The immensely talented, hard living singer-songwriter took a few moments to talk with us in advance of his gig at Millennium Park tonight with Andre Williams and the Goldstars. more ›

Just in time for Valentine's Day, Bloodshot Records is offering a free sampler of love songs on Amazon. It's a tight selection of what Bloodshot calls "the good the bad and the ugly" in their love song catalog. They're right; it's a good cross-section of drinking songs, cheating songs, murder ballads, and songs about breakups and longing from artists such as Nora O'Connor, Alejandro Escovedo, Scott H. Biram, Robbie Fulks and Andre Williams. more ›

It's been written here previously: Justin Townes Earle has some mighty large footsteps to follow as a musician. The son of hardcore troubadour Steve Earle (one of the best songwriters of the past 40 years) and named after his father's best friend and hero Townes Van Zandt, Earle's musical education rivals anything you can get at the Old Town School of Folk Music. more ›

At the beginning of 2008, San Francisco's Birdmonster hadn't yet decided if they were a blog band or not. On 2006's No Midnight, the foursome walked a perfect domestic indie rock line of Americana bar band swagger and sweet California pop sing-alongs. The harmonies flowed, but their riverbed was gritty enough that the band's frantic energy seemed fresh-faced and earnest - like any hiccups were a result of their unbridled drive to get the music out of their heads and hearts and into your hands. more ›

"‘Transnormal skiperoo' is a name I invented to describe a strange new feeling I've been experiencing after years of feeling lost and alone and cursed," writes Southern Americana balladeer Jim White in his bio. "Now, when everything around me begins to shine, when I find myself dancing around in my back yard for no particular reason other than it feels good to be alive, when I get this deep sense of gratitude that I don't need drugs or God or doomed romance to fuel myself through the gauntlet of a normal day, I call that feeling 'transnormal skiperoo.’" more ›