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This week’s highlights include new releases from the Del McCoury Band, Billy Strings, and Sturgill Simpson alter ego Johnny Blue Skies.
Jake Xerxes Fussell
When I’m Called
A collection of folk songs that’s curated in the best, most purposeful senses of the word, with Fussell’s knack for picking age-old material that’s relevant to today. Greater variety in tempo, production choices might be even more accessible to modern listeners.
Various Artists
Silver Bullet Bluegrass
Seger is a hill I will die on, so I’m more drawn to this than I probably should be. But even by tribute album standards, this is uneven. The arrangements are solid, but some of the vocalists are out of their element. Garrett, Bice (!), and Tucker (!!) fare best.
Billy Strings
Live Vol. 1
Overdue for an act who has built his reputation on the caliber of his live shows far more than for his (also great) studio records, this tours-spanning set captures the jam-band vibe he brings to Bluegrass. 10 songs x 97 minutes, so caveat emptor if that’s not your thing.
Johnny Blue Skies
Passage du Desir
A genre-spanning triumph about the value of human connection when there are, “No happy endings / Only stories that stop before they’re through.” He’s DBA this new alter ego, but this is Sturgill Simpson at awfully close to his best and most ambitious.
Megan Moroney
Am I Okay?
Kristian Bush’s ace production work here deserves better than trying to compensate for Moroney’s severe limitations. A couple of songs (“Man on the Moon,” “Mama I Lied”) are cleverly written, if lacking a distinct POV. The rest are an off-key mumblecore blur.
Chase Matthew
Always Be Mine [EP]
A heinous throwback to the worst of the bro-country era, this is a dreadfully half-sung breakup EP that’s only interesting for the narrator’s inability to grasp that the reason he’s alone is that he never once looks at a woman as a human with an interior life of her own.
The Felice Brothers
Valley of Abandoned Songs
Uneven, which is to be expected, and with a fairly equal split between valleys and peaks. Which is to say that there’s an absolutely killer EP to be whittled out of this, with several tracks that would’ve better stayed abandoned or locked in the band’s vaults.
The Del McCoury Band
Songs of Love and Life
Great in the ways that their albums are always great: Unimpeachable picking of well-written or well-chosen material, delivered with power and conviction. When you’ve been the standard-bearer for your genre for generations, you can keep on keeping on.
David Serby
Low Hanging Stars
If 2024’s slate of killer trad-country records (Daniel, Top, King, et al) are too studio-slick for your liking, Serby’s got you covered here. The vox could use a bit of that studio magic, but there’s not much faulting the clever songwriting or ace musicianship.
Josh Morningstar
Josh Morningstar
A razor-wire wit is always a plus for a conventional folkie, and Morningstar’s best songs happen to be his funniest. A strong sense for structure impresses, too. Niche (?) comparison here is to the great Dan Bern, and that’s high praise, indeed.
I will never understand the support the industry gives Megan and then for the most part ignores Ashley McBryde and Caitlyn Smith. You can’t tell me people in the industry actually believe she’s a good singer.
We’re on record as huge fans of both McBryde and Smith, so I’ll make this even more pointed: The question is really why her and not literally any WOC who can write and sing her under any table on the face of God’s green Earth.