Last year, bluesy belter ZZ Ward released new music in three different formats – a mixtape, an EP and a full-length album. This year, she’s co-headlined a tour with Delta Rae and appeared on Conan and Good Morning America. We asked about her musical apprenticeship singing in bars as a kid, the music she listens [...]

(Yes, yes, y’all: Yelawolf comes to SoundLand) If you were to ask the folks at Next BIG Nashville’s SoundLand, they would agree: This is the first time the festival has ever had a great hip hop show on the schedule. Not that there haven’t been great hip hop acts – Memphis’ Skewby and Huntsville, AL’s [...]

Genre-bending country star Colt Ford is back with his third studio album, Every Chance I Get. Melding country and hip-hop, the Georgia native has collected an all-star cast of collaborators, including Tim McGraw, Charlie Daniels, Eric Church, and The Nappy Roots. It’s a far cry from his early work with Jermaine Dupri and Kriss Kross, [...]

Sitting in the BMI offices for an industry junket trip to Nashville a few months ago, Ponderosa’s singer and main songwriter Kalen Nash levels with you. “I can’t write a lie,” he says, as the band’s keyboardist John Dance nods approvingly. But you also get the feeling that the reasons behind Nash’s songwriting ethics come [...]

Sennheiser HD-228 Mid-Size Portable Headphones LIST PRICE: $99.95 www.sennheiserusa.com Sennheiser’s HD headphone line spans three categories, from “Audiofile” and “Pro Music/DJ” to their “Mid-Size Portable” series. Earlier this year, we reviewed the HD-380 Pros, a pair from the middle bracket that are great for any level of studio work. In the same article on home [...]

If there’s two things we’ve always had trouble getting into, it’s medleys of hit songs and the recorded oeuvre of Justin Timberlake. But our respect for the former ‘N Sync artiste keeps increasing, thanks in part to his comedic performances on Saturday Night Live. And now, it’s reached new, mildly uncomfortable heights. Watch this video [...]

Sean “The Pen” Garrett, 31, is one of Hip Hop and R&B’s brightest stars, but you’re forgiven if your unfamiliar with his visage. Garrett has been mostly content to write and produce hits for others (such as Ne-Yo, Fergie, Mary J Blige and Beyonce). And he’s been doing a kick ass job of it; he’s [...]

CocoRosie Grey Oceans Sub Pop Rating: From the cover of CocoRosie’s latest album, Grey Oceans, which features the duo sporting Druid-ish cloaks and paste-on beards, one could deduce that the sisters have matured little from their days of singing about little Bambis and candy canes. And while flits of sophomoric frivolity remain on their Sub [...]