Tag Archives: song-to-know

Capturing the yearning in a Daniel Johnston song is a difficult thing, possibly because the specific kind of longing felt by Johnston — the prolific outsider musician who died a couple of years ago — was difficult to describe, much like the untranslatable words saudade in Portuguese or toska in …

It’s one thing to revive a genre and another to resuscitate a specific type of old-school song. But on “Another Man,” from his new self-titled debut, Buffalo Nichols has both goals in mind: to update the blues and the protest song in the 21st century. Born in Houston but raised …

Mainstream Nashville’s attempts to engage with a Spanish-speaking audience have been hit-or-miss, despite the obvious similarities between country music and Tejano or Norteño. Freddy Fender is probably the best-known example — his “Before the Next Teardrop Falls” hit Number One in 1975 — but other artists, like Rick Trevino and …

John Calvin Abney had a busy spring lined up thanks to his day job as John Moreland’s guitar player, but the pandemic obliterated those plans in March. The Tulsa, Oklahoma, musician and singer-songwriter instead hunkered down and began working on a new batch of his own songs, with his pal …

Justin Sullivan has spent the better part of two decades as a touring drummer for a variety of indie bands, and as a member of Flat Worms and the Babies alongside Kevin Morby and Cassie Ramone. He stepped out into the spotlight in 2018 with In the Break, his solo …

Disco and other classic strains of dance music have enjoyed a pop renaissance in 2020, showing up on albums by British singers Dua Lipa and Jessie Ware, as well as on the all-American Lady Gaga’s Chromatica. Irish singer-songwriter Roísín Murphy has long demonstrated her fealty to and appreciation for these …

It’s difficult to decide whether Idles frontman Joe Talbot’s angry vituperation or the band’s slamming, vertigo-inducing guitar riffs sound heavier on “Grounds,” the latest song the Bristol, U.K. group has released from its upcoming Ultra Mono album. For a band that titled its first album Brutalism, Idles sound more bellicose, …

“What a lie-lie-lie-lie,” Natalie Maines sings in “Gaslighter,” the long-awaited first piece of new music that the Dixie Chicks have released since the George W. Bush administration. Maines has hinted that the group’s upcoming album will chronicle her 2019 divorce, and the new single clears up any ambiguity. The thinly-veiled …

Everyone loves an elusive singer-songwriter, and U.K. musician Bill Fay is a prime example. He started making music in the Sixties as a college student, leading to a brief stint on an imprint of Decca Records, during which he released two albums: a self-titled debut in 1970, followed in 1971 …

Ozuna added a fiercely rapped verse to El Cherry Scom and Kiko El Crazy’s dembow romp “Baje con Trenza” on Monday. Though Ozuna’s biggest hits rely on his sweet singing voice and intuitive melodies, the star takes a very different approach on “Baje con Trenza,” delivering drilling lines at top …