Of his last album, 2012’s Gloryland, singer/songwriter Kevin Gordon said he likes “the unfinished ending -- the story that just continues when the song’s over.” With his newest piece, a 12-song set called Long Gone Time, Gordon continues to construct his characters with an air of mystery, leaving the listener to imagine how, exactly, one came…

Belying their party band biography and dipping their toes into some heavy jazz vibes, the Honeydrops open A River’s Invitation with a cut that sounds more like Miles’ man On the Corner than a romp down the Rue Dauphine. The groove is Muscle Shoals deep, singer Lech Wierzynski’s voice is Sam Cooke wide, and saxophonist…

This year has brought us some intriguing records that fuse the worlds of pop and Americana. Created largely by women -- Hannah Miller, Jesse Baylin, and Kasey Chambers, to name three -- their soldering of styles both modernist and traditional have had a thought-provoking effect our ears and redefined what we mean when we discuss…

To channel the White Stripes is to channel Led Zeppelin is to channel the misty mountain hop of agrarian England and the spooky science of rune stones and rock guitars. The fogs of Kent draw certain parallels to the vapory evenings of Marion County, MS: a dark night in the hollows of Jamestown is not unlike…

Inspiration for Whitney Rose’s sophomore set starts with the late, great Patsy Cline, whose spirit sings along on songs like “Little Piece of You,” the heartbreak jukebox ballad “The Last Party,” and swinging, swooning slow dancer “Ain’t It Wise.” The great girl groups of the '50s and '60s make an obvious imprint on the proceedings (especially on…