At only 22 years old, Thomas Rhett has already made major waves in country music. He released a self-titled EP late last month (via The Valory Music Co.), featuring the singles “Something To Do With My Hands” and “Beer With Jesus.” We recently chatted with this young gun about co-writing with Grammy winners, having a [...]

If you want to legitimize your band in the pantheon of rock and roll, you can do a whole lot worse than a duet with Emmylou Harris. The silver-haired songwriter’s discography includes collaborations with Roy Orbison, Willie Nelson and Neil Young, and her contributions to albums by Bob Dylan and Gram Parsons are legendary. She’s [...]

Tori Amos Gold Dust (Deutsche Grammophon) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Performing since age 13, singer-songwriter-pianist Tori Amos’ prolific recording career bleeds into four decades and includes 13 studio albums, 33 official bootlegs, 40 singles, 65 B-sides, 27 music videos, and a five-disc box set. All of which have served to carve out her [...]

Beth Orton Sugaring Season (Anti-) Rating: 4 out of 5 stars Most listeners’ introduction to Beth Orton came via her contributions to albums by William Orbit, Red Snaper or The Chemical Brothers — three electronic acts with seemingly little connection to lushly orchestrated folk. Yet ever since her proper debut album Trailer Park in 1996, the [...]

ARTIST: SJ SONG: “Let Me Be” BIRTHDATE: June 14 BIRTHPLACE: Cleveland, OH AMBITIONS: Definitely not to rule the world. TURN-OFFS: Pretentiousness (not to be confused with arrogance, which I don’t mind as long as it’s backed up). TURN-ONS: That rare combination of pretty, smart, sweet and down-to-earth. DREAM GIG: So, I start dreaming while I’m [...]

Accomplished singer/songwriter/producer Russ Irwin has been honing his musical chops for over two decades, working with artists ranging from Meat Loaf to Clay Aiken, Aerosmith to Sting. If you’ve seen Aerosmith over the past 15 years, you may recognize him. He’s the band’s touring keyboardist who’s now co-written the band’s latest single “What Could Have [...]

Iris DeMent Sing The Delta (Flariella) 3.5 stars out of 5 As the Americana movement that she helped to initiate back in the early-to-mid 90’s took off in popularity, Iris DeMent for the most part watched from the sidelines. In the past sixteen years, the only album she released was 2004’s Lifeline, a gospel record [...]

Country singer/songwriter Kacey Musgraves is stirring things up at radio with “Merry Go ‘Round,” the first single from her upcoming debut album. The song was co-written with Josh Osborne and Shane McAnally — the album, due out in 2013, was co-produced by Kacey, McAnally and Luke Laird. Musgraves, who began writing at the age of [...]

The crowd at Pittsburgh’s Club Café that showed up to see Pegi Young and the Survivors Tuesday night did not come because the bandleader is Neil ‘s wife. The band’s third album, Bracing For Impact, is proving to be its breakthrough. Cross format airplay and brisk sales have carved out an identity distinctly separate from [...]

Check out the playful new video from Piney Gir, a Kansas-born, UK-based indie-pop artist and festival staple. “Friends & Neighbours” hails from her album Geronimo!, which was produced by Jonestown Massacre’s Rob Companella and features a horn section led by Tom Bennellick, who played horns on The Beatles’ Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band. “‘Friends [...]

Starry Nights Music Festival kicks off in Bowling Green, Kentucky this weekend. Curated by hometown heroes Cage the Elephant, the lineup includes acts like Portugal. The Man, Justin Townes Earle, Manchester Orchestra, Mimosa, Sleeper Agent, and more. American Songwriter sat down with Cage lead singer Matt Shultz and Starry Nights founder Bryan Graves to talk [...]

Daddy (James Franco and Tim O’Keefe) MotorCity (EP) (no label) Rating: 1 out of 5 stars The dollar CD bins are filled with the failed attempts of actors who wanted to be pop stars. Some were better than others but Johnny Depp, Lindsay Lohan, Eddie Murphy, Don Johnson, Billy Bob Thornton, Jeff Bridges and many [...]