
The band’s m.o. is most certainly country, what with its easy stride and affinity for one-four-five “Hey brother, jump on that third when we hit the chorus” template. But there’s definitely [...]
Two things about Son Volt’s new album, American Central Dust, to start: First, there’s little here Son Volt hasn't shown us before. Second, it’s one of the best albums I’ve heard this year.
The record finds Jay Farrar back on the road, searching for meaning beneath America’s fingernails. He gives us grainy portraits of Rust-Belt Americans, [...]
