Browsing Tag

Roots Music

Joel Baker made Americana feel like home again with ‘Searching (for your song)’

Posted on 19 September 2026

The rural troubadour, Joel Baker, pours the sublimity of his surrounds into his Americana discography with the kind of reverence for the genre that makes his humbly euphonic works instantly feel like home. From a small town in Southern Iowa comes his latest single, Searching (for your song), a folk-oriented Americana release carrying the vocal purity of Neil Young through an accordantly rich, acoustic-guitar-driven arrangement.

The track confronts you with the reckoning of seeing your inner flaws reflected in someone else’s eyes, and feeling like less of a man as a result. Against an upbeat melody, the lyrical resonance becomes even more powerful, almost confrontational through the juxtaposition, as the finger-picked guitar notes sing as much as Joel Baker himself, creating a duet with his own strings. There is no theatrical self-pity here, only the bruising clarity of someone admitting where the mirror has hurt.

Baker’s acoustic approach has long been rooted in alternative tunings across six-string, 12-string and baritone guitars, giving his work the Laurel Canyon glow associated with Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young, while the modern Americana warmth of Dawes also lingers nearby. After Ready to Begin and Carry On, he is preparing to release his third album, On Our Way, with its title track, co-written with Craig Willoughby, recently earning a Josie Award nomination.

Searching (for your song) is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Sun-Pinned Leaves turned liquor-soaked memories into roots-deep warmth on ‘Last Bar in Town’

Posted on 16 September 2026

As the number of old-school bars dwindles, UK Americana duo Sun-Pinned Leaves, known for their penchant for honky-tonk, roots-deep grooves, penned the ultimate ode to the formative dens of hedonically raucous pleasure with Last Bar in Town. Christopher Brown and Neil Faulkner have carried their creative partnership from schooldays in 1975 through a 2018 reunion and eight albums, and that long musical kinship is as electric as ever

Raising a proverbial glass to the venues of some of life’s sweetest and liquor-soaked memories, the upbeat, foot-stomp-worthy Americana earworm puts the emphasis on the sweet in the bittersweet allegory of cultural epicentres becoming revered relics of a bygone era. The guitars feel sun-warmed and barroom-ready, the vocal delivery has that easy companionable pull, and the rhythm moves with the looseness of a room where everyone knows the chorus as well as the toll of the last orders bell.

The band’s roots sit comfortably near the story-led Americana of The Mavericks, the pub-floor warmth of Nick Lowe and the country-folk lift associated with Steve Earle. Their recent ISSA Gold Awards for International Vocal Duo of the Year and International Male Songwriters of the Year add weight to a release that was undoubtedly Americana chart-ready as soon as it was penned.

As the first single from their ninth album, Lost in America, Last Bar in Town sets an infectious standard; it’s enough to make you grab your coat and order your usual while you still can.

Last Bar in Town is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Samuel Ashton and the Instincts sent devotion into a cardinal spiral with their roots-reverent RnB Release, ‘No Other Woman’

Posted on 8 September 2026

When you think of RnB, you probably would not instantly envisage rolling rhythms that are as smoky as the vocals, which carry the fiery, fervent heat of Southern rock across vintage-toned textural friction reminiscent of The Black Keys, and that is exactly why Samuel Ashton and the Instincts have taken the scene by storm.

With their latest single, No Other Woman, which follows hits that have racked up hundreds of thousands of streams, the roots-reverent outfit sent passion and devotion into a cardinal spiral of aphrodisiacal intensity that rhythmically strokes the soul in a way that has become a lost art. The arrangement knows exactly how to bring the rough with the smooth, letting guitar friction, full-bodied grooves and Ashton’s soul-loaded vocal heat press against one another until the track feels properly lived-in.

Fans of The Black Keys, Leon Bridges, Alabama Shakes and Nathaniel Rateliff won’t want to sleep on the release, produced by Grammy-winning engineer Ian Dowling. The seminal single arrives ahead of the band’s debut album, Ancestors, which is only going to make grabbing tickets to their sold-out UK shows and front row spots at their festival appearances even harder.

In our nostalgia-fixated era, Samuel Ashton proves why it pays to look away from the superficial sheen of modern RnB and lock into lascivious hits that create friction in all the right places.

No Other Woman is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Standing-ovation-worthy harmonies carry the faith-lit release of Cydni Brionne’s ‘bye bye!’

Posted on 21 August 2026

Cydni Brionne is the up-and-coming sensation giving Americana folk an RnB soul. With her latest single, bye bye!, a myriad of roots-reverent genres converge; honkytonk brushes against blues, funk meanders through old-school singer-songwriter soul, and through it all, Brionne’s vocals ensure no instrumental juxtaposition steals the spotlight from her standing-ovation-worthy, primed and powered harmonies which resound beyond the usual remit of soul.

