Scott Kelly

To mark the 250th anniversary of the birth of Sir Walter Scott, author Damian Barr goes in search of the legacy and lasting influence of one of Scotland's great historical figures, novelists and poets.

Kelly Hogan is one of the finest and most musically astute vocalists working in American popular music, but this seems to be better understood by her peers than the general public. Hogan cut a pair of fine albums for Bloodshot Records near the turn of the millennium, but they failed to find an audience, and she has since become best known for her fine work as Neko Case's backing vocalist, while she's performed with an array of artists from Tortoise, the Drive-By Truckers, and the Mekons to Amy Ray, Jakob Dylan, and Mavis Staples. Given her busy schedule working with others, it seemed an open question if Hogan would ever get around to making another record of her own, but I Like to Keep Myself in Pain not only puts her in the spotlight where she belongs, it's an instant classic that's as strong as any record that she's appeared on, no small achievement given her résumé.

In the afterglow of her acclaimed 2020 album *Silver Ladders* (a year-end favorite of NPR, Pitchfork, The New Yorker, and others), Los Angeles-based harpist and composer Mary Lattimore returns with a culminating counterpart release, *Collected Pieces: 2015-2020.

Composer and guitarist David Leisner releases "Letter to the Word", a portrait album of his oeuvre for voice and instruments, featuring soprano Katherine Whyte, tenor Andrew Fuchs, baritone Michael Kelly, violinist Sarah Whitney, oboist Scott Bartucca, cellist Raman Ramikrishnan, Leisner on guitar, and pianists Lenore Fishman Davis and Dimitri Dover. Of his vocal writing The Boston Globe raves: "he shows imagination and taste in taking poems from disparate sources and putting them into cycles that trace emotional progress and develop dramatic shape. His prosody is excellent, and he sets words with an ear for sound, rhythm, and sense… Best of all, Leisner has a gift for eloquently shaping a vocal line that is also grateful to sing". Four examples of his vocal chamber music are included on this album, from different stages of his career: two from the 1980s, one from 2002, and one from 2011.