RiYL

In 2017, Save Ferris released the Checkered Past EP , the band’s first collection of new music in nearly two decades. Plenty had changed over the years, resulting in frontwoman, Monique Powell, retaining sole rights to the Orange Country ska band’s name. The revived Save Ferris has continued to release new music and tour under Powell’s leadership. The musician joined us to discuss 30 years in the music business.  

The worst thing about discovering Swamp Dogg is kicking yourself for not having done so sooner. The good news is that you’re about to have your mind blown by an 82-year-old soul musician currently experiencing his third – or maybe fourth – career renaissance. This latest round kicked off with 2018’s Love, Loss, and Auto-Tune. Since then, the singer has released another three albums and served as the subject of a new documentary. Swamp Dogg Gets His Pool Painted a portrait of an immensely talented songwriter and an effortlessly funny raconteur holding court at his long time L.A. home.

Gumshoe is a record about connections in a world where being alone is increasingly becoming the default. It’s the latest from Oklahoma-based singer songwriter, Samantha Crain. For 15 years, the Choctaw musician has shared stages with some of indie music’s biggest names. More recently, she’s found herself scoring films, including 2023’s Fancy Dance, starring Lily Gladstone. But first we obviously have to discuss her childhood championship power lifting career.

With Ginseng Roots, Craig Thompson returns to his childhood -- subject matter that already proved a rich vein for his beloved 2003 book, Blankets. While his latest once again explores the family dynamics of a religious upbringing, the work casts a much wider net. His family's economic dependence on ginseng is a starting point for exploring the root, which has been a staple of Chinese and Korean medicine for centuries.

About 40 minutes into the conversation, Nickelodeon calls. They need her in the studio post haste. It’s a fitting spot to end things for an artist as in demand as Grey Delisle. While she’s known as voice artist with hundreds of credits – including The Simpsons and Scooby-Doo – we’re here for something else altogether. Delisle also has a vintage country singing voice that would have earned her a permanent spot at the Grand Ole Opry in another life.  

When Willie Nelson suggests you record an album of his songs, you do it. Amy Irving and the country legend met on the set of 1980’s Honeysuckle Rose and remained close ever since. Irving features on the album’s soundtrack, despite a latter turn as Jessica Rabbit’s singing voice, a music career was never on her radar. Her solo debut, Born In a Trunk,, arrived 43 years after her musical debut, laying to rest any doubt that the Carrie star was simply acting as a singer. As she’s opted to slow down on the acting front, Irving is experiencing a successful second career, with the April 25th arrival of her new LP of Willie Nelson covers, Always Will Be.

Abyss is a dark, heavy album for a dark, heavy time. A journalist in a former life, Anika never shies away from the bleakness. The Berlin-based singer made a point of recording her third solo record with minimal overdubs, in a bid to capture the immediacy these the songs require.

At age 11, his fate was sealed when Benmont Tench met Tom Petty at a Gainesville music store. Fueled by the recent British invasion, the pair made music together for the first time at The Sundowners. A decade later, Petty recruited the keyboardist for Mudcrutch, the Southern rock band that soon evolved into the Heartbreakers. For the past six decades, Tench has never strayed far from that path, playing keys on records by Bob Dylan, The Rolling Stones, and U2. This March saw the release of Tench’s second solo album, The Melancholy Season.