Louis Sass

This is absolute manna from Southern soul heaven. On the strength of the one, long-unavailable 1973 LP that forms the core of this compilation, Tommie Young can stake a claim as perhaps the finest neo-Aretha Franklin stylist among the slew of early-’70s soul sisters. But she was a meteor flare, almost immediately retreating back to the gospel scene that nurtured her, save for singing lead on the soundtrack to A Woman Called Moses, Cicely Tyson’s 1978 film about Harriet Tubman. Granted, Young didn’t have the protean power of Franklin (like anyone did?), so her vocal tone is lighter; but the sensational, effortless, melodic leaps on the commanding title track does nothing to dispel the Franklin impression.

The companion to 2021's Macon (as in his hometown), Jason Aldean's tribute to his home state—and there's plenty of personalized nostalgia that does what country music does at its best: feel universal, even when you've never lived anything like it. Aldean is a master at writing and choosing songs that encapsulate a cinematic version of what people expect from a country song. "Whiskey Me Away" finds him chasing away his loneliness with a stranger in a "long-lost highway town" bar, throwing quarters in a jukebox to "play some old-school Alabama." He remembers past summers with a preacher's daughter on "Holy Water," commemorating her airbrushed T-shirt and bumper-car rides (bonus points for rhyming "heaven" and "Destin," as in the budget-Spring-Break Florida town).

Part of the four-book Queens of the Resistance series, saluting some of the most beloved boss ladies in Congress: a celebration of Representative Maxine Waters, who reclaimed her time and led the first calls for impeachment

Smokey-voiced jazz vocalist Jerri Winter sang with Stan Kenton's orchestra before she ventured out on her own short-lived recording career. With only three albums to her credit, her legacy leans towards quality rather than than quantity. On this 1957 session, only her second solo album, she is backed up by the Al Belletto Sextet.

This is absolute manna from Southern soul heaven. On the strength of the one, long-unavailable 1973 LP that forms the core of this compilation, Tommie Young can stake a claim as perhaps the finest neo-Aretha Franklin stylist among the slew of early-'70s soul sisters. But she was a meteor flare, almost immediately retreating back to the gospel scene that nurtured her, save for singing lead on the soundtrack to A Woman Called Moses, Cicely Tyson's 1978 film about Harriet Tubman. (She recorded on Texas gospel labels in the '90s as Tommye Young West.) Granted, Young didn't have the protean power of Franklin (like anyone did?), so her vocal tone is lighter; but the sensational, effortless, melodic leaps on the commanding title track does nothing to dispel the Franklin impression.