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It’s the 10th album for MMJ, but for the first time, they’ve handed the reins to an outside producer, the accomplished Brendan O’Brien (Bruce Springsteen, Pearl Jam.) This is a solid, mostly straight-ahead rock album, getting quite positive reviews so far. As London music critics Mystic Sons writes, “There’s a tension between chaos and clarity, between abandon and control. The band leans into their psychedelic tendencies without losing sight of emotional core, each song anchored by Jim James’ lyrical introspection and unmistakable vocal glow.”

Just what is the “Red Dirt” sound? Think traditional country, without the modern Nashville sound, and with elements of Southern rock, Americana rock, and just plain ole’ rock n’ roll. It grows out of the musically fertile soil of Texas and Oklahoma, the latter of which Boland hails from. This is their 11th album, and it was produced by Lloyd Maines, who also produced their debut.

The Sure Fire Soul Ensemble is a 9-piece heavy, instrumental funk band from San Diego, CA. Their influences are vast and include Hip Hop groups like Wu-Tang Clan and De La Soul, as well as funk and soul masters like Isaac Hayes, The Meters, and James Brown. But in reference to the name of this album, the two genres they meld together most here are funk and jazz. Dig this great new release of instrumentals, out this week via Colemine Records.

This 6th album of Lilly Hiatt’s, produced and engineered by her husband Coley Hinson, explores some of her inner thoughts about intimacy and expectations, with at times a pretty raucous rock foundation. On the making of this new one, Lilly says, “After scrapping about 20 songs or so I had written the last few years, I wanted to get to the heart of things. I had a great talk with a friend on the phone and she mentioned she just wasn’t sure where I’d been. I realized I wasn’t really certain of that either. It’d been a foggy few years after 2020, and the pieces seemed to just be starting to be picked up. …For a bit, I felt like an outsider watching myself stumble though everything, and was constantly critiquing myself, to the point where I could hardly leave the house for a bit. But then I realized my life was passing me by, and the love I was living in required presence to accept.” “Time is flying, and I want to be here for it all rather than lost in my thoughts all the time. My love is forever. When I was a kid I used to say to my mom and dad “I love you forever and always” then neurotically changed it to “I love you forever and always and it’s true and I mean it”…because I wanted to make sure they knew how much I wasn’t messing around! I still feel that way when I say “I love you” to anyone and hope it comes across on this record.” Join us as we wrap up Women’s History Month with this one.

Following his 2023 breakout full-length album Family Ties, comes this 7-song EP. It’s a bit more subdued and stripped down, though it’s not short on great production, or collaboration with the likes of Scott Avett on the Jason Molina song “Hammer Down”. A more prominent collaborator here is producer Al Torrence, who also contributed drums, bass, electric guitar, acoustic guitar, slide guitar, piano, Hammond B3 organ, synthesizers, Mellotron, and background vocals. Speaking of Avett Brothers, he’ll be on tour with them this month out west; he’ll also be part of Willie Nelson’s Outlaw Music Festival this summer, including Charlotte July 26th.

Ten years (and 13 albums!) into his career, Charley Crockett has shared a lot about his life through his songs, not to mention his frank interviews. His life experiences are rather frank and direct in this straightforward release, too, and it’s bound to be another one of his to rank high in our Top 100 at year’s end.

You say you know a bunch of songs of Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band… But do you know them played by outlaw country/Americana-rock band Ward Hayden & The Outliers? Well you will this year, as this Massachusetts act, formerly known as Girls, Guns & Glory, has plans to release TWO albums’ worth of The Boss’s songs in 2025. The two-year recording process for these 16 covers also inspired an album of original tunes, which they’ll be recording this summer. This first one includes songs like “Dancing in the Dark”, “Two Faces Have II”, and the lead-off track, “Promised Land”.

It’s been a while since we heard from singer/songwriter Grey DeLisle – she needed to take a break from live performance and perhaps the music business in general. But she’s back, and making up for lost time with this double-album of 20 songs she’s written. Aside from the physical and voluminous homage to The Beatles’ “White Album”, DeLisle pays tribute to that wonderful convergence of Nashville country, Bakersfield honky-tonk, and British blues/pop of the ‘60s. She’s got an exceptional lineup of musicians here: Murry Hammond (acoustic guitar), Greg Leisz (steel guitar/12-string Rickenbacker guitar), D.J. Bonebrake (vibes/drums/percussion), Phil Jones (drums), Adam Pike (mellotron), Gideon Klein & Paul Nelson (cellos), Tammy Rogers (violins/violas/strings arranged & performed), Deke Dickerson (guitar/stand-up bass), David Ralicke (trumpets), and Cherry Currie & Stephen McCarthy (vocals).

The four members of the Animal Liberation Orchestra – Dan “Lebo” Lebowitz on guitar, Steve Adams on bass, Zach Gill on keys, and Ezra Lipp on drums -- each take turns in the songwriting and lead-vocals spotlight with this latest fusion of rock, electronic, alt-pop, R&B, folk, dance, and funk. As the band’s website describes it, “The theme running throughout Frames is a reaction to the rapid pace in which we live our lives. Due to the overwhelming rate in which information is thrust upon us, and the figurative groups (or frames) they come in, people are constantly challenged to decide what is vital and what is not before much of it dissipates, often leaving a societal wreckage in its wake.”

"This is a group of songs I've written over the last few years that loosely fell into the basket of love songs," says Sharp. "All of these tunes are tied to specific moments and places; for me, it almost reads like a photo album through the past decade or so. Most of these tunes fit nicely onto the banjo, so the bluegrass setting seemed like the obvious choice. Living in Western NC, I’m lucky to have some of the finest bluegrass musicians anywhere as neighbors. This group had never played together as a band, so we had a lot of fun putting these little songs together." The band here includes Lindsay Pruett, Tommy Maher, Casey Driessen, and Jerry Douglas, and it is indeed more in a bluegrass direction than his debut solo album, 2021’s Truer Picture. We look forward to sharing it with you!