For Simpson's first album since his 2014 breakthrough, the inventive country singer crafts a highly personal song cycle about order and insubordination.
The reunion of Carlos Santana's mid-'70s-era band captures the musicians' intense chemistry, while still updating the massively influential sound they created.
With the help of producer Tucker Martine and a smart, subtle band, Hoop and Beam achieve a fine balance — of songwriting sensibilities and of time in the spotlight.
The pop star said the producer sexually and emotionally abused her. In addition to the hate-crime claim, the judge also dismissed the human rights claim brought by Kesha.
Outlaw, "Okie from Muskogee," poet of working-class values and a fixture in country music for 50 years, Merle Haggard died Wednesday, April 6, his 79th birthday.
The raucous singer turns thoughtful on his new album. Critic Ken Tucker calls Upland Stories a "marvelous mongrel mixture" of bluegrass banjo-picking, honky-tonk pedal steel and stark folk phrasings.