Cowboy JunkiesSuch Ferocious Beauty(Cooking Vinyl)4 out of 5 stars Cowboy Junkies’ first album of original songs in three years isn’t a major sonic or conceptual departure from the Canadian quartet’s existing catalog. The template created on their debut in 1986, and perfected a few years later on their still mesmerizing The Trinity Session album, has More

SparksThe Girl Is Crying In Her Latte(Island)4 1/2 out of 5 stars How is this possible? Sparks, the offbeat outfit of brothers Ron and Russell Mael that began in 1971, is not only still cranking out wonderfully warped albums over five decades later, but sound as innovative, brash, funny, and generally creative, arguably more so, More

Pernice BrothersOvercome by Happiness:25th Anniversary Deluxe Edition(New West)Music: 4 1/2 out of 5 starsReissue package: 5 stars The term “Baroque pop” may not have originated with the success of the band The Left Banke when their tunes “Walk Away Renee” and “Pretty Ballerina” became surprise hits in the mid-’60s. But that description adequately, actually perfectly, More

4 out of 5 stars What initially seems an unusual combination results in a powerful, spirited, and at times exuberant collaborative effort, different than yet related to both artists’ solo music. Blues rocker Samantha Fish and roots/Americana/outlaw country purveyor Jesse Dayton explore outside their comfort zones in this unlikely partnership. As its title implies, the twosome More

Eilen JewellGet Behind the Wheel(Signature Sounds)4 out of 5 stars It has never been easy to categorize Eilen Jewell’s music. Nine albums into a career that started in 2005, it’s not getting any easier. Nor is her life. Like everyone else in her industry, the pandemic put her career on ice for a few years, More

Country WesternsForgive the City(Fat Possum)3 1/2 out of 5 stars Apparently, the deceptive, if not totally confusing, name of the Country Westerns—a band whose sound is unconnected to country or Western music—didn’t scare away folks looking for pedal steel, mandolin, or fiddle. The garage rock trio’s 2020 debut was a critical, if somewhat less commercial, More