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On Friday the 29th, Willie celebrates his 89th birthday! And he’ll also celebrate the release of this touching album of co-writes with Buddy Cannon and covers from the likes of Leonard Cohen, Lennon/McCartney, and even Asheville’s own Charles Humphrey III!

The Portland, Oregon singer/songwriter has quite a sharp wit in his shows, and in a lot of his songs. “Humorous storytelling, serious folk”, to describe his style. On this new one, he paints deep, rich portraits of characters, with expert production work. As his website says of Mermaid Salt, he “adapts moments of solitude into stories perfectly suited for old Americana fiction anthologies.” This is the follow-up to his 2020 album “Asterisk the Universe”.

He achieved the rare distinction of ranking TWO albums in WNCW’s Top 100 last year. There’s no doubt his genuine reverence for that classic sound of Nashville’s golden era of Country music resonates, perhaps especially thanks to his “Gulf & Western” sound of blues, Cajun, and western swing from his Texas/Louisiana/Gulf Coast origins. Crockett shines once again with this fourth installment in his “Lil’ G.L. Presents” series, with renditions of Jerry Reed, George Jones, Tom T. Hall, and others.

Did you know these two greats actually started their careers together? They formed the band Rising Sons in 1965, but disbanded after a year. (They even recorded an album, but it wasn’t released until 1992.) And they were both deeply moved by the recordings of Piedmont blues legends Sonny & Terry when they were teenagers. “We’re now the guys that we aspired toward when we were starting out,” Taj Mahal says. “Here we are now … old timers. What a great opportunity, to really come full circle.” This fine tribute to a couple of their heroes features Cooder on vocals, guitar, mandolin, and banjo, Taj Mahal on vocals, harmonica, guitar, and piano, and Joachim Cooder (Ry’s son) on drums and bass.

She’s back with this terrific one produced by Joshua Homme in Burbank, CA. The band here includes Homme, as well as his Queens of the Stone Age collaborators Alain Johannes on guitar, Dean Fertita on organ & Michael Shuman on bass. Additionally, the album features drummers Matt Helders of Arctic Monkeys, Carla Azar of the acclaimed post-punk band Autolux (and frequent Jack White collaborator), and Lane’s pedal steel player Matthew Pynn (Dwight Yoakum, Miley Cyrus).

The saxophonist/composer for Bela Fleck & the Flecktones, Dave Matthews Band, and his own Mu’Tet has 8 bassists, 6 drummers, 5 guitarists, and 4 keyboardists here, not to mention Middle Eastern frame drums, a Hungarian tarogato, an African ngoni, soda bottles, and an ice cream truck. (Perhaps there’s a kitchen sink somewhere, too?) As you might expect, this transcends any one genre or two. Fellow musicians include Felix Pastorius, Chris Wood, Robben Ford, and Marcus King. So many reasons why we at WNCW love this!

We enjoyed Kenny’s visit here last week, and some very open-hearted discussions about losing friends to suicide (like guitarist/songwriter Neal Casal), recovering from other traumas, the songwriting process, and life as a performing artist these days. (Keep an eye out for the interview to show up on WNCW’s YouTube page soon.) Kenny debuted some songs from this new album, a somewhat introspective one like his interview, as well as last year’s “The Reservoir.” Guests include fellow Woodstock neighbors John Sebastian and Amy Helm, and Virginia’s Dori Freeman.

This new one is a rather dramatic departure from her previous six albums. It’s also a fearless confessional featuring 10 emotionally raw tracks, produced by Lawrence Rothman (Angel Olsen, Courtney Love.) Upon hearing Amanda for the first time Lawrence said, “I was just mesmerized. I thought she was the new Dolly Parton; Dolly for a new generation.” Tune in to see if you agree. Also, note that Amanda has shows in Asheville and Charlotte in September!

He’s clearly one of the most intelligent and insightful musicians on the scene these days, and he’s back with an exploration of the complex thoughts, questions and middle-of-the-night obsessions swirling around in each of us.

Kelsey Waldon comes from the small Kentucky town of Monkey’s Eyebrow, and now calls Nashville home. She releases this new one on Friday the 12th, via the late John Prine's Oh Boy Records. Shooter Jennings produced it and played keys on it, and has called Kelsey "a top shelf artist who feels a deep responsibility to country music, the preservation of its history, and the quality of its future."