Americana

Joan Shelley: The Spur review – timeless and vital Americana

Pretty but unsentimental reflections on putting down roots inform the singer-songwriter’s elegant seventh album

Kitty Empire

26, Jun, 2022 @8:00 AM

Kelly Joe Phelps, blues and country musician, dies aged 62

Musician celebrated for slide guitar playing and soulful voice released a string of acclaimed albums between 1994 and 2012

Ben Beaumont-Thomas

03, Jun, 2022 @11:36 AM

Wilco: Cruel Country review – Jeff Tweedy’s state of the nation address

The band return to their alt country roots – and live takes – with a double album full of worldly wisdom

Kitty Empire

29, May, 2022 @8:00 AM

Mavis Staples & Levon Helm: Carry Me Home review | Alexis Petridis's album of the week

On poignant yet defiant recordings made in 2011 shortly before Helm’s death, Staples’ commanding vocals give enormous vibrancy to blues, folk and soul standards

Alexis Petridis

19, May, 2022 @10:15 AM

‘We’ve been offered a myopic view of history’: folk singer Leyla McCalla untangles Haiti’s complex roots

The Haitian-American musician, known for Carolina Chocolate Drops and Our Native Daughters, has seen her country harshly disparaged in the US – so she is trying to tell its true story

Marissa R Moss

09, May, 2022 @12:07 PM

‘There was an enormous amount of drugs being taken’: Graham Nash on groupies, feuds, divorce and ego

The Crosby, Stills and Nash singer on the wild early years, Joni Mitchell, his former bandmates and why his children no longer speak to him

Simon Hattenstone

03, May, 2022 @5:00 AM

Leyla McCalla: Breaking the Thermometer review – the story of Radio Haiti brought to life

The Haitian-American musician explores the troubled history of creole-language Radio Haiti on her rewarding fourth album

Neil Spencer

30, Apr, 2022 @3:00 PM

caroline review – a heady, up-close gig for our fractured times

The south London band’s mix of loud-quiet folk-rock and drone instrumentals is transformed live into a bewitching exercise in musical brinkmanship

Kitty Empire

09, Apr, 2022 @1:00 PM

Crooked Tree by Molly Tuttle review – classy bluegrass

Upbeat and melodic, the Californian singer’s third album ropes in Gillian Welch on a set of songs more concerned with strong women than strong whiskey

Neil Spencer

02, Apr, 2022 @3:00 PM

Ian Noe: River Fools & Mountain Saints review – a more genial, but still gritty, Appalachia

Grainy voiced Ian Noe has broadened his musical palette with his second album, but the story is still blue-collar Kentucky

Neil Spencer

19, Mar, 2022 @4:00 PM

Big Thief review – a revelatory set from the adored US folk-rockers

Great on record, hair-raising live, the four-piece come to vivid, pulsating life on stage with songs full of ecstasy and frustration

Kitty Empire

05, Mar, 2022 @2:00 PM

Jana Horn: the enigmatic Texan songwriter guided by her faith

Recorded after she made peace with ‘ugliness and imperfection’ in music, Horn’s debut album is a skeletal marvel that evokes Yo La Tengo and soft country shuffles

Laura Snapes

29, Dec, 2021 @12:30 PM