Jonathan Smith

More People Should Know About: Five Islands

November 25, 2025 Jonathan Smith 0

There are plenty of artists out there who quietly and diligently amass a body of work, building a following by constant touring or releasing new music, and working hard on the socials to keep their name […]

Bruce Springsteen plays harmonica and guitar during his set for The Concert for Valor in Washington, D.C. Nov. 11, 2014. DoD News

Can’t Live With It, Can’t Live Without It: Bruce Springsteen

October 8, 2025 Jonathan Smith 4

Bruce Springsteen is one of those rare artists where his whole body of work maintains such a creative arc that there are many albums within it which could be seen as essential. With five years having […]

Briscoe “Heat of July”

September 23, 2025 Jonathan Smith 0

Fresh air, clear skies and open roads from Austin, Texas duo. Briscoe comprises songwriter duo Philip Lupton and Truett Heintzelman, lifelong friends based out of Austin, Texas. Following 2023’s “West of It All”, they have spent […]

Andre Costello “Rocky Mountain Low”

September 5, 2025 Jonathan Smith 0

Subtle and reassuring music from Pittsburgh-based songwriter. Pittsburgh-based songwriter André Costello released his first album in 2011, and in the intervening years, has clocked up a significant catalogue of music. Falling into the bracket of indie […]

Jubal Lee Young “Squirrels”

August 15, 2025 Jonathan Smith 2

Downhome truths and shaggy dog tales with front porch tunes. “Squirrels” is Jubal Lee Young’s second album release in as many years, and he sees it as a companion piece to 2024’s “Wild Birds Warble”. There is […]

RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
Ashley McBryde - Wild (vinyl)
By Peter Thompson , 2 days ago
RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
Liz stringer ‘ first time really feeling’Melbourne song...
By fredhead , 3 days ago
RE: Versions!
@paul-villers Those versions keep coming
By Martin Johnson , 4 days ago
RE: What are you watching at the moment?
Just binged "Legends" - a British drama on Netflix abou...
By Paul Villers , 4 days ago
RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
Radio Paradise's Mellow Mix whilst on a bit of a drive
By Peter Thompson , 5 days ago
RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
Amy Grant The 6th of January (Yasgur’s Farm): time for ...
By Jonathan Hincks , 5 days ago
RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
The Lone Bellow - The Lone Bellow (vinyl)
By Peter Thompson , 7 days ago
RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
XTC - A Coat of Many Cupboards (excerpts...it's a 4 CD ...
By Peter Thompson , 1 week ago
RE: What are you listening to at the moment?
@andyshort Yes, it makes a refreshing change from artis...
By Peter Thompson , 1 week ago

Fruit Bats “That Goddamn Sun” – when will it be my time

May 14, 2026 0

It was all going so well, wasn’t it? We had a theme – a great theme – running through this week’s Tracks and now we’ve gone and thrown it all away. Alas. Alack. Oh well, let’s […]

Video Premiere: Bob Sumner “Baby I Know”

May 14, 2026 0

We’re delighted to premiere the latest video from Canadian singer-songwriter Bob Sumner. Baby I Know is a typically melodic, country-infused ballad that showcases Sumner’s outstanding voice. Smooth and resonant, sweetly melancholic, rising high before dipping low […]

Behind the Songs: Thin Lear

May 13, 2026 0

The songs on Thin Lear’s sophomore album Many Disappeared are tied to each other not in their locale or their cast of characters, but instead in strange tragedies that have taken place, some many years ago. Current […]

Behind the Songs

Behind the Songs: Thin Lear

May 13, 2026 0

Interviews

Interview: Judy Collins doesn’t look back, she looks forward

May 12, 2026 0

“My home is in New York City, on the Upper West Side,” Judy Collins said, proudly holding up a painting by her sister of cats and dogs that resembles a Monet. When I mentioned travelling up […]

Interviews

Interview: The Milk Carton Kids’ Joey Ryan discusses “Lost Cause Lover Fool”

May 5, 2026 0

Joey Ryan and Kenneth Pattengale created their own take on sparse, acoustic indie folk when they formed the Milk Carton Kids in 2011 and found their own loyal audience. A lot can happen in fifteen years, […]

Book Reviews

Paperback Riders: Henry James “Washington Square”

February 19, 2026 1

Henry James’s Washington Square has been described as “one of the most psychologically acute novels in nineteenth-century American literature.” Published in 1880, during James’s middle period, it lacks the complexity of his later works but has a […]

Videos

Video: The Flying Burrito Brothers “Hot Burrito #1”

July 31, 2020 1

It’s retro Friday and here is Americana royalty, The Flying Burrito Brothers. This is, of course, from the classic debut album, ‘The Gilded Palace of Sin’. Though not a commercial success at the time, it was […]

Album Reviews

Massy Ferguson “You Can’t Tell Me I’m Not What I Used to Be”

January 24, 2025 0

Whether in combines or rock bands, Massy Ferguson is a solid brand. Seattle band Massy Ferguson have fired up the diesel and gotten ready to plough a straight furrow back to what’s been expected of them […]

Articles by Jonathan Smith

More People Should Know About: Five Islands

Can’t Live With It, Can’t Live Without It: Bruce Springsteen

Briscoe “Heat of July”

Andre Costello “Rocky Mountain Low”

Jubal Lee Young “Squirrels”

Fruit Bats “That Goddamn Sun” – when will it be my time

Video Premiere: Bob Sumner “Baby I Know”

Behind the Songs: Thin Lear

Yarn “Saturday Night Sermon”

Live Review: Merry McCloud & Bruce Welch, The Bread and Roses, London – 3rd May 2026