Country & Folk

New album: Dirt Road Souls || (The Life and Times of) Johnny Moonshine

The kind of story that gets better every time it’s told

By / / Blues & Roots, Country & Folk / Leave a Comment

Dirt Road Souls may be a new band, but their skills and sound are as accomplished as can be. We are dealing here with Boston roots-rock veterans Davis Black aka Dave Yuknat (vocals, guitar), Brian Sargent (upright bass, vocals, mandolin), and Rick Weden (drums). Their debut record spins a myth: (The Life and Times of) Johnny Moonshine plays like a half-remembered barroom yarn, where truth matters less than feeling. Twelve dusty tracks sketch out the rise and unraveling of a small-town anti-hero with a taste for trouble, love, and late-night bad decisions that make better stories.

There’s a loose, lived-in charm and warmth to the remarkably soulful mix of bluesy Americana, country rock, and Southern gothic, with a knack for melody, at times reminiscent of the Rolling Stones. Obviously, the album is best experienced as a whole, but individual songs also hold up well; highlights include Next To You (a glimpse into rural small-town nightlife and the pure optimism of getting near the person you desire most), Dreams (Johnny and Jenny, now together, have a heart to heart—with guest vocals by Ava McCabe), Bright Light White Heat (the rebel’s luck runs out), and Whiskey Bottle Blues (the titular character makes more wrong choices). This is lived experience turned into music, hitting that sweet spot between romanticism and regret. I am an instant fan.



The “roots-rock opera” (The Life and Times of) Johnny Moonshine—written by Dave Yuknat, produced and recorded by Brian Sargent—is out now digitally (self-released).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Abes Bones || ATLAS

From a Battlin' Sky to a Flute Groove

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We have come to know Tucson, Arizona-based slacker rock outfit Abes Bones as an idiosyncratic group that pays little heed to conventional norms, and their latest full-length album ATLAS is no exception. The twelve new songs range from melancholic folk (From the Bed of a Truck Called Frank) to instrumental party music (Mule Fat, Flute Groove) and alt-country-tinged indie rock (Oh Teresa!, A Pair of Vintage Levi’s Jeans), sometimes shorter than two minutes (Shamrock (Take Me Back!)) and sometimes longer than seven (the beautiful Battlin’ Sky), but always rich in instrumentation and harmonies. Atmospheric and colorful.



ATLAS—produced by James Willis—is out now digitally and on cassette via Coyote Oak. Featuring James Willis (keys, guitar, lead vocals, percussion), Rachel Cummings (flute, backing vocals, percussion), Shane Harkins (bass, backing vocals, percussion), Christian Payne (guitar, keys, backing vocals, percussion), and Ben Pearson (drums, percussion, backing vocals). with Dylan Barnes (keys) guesting on the opening track.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: Francis Tait || Live at the Old Bar 2

Returning to where it started: growth pressed onto tape

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Australian singer-songwriter Francis Tait debuted in 2020 with a tape titled Live at the Old Bar, featuring six live songs that we would later come to know as gems from his band Quality Used Cars. With three amazing studio albums under his belt (read our review of 2025’s One Hundred Million), he returned exactly six years later—on ‘Gravy Day’—to the same spot to record Volume 2. Folk-tinged, but unconventional.

You’ll hear intimate versions of eight choice cuts from those LPs, stripped back and heartfelt. Though I wasn’t there (as a fan, I would have really loved that), this release paints a clear picture of what the night must have felt like. Just an acoustic guitar, that distinctive voice, and keen wit are enough to command the room, drawing listeners into stories that land somewhere between a laugh and a tear.


Live at the Old Bar 2—recorded on December 21, 2025 by Erik Scerba—is out now digitally and on limited edition cassette via Spoilsport Records.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

Dusted || The Best New Cover Songs Of March 2026

By / / Alternative Rock, Country & Folk, Funk & Soul, Garage Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Power Pop, Psych, Punk, Surf / Leave a Comment

Not all new music is really new, as many artists cover songs. Sometimes these are songs by their favorite artists, e.g. as a tribute to such a musical hero for a special reason, or they simply feel that a song deserves to be dusted and polished to reacquaint fans with great songs from the past. Other times, bands cover songs as a parody. Regardless of intent, some of those cover versions are so good or so much fun, we’d like to put a spotlight on them. Chosen from a wide range, here are—in a kind of random order—a bunch of successful covers from last month—links to pages where you can add them to your wantlist included.

