The Australian singer/songwriter/guitarist navigates breakup, deaths, and the myriad problems weighing on the world as a whole, from the pandemic to wildfires... but with an air of making peace with it all, and exercising patience. The color blue is in the forefront on this new one – not so much melancholy, but keeping cool, calm, & collected, despite the chaos around us.

“A lot of musical styles found their way onto this record, but my first and most formative influences came from country music. This is a country singer-songwriter record. It’s just unapologetically me.” It can also be seen –at least the title track anyway -- as part apology, part love-letter, to his wife Allison Moorer, who served as vocalist and producer on this album as well as inspiration.

Neal was a beloved guitarist and songwriter throughout the expansive jamband, rock and Americana music world, whom we lost in 2019. Bob Weir, Phil Lesh, Hiss Golden Messenger, Steve Earle, & Aaron Lee Tasjan are among the many paying tribute on this new five LP/three-CD box set, comprising 41 tracks.

This is the former Stray Birds member’s 3rd solo album, one that “opens windows that give us insights into the ambiguities of our lives.” (No Depression) She’s joined by Shelby Means & Joel Timmons, Kristin Andreassen & Chris Eldridge, her partner Ethan Jodziewicz, and her two sisters.

This is the 16th independent release from this Brevard singer/songwriter/instrumentalist. As always, Dave shares the music and poetry of his heart, in a manner that’s both deeply personal and able to connect us all to our shared human experience.

Believe it or not, this is their first all-blues album! Warren Haynes (guitar, vocals), Matt Abts (drums), Danny Louis (keyboards, guitar, and backing vocals), and Jorgen Carlsson (bass) cover the likes of Junior Wells and Tom Waits, plus there are some of Haynes’ originals. It was recorded live in the studio at The Power Station New England on analog tape, utilizing vintage guitars, amps and other equipment to capture an authentic sound. We’ll miss seeing them in Asheville next month, but we’re glad to have this one!

This Oakland, CA funk and soul band has spent the last six years working on this album’s recording and mixing, and we think it was worth the wait. Lead vocalist Daryl “The Gata” Norcott has a tight band, with the Monophonics horns and other great guests. Another fine new recording on 8-track tape (on a Tascam 388, as seen on the cover), for that old-school analog sound.

They were an unlikely, one might say polarizing duo, when their 2007 debut “Raising Sand” took the music world by storm. But their “almost telepathic” connection with each other, and with producer T-Bone Burnett, worked its charm, and they’re back now, 14 years later, with another collection of intriguing arrangements of American music, covering such songwriters as Merle Haggard, Lucinda Williams, Calexico, and Ola Belle Reed.

It’s their third album together, and they’ve once again packed an incredible amount of dynamic power and soul into each track. Out now on one of our favorite record labels: Stax!