The sense of creative freedom exhibited in the single, which celebrates the exhilaration of finally arriving at a long-awaited moment of definitive closure, only amplifies the empowered liberation; you can hear Brionne coming into her own through her stylistic choices and her conviction alike. bye bye! also carries the weight of anxiety, exhaustion and the need to break from a turbulent mind without pretending faith requires emotional perfection.

A classically trained singer, guitarist and faith-based indie artist, Brionne writes from lived experience for outcasts, truth seekers and spiritually wandering listeners who need more than neat reassurance. Her music has already reached Sofar Sounds, Breaking Sound and House of Blues stages, but bye bye! feels especially personal in its hand-through-the-storm immediacy.

Fans of Stevie Wonder’s soul-saturated generosity, Donny Hathaway’s heart-deep vocal gravity, Amy Winehouse’s smoky intimacy, Norah Jones’ softened ache and Samm Henshaw’s modern gospel-soul signature will hear the lineage in Brionne’s authentically electrifying performance.

bye bye! is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Reed Waddle’s ‘Lonesome Dove’ gives feather-light Americana a spectrally melancholic wingspan

Posted on 18 August 2026

Reed Waddle gave the singer-songwriter genre back its wings with his latest spectrally melancholic single, Lonesome Dove. A Telluride Troubadour Grand Prize winner and decorated songwriter with roots stretching through Boston, New York, Nashville and Atlanta, Waddle brought his road-worn Americana gravity to his spiritually loaded, yet weightless production.

The feather-light approach to Americana reaches the epitome of diaphanous sublimity as Waddle resists easy reminiscence of the greats with the soul-stirring resonance he draws from lap steel strings. Sure, listeners can clutch at the lineage of Townes Van Zandt, Jason Isbell and the chapel-stained end of classic country soul to allude to the haunting introspection pouring like smoke across the winding, roots-rooted instrumental arrangement. But his authenticity is far more impressive than vague sonic semblances.

After Lonesome Dove has built towards a quasi-gospel-esque atmosphere and inched towards an outro that leaves you almost at a loss with what to do with yourself, for the way the parable-driven single embodies loneliness in its rawest, most uncorrected state, he silently invites you to sit beside the void and breathe. Don’t be surprised if the single epiphanously awakens you to absences you never realised lived within you, which, frankly, is rude as hell and gorgeous in the best possible way.

Lonesome Dove is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Iyla Elise Gave the Breeze a Backbeat and Sent Americana Soul Skyward with ‘On a Southern Wind’

Posted on 9 July 2026

The latest single from Iyla Elise sweeps Southern, spiritual soul across the airwaves. If you gave Enya a Southern twang, flooded her production with foot-stompin’ rhythm and the kind of performative power that would obliterate the roof in a dive bar gig, you would be left with a release that echoes the emotive force of On a Southern Wind.

The progressions sweep and drift with the same resolute strength as her powerhouse harmonies, drawing you right into the breezy alchemy of the release. Elise may carry a small-town feel through her narrative singles, but international appeal storms through this roots-ready, bluesy masterstroke by one of the sincerest independent singer-songwriters of her generation.

Raised near the Chesapeake Bay in Virginia, Iyla Elise brings Americana, country and blues into a sound shaped by life-lived storytelling and a soulful tone that feels immediately personal. Her influences, ranging from John Denver and Billy Joel to Norah Jones, Chris Stapleton and Stevie Wonder, can be felt in the melodic generosity of her writing.

With her debut EP Outlier already recognised by the Great American Song Contest, further honours from the Mid-Atlantic Song Contest, and recent attention from EARMILK and Atwood Magazine, Elise has the acclaim to back up every ounce of promise.

On a Southern Wind is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify.

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Rootsy Americana Revolved Around Siren-Ignited Heat in Michael B Tipton’s ‘Hot Headed Lover’

Posted on 12 May 2026

Michael B Tipton singed beyond the fringes of HonkyTonk Americana with his latest single, Hot Headed Lover; a rootsy allegory of how it feels to surrender yourself to a mercurial force beyond your control and catch the sparks of their fervour as they ignite to the excitement of danger. It’s the kind of catchy foot-tapping earworm that will spread an all-knowing grin through an entire audience; a testament to Tipton’s cheeky but rooted-in-reality observations of how the fairer sex doesn’t always play fair. 

There are serious songwriting chops etched straight into the core of the single, attesting to how Tipton has evolved into a troubadour of truth and a rhythmic revolutionary, whose tracks refuse to bend into mediocrity or pay pale tribute to the lineage of roots history.

The release lands with the easy confidence of an artist who knows exactly how to let a story swing. The groove keeps the temperature high, the hook rolls with a roguish charm, and the whole arrangement carries the road-worn snap of a seasoned performer who has lived inside the lineage he sings from. Across more than 26 years, Tipton has moved through country, folk, rock, and Americana, building his name on sharp songwriting and relentless touring. After returning fully to his songwriting roots in 2020, he pushed forward with Out Of The Woods in 2023, then sharpened his live reputation through more than 60 shows in 2025.