Can’t Seem To Make You Mine (The Seeds) by Sky Saxon — from The King Of Garage Rock LP (Cleopatra Records)

Working Too Hard (Paul Collins’ Beat) by SOFTJAW — digital track (Dandy Boy Records)

Put the Message in the Box (World Party) by Mary Chapin Carpenter & the Mountain Goats — from Put the Message in the Box / Migrations 7″ (Cadmean Dawn)

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Dusted || The Best New Cover Songs Of March 2026Read More »

The Loose Ends || March 2026

By / / Alternative Rock, Blues & Roots, Country & Folk, Garage Rock, Glam Rock, Indie Pop, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop, Power Pop, Psych, Punk / 1 Comment

There are more wantlist-worthy releases than time to cover them all. Starting this year, Loose Ends is our monthly fix for the great records that slipped through the cracks. Expect a key track and quick take on each release, and a link to add it to your shelves.

Aswan Dam || In the Playpen of the Damned
Cool new band featuring Harry Wohl of Uranium Club. Jangly guitars, post punk wireness and pop sensibilities complement each other well on their 10-song debut album.

Atlanter || Clock
The pioneers of “viddeblues” sound revitalized, blending their signature Norwegian folk-desert blues fusion with renewed chemistry, intuitive interplay, and a confident push into fresh sonic territory.

Bait Bag || Cut Fruit
Punky garage pop trio Bait Bag (North Haven, Carolina) can sing, really sing well, and while they play their songs with a punk urgency, it is the POP that lingers.

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The Loose Ends || March 2026Read More »

New album: The Krayolas || Barbed Wire Road

Power pop vets deepen a rootsy sound shaped by folk legends on expanded EP

By / / Country & Folk, Power Pop / Leave a Comment

San Antonio, Texas-based power pop veterans The Krayolas return with a full-lengther called Barbed Wire Road, actually an expanded EP with five brand new songs, which they have supplemented here with remixes of seven older tracks. The band takes a turn into Dylan-esque territory, where we enjoy a moonlit Americana journey driven by raw acoustics and reflective storytelling.

Although a few tracks burst with energy (Long Leaf Pine, Exit Salida), the album is largely unplugged and stripped down, built on subdued melodies and heartfelt vocals that carry a ragged edge and quiet power. Standouts include the title track, a beautifully rendered ballad, and Hurtin’ Me Baby, a spirited slice of folk. Even more striking, though, is Under One Roof (featuring Flaco Jiménez), a song so resonant it feels worthy of airplay everywhere, an anthem with the power to unite.



Barbed Wire Road is out now digitally via Box Records. An album of all-new original songs is planned for 2027.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: W.D. Miller || Child Of The Kindly South

Weathered reflections carried on steady strings

By / / Country & Folk / Leave a Comment

“Sell us your thoughts // We haven’t had our own in years”—from GO, GO! (or The Songwriters Lament)

Child Of The Kindly South, the new Americana album from Miami-raised/Somerset-based singer/songwriter/guitarist W.D. Miller, doesn’t demand attention, it earns it slowly, song by song. As the title suggests, it is a portrait of a life lived the long way around, where meaning isn’t declared outright but word by word uncovered through experience. The lyrics wrestle with guilt, regret, and isolation, but keep circling back to redemption found in family, love, and simply choosing to keep going.

After the short instrumental opening (Etude No. 1 in A), ten vocal tracks unfold with lived-in warmth and quiet gravity. Acoustic arrangements stay spacious, letting the gravel-worn voice carry reflections on time’s subtle shifts. Guests and sound effects contribute to the richness of this record, full of beautiful music that lingers like a half-remembered past.




