Tag: Americana/Alt-Country

Known as a songwriter’s songwriter, Radney Foster’s songs have been recorded by everyone from Keith Urban and the Chicks to Hootie & the Blowfish and George Benson. Kelly Willis’ recording career began at a time when Nashville was experiencing a creative resurgence with the likes of Lyle Lovett, Steve Earle, Foster & Lloyd and The O’Kanes. She recorded three albums for MCA that were critical hits, but it wasn’t until she left the major label restrictions behind that she came into her own with 1999’s What I Deserve for Rykodisc. The albums Willis has made since What I Deserve have only burnished her reputation as Austin’s reigning queen of Americana, including being inducted into the Austin Music Hall of Fame.

With I Hope We Can Still Be Friends, his debut for Saddle Creek, Dean Johnson makes a pact with the listener: He will sing you his truth in the most heartfelt and charming way possible, if you promise to keep an open mind. Johnson spent years tending bar at Al’s Tavern in Seattle’s Wallingford neighborhood. There, he encountered folks of all stripes; and regulars enthusiastically murmured about his budding musical greatness — There’s the best songwriter in town! Johnson was a kind of local lore, a long-held family secret, before the singer finally broke out in 2023 with his debut album, Nothing For Me Please, at age 50.

In January 2024, Kim Richey found herself in Mexico, gazing out at a sea of people singing along to “I’m Alright,” one of her classic tracks. The three folks on stage with the veteran, Grammy-nominated singer-songwriter were also raising their voices in harmony. To her right sat Brandi Carlile, to her left, Mary Chapin Carpenter and Brandy Clark. The formidable foursome was participating in a songwriter’s round only half-jokingly dubbed “Titans of Americana” at Carlile’s female-forward Girls Just Wanna Weekend festival on the Riviera Maya in Mexico. The good news for fans of this particular Titan is there will soon be a whole new batch of songs to sing along with and arm wave to with the forthcoming release of her 10th studio album Every New Beginning.