Alessi’s Ark is the project of London singer-songwriter Alessi Laurent-Marke.Alessi came up on Ben Lovett (of Mumford & Sons) Communion night in London, which also helped give rise to Mumford, Laura Marling, and Noah and the Whale.Her first album, Notes From A Treehouse, was produced by Bright Eyes’ Mike Mogis in Omaha, Nebraska, and embellished [...]

This article appears in our upcoming May/June “country” issue. Subscribe here. On a cold and clear day in January, Sturgill Simpson has just made camp in Chicago. He and his band drove in from Clear Lake, Iowa, where they opened for Dwight Yoakam at the Surf Ballroom the night before. Surf is famous for being [...]

Brooklyn-based singer-songwriter Matthew Houck is back with Muchacho, his sixth album as Phosphorescent. Houck went down to Mexico on a whim to write the songs on Muchacho, amid a messy winter in New York where he lost his apartment and was going through a breakup. The album documents a period of heartbreak, and you can [...]

“Hello, my name is Devendra,” says the voice from the other line. Then, he’s gone. Dropped call. It could have been the perfect Zen interview for Devendra Banhart — the one where nothing happens— but soon I have him back on the line, citing my editorial concern for an interview with no text. “The hierarchy [...]

Hiss Golden Messenger is the project of songwriter MC Taylor and his longtime musical collaborator Scott Hirsch. Taylor and Hirsch played in the hardcore band Ex-Ignota and formed the country-leaning The Court & Spark in San Francisco in 1998. The Court & Spark disbanded in 2007 and the pair soon started Hiss Golden Messenger. Taylor [...]

“You say that like it’s a bad thing,” says Water Liars’ Justin Kinkel-Schuster after I comment that his band’s new album, Wyoming, has a bleak outlook. The album’s first single, “Linens,” finds Kinkel-Schuster deep in nostalgia and also pondering his own mental state. “I woke up on the road my head was killing / Remembering some [...]

American Songwriter favorite Luke Winslow-King will release his new album, The Coming Tide, this April on Bloodshot Records. Winslow-King, originally from Michigan, will bring a New Orleans flavor to the Chicago label’s eclectic roots roster. On Friday afternoon at Bloodshot’s annual Yard Dog party on S. Congress, Winslow-King sat on a bill with Bobby Bare, [...]

Daptone Super Soul Revue!, ACL Live at The Moody Theater Soul singer Charles Bradley took the stage at the Moody Theater in a bright red suit, showing off dance moves that belied his age, in Daptone Records’ Thursday night soul revue at South By Southwest. The Florida-born, Brooklyn-based Bradley will release Victim of Love, the [...]

Nikki Lane turned in a fine early afternoon performance at Billy Reid’s annual day party on Wednesday at Weather Up on Austin’s east side. This year, the American Songwriter-partner event took over the cocktail house and outdoor stage, with food provided by Bravas Tapas and Austin sausage purveyor Frank, and records courtesy of Third Man’s [...]

We’re happy to announce that we’ve partnered up with some of our favorite Nashville folks to throw this little day party on Thursday, March 14, 2013, in Austin, Texas. The party will take place at Austin Ale House on 6th Street from Noon to 6 p.m. and will showcase some of Nashville’s best bands, from [...]

This article appears in our March/April issue – subscribe here. One night at a bar in East Nashville, the singer and songwriter Caitlin Rose is ordering drinks. With a cigarette in one hand, she seems to be part of a new lost generation of Nashville musicians, writers, and artists. Through the haze of smoke, it’s [...]

On her 26th birthday, Hurray For The Riff Raff’s Alynda Lee Segarra has offered up a stark, beautiful video for a new song called “Everybody Knows,” filmed in her home in the Lower Ninth Ward in New Orleans, with her friend Kate Cavazos. Long ago in Memphis town Streets were filled with a glorious sound [...]