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Ben Fuller (not to be confused with the country/Americana singer of the same name) is a singer and songwriter from the Lake Tahoe area. Earlier this year, Fuller released an EP called Service To The Stars. That in itself was a major accomplishment considering that just two years before, a freak brain injury nearly ended everything. Lucky to survive that incident without any major lasting effects, Fuller has altered his music's outlook, focusing now days on uplifting stories and messages which are on full display on the new release.

Sisters Chloe and Leah Smith have been making music since childhood, but the sound of Rising Appalachia is one born from their upbringing but educated by their travels and connections made around the world. 

Over the course of a celebrated career, much of singer and songwriter Marc Cohn's work has included elements of soul and gospel. Sometimes it played itself out in obvious ways. Othertimes, the gospel feel was simmering just beneath the surface.  That he has ended up connected with perhaps the greatest gospel group in the world - Blind Boys of Alabama -  makes complete musical sense.

Grizfolk is an alternative rock band based in Los Angeles with members from both the United States and Sweden. Newly signed to Nettwerk Records, Grizfolk released the album Rarest of Birds earlier this year, full of songs that blend rock, pop and folk into an infectious and radio-friendly sound.

Portland's indie folk-rockers Blitzen Trapper are nine albums into a career filled with accolades. Ahead of their first headline show in Southern Oregon, Eric Earley, Marty Marquis, and Brian Koch dropped by the JPR studios to talk about their early days, the seminal Sub Pop album called Furr, and how their newest album was transformed into a full blown rock opera. 

As a founding member of the cult-favorite Americana/alt.Country group .357 String Band, Joseph Huber was already making waves as a talented instrumentalist, singer and songwriter. Following the breakup of that band, he's added recording engineer, record producer, and general jack of all trades to his list of attributes.

Singer and songwriter Max Gomez is an old soul. It eminates in multiple ways: his music, his thoughful communication, even his appearance - usually topped with well-worn hat. Gomez's music is infused with the sounds of his childhood - classic county from the likes of Johnny Cash, plus the gritty blues music he discovered as a teenaged guitarist.

Over the course of three critically acclaimed albums, and the occasionally bumpy road in between, Dylan LeBlanc has embraced, perfected, and abandoned more than one approach to making a go of it as a working musician. On his newest offering Renegade - his first since 2016 - he's added a shot of gasoline to the slow simmer of his previous effort Cautionary Tale.

Kevin Russell (aka Shinyribs) may be one of the few who embrace the term "swampy" as a positive adjective. Following nearly two decades in cult-favorite The Gourds, Russell launched his Shinyribs project as an opportunity to incorporate all of the unique styles and influences he's absorbed.

Walker Lukens is an Austin, Texas based singer and songwriter known for his wide-ranging styles. His newest release Adult is a reflection of current events, wrapped in an up-tempo package designed to get people dancing.

Joy and pain walk hand in hand on Finch, Penny & Sparrow’s magnificent sixth album. Written during their first major break from the road in years, the record finds the band reckoning with a prolonged period of intense personal transformation, a profound awakening that altered their perceptions of masculinity, sex, religion, divorce, friendship, vanity, purpose, and, perhaps most importantly, self.

With The Hurting Kind, John Paul White has crafted a stunning album that draws on the lush, orchestrated music made in Nashville in the early 1960s. Yet these songs retain a modern feel, whether he’s writing about overwhelming love, unraveling relationships, or fading memory of a loved one.

After a childhood and adolescence spent adrift - shuttling through the haze of split households in Tennessee and Florida, 21-year-old Briston Maroney's life finally comes into focus with the four songs on Indiana. Settling in Nashville, Maroney has developed a style steeped in the sweat and scrappy sounds of the city's DIY house parties, winning over fans one living room at a time.

Simon and Wes started down the musical road at around the same time, on the same small island, but only met by chance and with the accidental help of jazz guitarist Bill Frissell and a local noodle shack. Fast friends from the start, they’ve made music together every chance they’ve had along the way, making two records with chamber grass outfit the Bee Eaters, and stealing chances to get in a tune or two when passing through each other’s city of residence while on tour with other bands. Now, sixteen years after meeting, they’re releasing their first duo recording.

"What is the future, if this is now?” asks Canadian-born Mike Edel on his latest single. This question, echoing throughout the lush indie-rock track “Challenger,” recounting the 1986 Space Shuttle tragedy and the loss of optimism in technology, politics and beyond, similarly echoes throughout Edel’s latest album Thresholds, produced by Death Cab for Cutie’s Chris Walla.

Established in 1996, Chirgilchin is a group of throat singers from Tuva, a small Russian province north of Western Mongolia. Chirgilchin's music tells stories of their homeland, its horses and its people. Tuvan songs are sung in minor pentatonic scale, similar to American blues. The monotone sustained notes that branch out into overtones with slight shifts in pitch give Tuvan throat singing its characteristic buoyant yet meditative drone quality.

Blood Harmony. Whether it’s The Beach Boys, Bee Gees or First Aid Kit, that sibling vocal blend is the secret sauce in some of the most spine-tingling moments in popular music. The Cactus Blossoms – Minneapolis-based brothers Page Burkum and Jack Torrey – offer compelling evidence that this tradition is alive and well, with a deceptively unadorned musical approach that offers “creative turns of phrase, gorgeous harmonies, and an ageless sound” (NPR All Things Considered), not to mention spine tingles aplenty.