Steven Rafferty

The Lumineers “III” (Decca, 2019)

October 8, 2019 Steven Rafferty 0

If you only give the new album ‘III’ by The Lumineers a surface listen, you’ll probably find yourself thinking something along the lines of: “well isn’t that nice, there’s a new Lumineers album”. And on that […]

Darrin Bradbury “Talking Dogs & Atom Bombs” (ANTI-, 2019)

September 17, 2019 Steven Rafferty 0

It takes a keen eye to spot the profound wrapped up inside the everyday. Darrin Bradbury has a very keen eye and he puts it to good use. Others have drawn comparisons between Bradbury’s songwriting and […]

Ana Egge “Is It the Kiss” (StorySound, 2019)

August 22, 2019 Steven Rafferty 0

When you’ve shared the stage with the likes of John Prine and James McMurtry; when Steve Earle says that it’s like you’re telling us your “deepest darkest secrets”; When Iris DeMent shows up to help you […]

The Moon Shells “Seaside Asylum” (Casa de Agua, 2019)

August 13, 2019 Steven Rafferty 0

There’s just something special about the combination of fiddle and banjo. When they’re working at the height of their combined powers, they’re able to summon up memories that aren’t even our own. They speak from all […]

Purple Mountains “Purple Mountains” (Drag City, 2019)

July 15, 2019 Steven Rafferty 0

After ten years on the sidelines, David Berman has decided to chime in with a new album under a new name. If we take him at his word, ten years ago his biggest fear was that […]

Can’t Live With It, Can’t Live Without It: Tom Waits

August 5, 2026 2

The musical influence of Tom Waits over the last seven decades has spanned far beyond what one might define as americana. His deep, gravely voice, has been described as having been soaked in a vat of […]

Paul McClure “The Good And The Bad Of It”

August 5, 2026 0

The Rutland Troubadour returns for album number four. Paul McClure, on his fourth album, decided to go to pastures new and left the rural north and travelled south to East Sussex and the fine Bex-Pop Studios […]

Artists with Hearts of Gold contribute to two more albums of Neil Young covers

August 5, 2026 0

Includes tracks from My Morning Jacket, Lucinda Williams and MJ Lenderman among others. Cinema Music Group, Killphonic Records, and City Slang have announced Heart of Gold: The Songs of Neil Young, Vol. 2 – Out of […]

Articles by Steven Rafferty