Townes Van Zandt

Arrestingly singular and deeply moving, this 1988 album by Choctaw, Assiniboine, and Texan poet, journalist, artist, activist, and musician Roxy Gordon (First Coyote Boy) (1945-2000)-whose long out-of-print work has been acclaimed by friends such as Townes Van Zandt, Leonard Cohen, and Terry Allen-sets his cold-blooded, bone-lean reflections on the complexities and contradictions of American Indian (and American) history and identity to atmospheric, synth-damaged country-rock that skirts ambient textures and postpunk deconstructions.

2016 marks Madeleine Peyrouxs twentieth anniversary as a recording artist with the release of "Secular Hymns", a spirited and soulful masterwork of loping, skipping, sassy, feisty and sexy tunes delivered in a captivating melange of funk, blues and jazz. Peyroux set out to record a collection of songs with their own hymn-like stories of self-awareness & inner dialogue, a communal consciousness & a spiritual essence. Here, Madeleine intimately renders tunes by seminal blues artists like Willie Dixon & Lil Green, gospel singer Sister Rosetta Tharpe, dub star Linton Kwesi Johnson, 3 renowned American composers (Tom Waits, Townes Van Zandt, Allen Toussaint), 19th century composer Stephen Foster & ending with a traditional African-American Spiritual.

Issued in 1978, No Place to Fall is, regrettably, the second and last album for RCA. Like its predecessor, Renegade Picker, Young's ever-evolving music is centered in the heart of outlaw country this time out, though there are, as usual, interesting twists and turns. The band is stellar, with Buddy Emmons and Buddy Spicher, Tracy Nelson, Jerry Shook, Dale Sellers, and a bunch of guitar pickers, as well as drummer Kenny Malone, among others. The material is noteworthy on many levels, not the least of which is Young's decision to record, for the third time, "Montgomery in the Rain" and "Seven Bridges Road."

Steve Earle has been making intimate and personal music for more than four decades. His songwriting has made its way from Texas to Tennessee, and his education has come in the form of learning from the best.

Already celebrated as a discoverer and interpreter of other artists’ songs, 13-time Grammy Award winner Emmylou Harris has, in the last decade, gained admiration as much for her eloquently straightforward songwriting as for her incomparably expressive singing. This collection transports you back to a time, featuring some of Emmylou's most memorable titles from the 1970s.

Eight of thirteen time Grammy Award winner Emmylou Harris' best albums from the '80s, featuring: Roses in the Snow, Evangeline, Cimarron, White Shoes, The Ballad of Sally Rose, Thirteen, Angel Band and Bluebird. All of these spectacular 1980's albums made it to onto the U.S. albums chart, ranging from the number 2 spot to number 23.

Already celebrated as a discoverer and interpreter of other artists’ songs, 13-time Grammy Award winner Emmylou Harris has, in the last decade, gained admiration as much for her eloquently straightforward songwriting as for her incomparably expressive singing. This collection transports you back to a time, featuring some of Emmylou's most memorable titles from the 1970s.

In celebration of their 20th anniversary, Wilco releases "What's Your 20", a compilation album of essential tracks culled from the band’s previously released studio recordings that span from 1994 to 2014. These are the first compilations of Wilco music of any kind.

"Gilded" is the debut offering from California singer/songwriter Jade Jackson. It marks the arrival of a young but sophisticated talent who possesses a keen melodic ear, an innate sense of rhyme and phrasing, and a slow, syrupy sweet, slightly raspy voice to deliver it all in. She's soaked up a wealth of influences, from Hank Williams and Lucinda Williams to Townes Van Zandt, Gillian Welch, Ryan Adams, and more. She has also, especially for such a young person, a deep well of experience from which to draw from and does so with finesse.