Child Of The Kindly South—produced by J. Tom Hnatow—is out now digitally, on CD and vinyl LP, through Think Like A Key Music.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Think Like A Key

New album: Skin and Wire || Go Pop!

Dancing on the fault line between control and collapse

By / / Country & Folk, Indie Rock / Leave a Comment

Skin and Wire release a new full-length album.. With its exclamation-marked title—Go Pop!—and vibrant cover art, it initially promises pure power pop. Not quite. While the hooks are sharp and the melodies undeniably catchy, the record ultimately leans toward a scruffier mix of folk and post-punk, threaded with indie rock sensibilities. The five-piece from Toulouse, France also plays with expectations thematically: despite its uplifting tone and titles like Party House and Captain Swing, the lyrics—partly in French, partly in English—reveal a much darker edge.

The nine songs are snapshots of a world where progress feels ominous and society edges toward collapse. They critique the uneasy ties between technology, power, and control, while capturing growing inequality and unrest: “Hey, ho, Captain Swing // Won’t sit around a-playing with my ding-a-ling ling // Nobody give a smile when the time bell ring // Going on the murder mile with Captain Swing.” Yet amid the tension, misfit characters carve out moments of identity and connection, beyond shadow of doubt enhanced by original violin parts and brisk harmonies.



Go Pop! is out now digitally (self-released). Featuring Luke Askance (banjo, vocals), Bog Mallow (guitar, vocals), Luci Schneider (bass, vocals), Léonard Bossavy (percussion, keyboards, vocals), and Camille Sabathier (violin).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

New album: True Green || Hail Disaster

Stories that linger like sirens in the distance

By / / Country & Folk, Indie Rock, Jangle Pop / Leave a Comment

“Putting out music right now feels like handing out your resume at a funeral” and “things in Minneapolis are really shitty right now,” yet that situation doesn’t stop Dan Hornsby and Tailer Ransom from releasing a sophomore album with their indie folk project True Green. It only makes the meaning of the thirteen new tracks on Hail Disaster even greater, I guess. The lo-fi haze of their debut LP My Lost Decade—we called it wobbly bedroom pop at the time—has been exchanged for something fuller, warmer, and quietly devastating.

Dan Hornsby writes like a novelist because he is one; his songs read as short stories about cruelty, obsession, and loss. His voice stays soft, but the weight behind it has shifted; these are hard-earned reflections. The organ, banjo, synthesizers, concertina, and guitar by multi-instrumentalist Tailer Ransom wrap everything in a fragile glow, at times somewhat reminiscent of The Velvet Underground, equal parts homespun and haunted. It led to a beautiful and impressive soundtrack for the current context; outside the world burns, inside this music documents the turmoil with unsettling grace.



Hail Disaster—mixed and mastered by Matt Castore—is out now digitally and on vinyl LP through Spacecase Records. Also featuring Dustin James, John Goddard, Zach Mitchell, Kent Peterson, Curtis Arnett, Nik Eskola, Scott Kiefner, Isaac Butler, and Jared Bartman.

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp || Spacecase

New album: Hedge Burners || Fall Out Of The Future

A loose but lived-in debut LP that finds meaning in motion and routine

By / / Country & Folk, Garage Rock / Leave a Comment

Melbourne collective Hedge Burners make a flying start with Fall Out Of The Future, an inspiring debut album that pieces together commutes, coastal light, and shipping-yard greys into something transportive. There’s a looseness and assurance here, but it’s earned: members of Dick Diver, Split System, Stiff Richards, Boomgates, and The Green Child turn after-work jams into ten energetic songs that drift between rock, country, and punk without settling. Jangling guitars, restless rhythms, and breezy vocals stretch across 33 ramshackle minutes that feel colourful, warm and effortlessly charming. RIYL: Holiday Ghosts, The Stroppies, Jeanines.



Fall Out Of The Future—recorded by Andrew Robinson—is out now digitally and on vinyl LP through Legless Records. Featuring Steph Hughes (vocals, guitar), Arron Mawson (guitar), Jackson Allen (bass), Shaun Gionis (drums).

Add to wantlist: Bandcamp

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