Hot Headed Lover is now available to stream on all major platforms, including Spotify. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

One Acre West Raised the Roof and Country Roots in Their Honkytonk Anthem, Bayou Man

Posted on 21 March 2026
One Acre West

With an Americana sound so zealously uplifting, it seems almost paradoxical that One Acre West still managed to keep their country roots firmly planted in their self-titled LP, which features the standout single, Bayou Man. The project, led by vocalist Kristi Jean alongside songwriter and collaborator Steven Branstetter, carries the road-worn warmth of lived experience, shaped by years spent circling the country and roots circuits before committing to telling stories of their own.

Bayou Man proves that even acoustic honkytonk instrumentation can hit with raucously electric force. The track lands like an intravenous shot of serotonin, firing up with the high-tempo heat of the fiddle bow and a bouncy rhythm section that seems to bend the laws of physics with the energy it delivers. Within seconds, listeners are swept into a twangy tilt-a-whirl of movement and melody. At the centre of that whirlwind sits Kristi Jean’s magnetic vocal power, acting as the song’s centre of gravity while everything around her spins with almost mind-bending momentum. Bayou Man fully earns its place as the ultimate honkytonk anthem.

Their debut album, set for release on March 20th,  gained an additional boost through the production of Bradley Kopp, the Austin-based musician and producer known for work alongside Americana heavyweights. His touch preserves the small-band warmth while letting the authenticity within the unflinchingly original songwriting breathe.

Bayou Man is now available on all major streaming platforms. Find your preferred way to listen on One Acre West’s official website. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Darren Watson became a conduit of John Hiatt’s home-rooted frustration in his cover of ‘Damn This Town’

Posted on 2 December 2025
Darren Watson sings John Hiatt by Darren Watson

Darren Watson sings Damn This Town as though John Hiatt’s pain has taken up residence in his ribcage, stirring itself awake each time he opens his throat. The single becomes one of the most affecting moments on his cover LP, which pulls you straight into a world shaped by sparse instrumentation that paints shadows across the skyline of the single.

It feels less like a studio production and more like a temporal gateway into the home roots of misery, the kind that settles in the marrow. His vocals remind us what it means to howl the blues with no restraint, as though the only way to soothe the sting is to let it bleed out in song. Every twang of the string, every steady echo of percussion, becomes another intravenous shot of barbed emotion into the soul, deepening the ache as the track folds into a pensive heaviness that never tips into theatrics. Alongside the clear reverence Watson carries for the blues, the cover amplifies the emotional weight of the original by quietly affirming that people have been disillusioned by the local expanse of reality for generations, leaving their angst stamped into the dirt.

That depth is unsurprising from a New Zealand musician whose career began in the mid-1980s, fronting Smoke Shop while filling bars and opening for icons such as Koko Taylor and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. His early years led to nominations at the New Zealand Music Awards before he shifted into a solo path, releasing albums that explored roots, satire, and acoustic introspection.

His later work, from Too Many Millionaires to Getting Sober for the End of the World, cemented his reputation for truth-telling across social and political lines. His newest release, Darren Watson Sings John Hiatt, follows that same stripped-back ethos, capturing each song live to tape and placing emotional honesty at the forefront.

Damn This Town is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Bandcamp. 

Review by Amelia Vandergast

Back to the Farm carried Michael B Tipton’s consoling cadence back to his roots-deep origin

Posted on 15 November 2025

Michael B Tipton brought a velvety gruff timbre powerful enough to make Americana transcendent in Back to the Farm, where his voice frictionlessly pulls across lap steel strings and organ keys. You’ll only find his league in the pantheon of country singer-songwriters, and he kept to that evocatively arcane path with this release. The return to his roots runs deeper than lyrical nods. The true blue troubadour kept his rhythmic strides as humbly intimate as they were when he first picked up his guitar and started to embark on his solo path, intent on sharing an effortlessly consoling presence with anyone stretched too thin, anyone in need of catharsis through contemporary accordance.

Across the track, Tipton channels a tenderness sharpened by experience. The emotional weight in the songwriting settles into the instrumentation rather than resting on top of it, letting the lap steel glide like a memory half reclaimed. If you could imagine a synthesis of Chris Isaak, Richard Hawley, and Nick Drake rolled into one score of pantheon-worthy roots music perfection, you’ll get the closest approximation of what Tipton rendered in this love song to end all love songs. Back to the Farm feels like a slow exhale after a long season, a moment that warms the edges of whatever the world has weathered into you.

Based in Kansas City, the neo-traditional artist has shaped a reputation built on heartfelt storytelling and clever lyricism. His debut album, Out of the Woods, drew critical recognition, and his songwriting reached wider audiences through placements on major television networks. Alongside his seasoned band The Scoundrels, and with stage time shared with Bronwyn Keith Hynes and Jason Isbell, Tipton continues to grow while keeping sincerity at the forefront. Back to the Farm strengthens that legacy with unforced conviction.

Back to the Farm is now available on all major streaming platforms, including Spotify. 

– Review by Amelia Vandergast