Two solo singer/songwriters with guitars, teaming up to form an even greater whole. Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale. Honest lyrics, pure music, minimalist–no need for vocoders or drum machines or overdubs.  Just live music. Beautiful indie from Madison, WI. Get the whole album free here. Truly great stuff. Permanent Charlie

I used to really like Shawn Colvin, but she lost her edge.  If you feel like I do, and want to hear a fantastic female singer-songwriter with Americana accents, indie folk sensibilities, and the ability to craft a hook and belt out a powerful tune, look no further than Lynn Miles.  Her album has all [...]

I think you should listen to Nathan Moore’s Dear Puppeteer at least twice.  Because the lyrics are really good, but the first time through it’s hard to notice them over the great guitar work and vocals.  Moore uses his voice like an instrument–just the sound of it, the rising and falling, the whispers and creaks–it’s [...]

They call it “chamber folk pop,” the gentle songs that make up The Olympic Symphonium‘s third album, “The City Won’t Have Time To Fight.”  It sounds a bit like The Beach Boys turned way down to sleepy-mellow.  The music feels traditional, even if the compositions are 100 percent originals.  Lots of harmony, acoustic instrumentation, easy [...]

In my life, there have been those albums that I instantly despised and then, all of a sudden, found myself loving more than anything else on the market.  It happened with the first Counting Crows album, which I dismissed as tepid Van Morrison echoes until it crept into my consciousness and took me over completely.  [...]

Joe Pugliese, a Chicago singer/songwriter who records under the name Joe Pug, has already received recognition from great fellow artists who have brought him along on tour: Steve Earle and Josh Ritter, to name two.  With references like that, it shouldn’t be startling that his debut full-length, Messenger, is extraordinary. It’s a quiet album, but [...]

A little quick one.  Brett Shady, formerly of Golden Shoulders, has released a nice little singer-songwriter alum that’s rootsy, acoustic, well-writtend and well sung.  Very well sung, indeed. Here’s the best of the lot:

Okay, so the band name “Evangenitals” is like, probably one of the worst I’ve ever heard.  Fortunately, the band is a lot better than their name.  And forgive them their artiness–the band consists of a playwright/director, who also calls herself a reverend (Juli Crockett); an opera/jazz singer (Lisa Dee); and instruments that range from the [...]

First of all, let’s get this straight: The Pernice Brothers really are brothers.  Joe and Bob, along with bandmates James Walbourne and Ric Menck and some special guests, already have six albums behind them and here comes number seven. They were originally discovered by Sub Pop but something happened and the band dropped away for [...]

It’s been three years since Matt Pond PA released new studio material, and that’s too long.  Or maybe it’s just the right amount of time, because this is the first record that Pond et al. have put out that I’ve enjoyed end to end.  The songs are smooth, somewhat dark indie rock tunes, that don’t [...]