Chicago native Tatiana Hazel has come a long way since she started uploading acoustic performances to YouTube as a preteen a decade ago. This past summer she dropped a new EP, And the World Will Turn (Creative Music Group/Tatiana Hazel), and though she made it in solitude, it’s clearly meant to be performed in front […]
Tag: singer-songwriter
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Sacha Mullin, singer-songwriter and backup vocalist extraordinaire
“I want to assemble things as if I’m storyboarding in my head. In a way, I feel like a casting director for sound.”
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Chicago’s Thomas Comerford assembles a cast of local musicians for an album of beguiling country
Chicago has its share of bands playing country or alternative country, but Thomas Comerford’s lonesome sound is in a category of its own. Comerford straddles the singer-songwriter era of the 1970s and the dusty, deadpan observations of psychedelic iconoclasts such as Bill Callahan. He’s also an independent filmmaker—he teaches film and art history at the […]
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Julien Baker expands her vulnerable sound on Little Oblivions
Julien Baker’s 2015 debut album, Sprained Ankle, and its 2017 follow-up, Turn Out the Lights, centered the singer-songwriter’s sometimes fragile but always sincere voice as she journeyed through addiction and came to terms with her sexuality and spirituality. Her songs were bold in their lyrical honesty and unadorned presentation: Sprained Ankle featured just Baker and […]
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Steve Earle says farewell to his son with the new J.T.
Nothing is more precious than the relationship between parent and child, and it’s a hell of a thing when they’re separated by death—especially when the child is the one to go. Justin Townes Earle, the firstborn son of singer-songwriter Steve Earle, was a well-established Americana artist in his own right when he passed away from […]
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Chicago singer-songwriter Nayla Jungheim juices up her tender debut album with pop-punk muscle
Chicago indie singer-songwriter Nayla Jungheim knows that putting her own needs first is the best defense against a cruel and indifferent world. She made her new debut album, the lively and big-hearted This Might Be Healing (self-released digitally and available on cassette via Solidarity Club), using largely acoustic instrumentation as a retort to people in […]
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Adrianne Lenker makes time for healing on Songs and Instrumentals
Adrianne Lenker was in the throes of a breakup this spring when she holed up in a one-room cabin in Western Massachusetts and spent a few weeks crafting the paired albums Songs and Instrumentals (both on 4AD). While Lenker is primarily known for her folk-rock band Big Thief, her comparatively pared-down solo work is equally […]
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Half Gringa’s empathetic alt-country harnesses the power of understatement
In 2016, Chicago alt-country singer-songwriter Isabel Olive began performing and recording as Half Gringa, a name that refers to her Venezuelan ancestry. As she told music writer Britt Julious in the Trib that year, she wants to use Half Gringa to explore complicated questions about ethnicity and identity. Olive knows she’s unlikely to find easy […]
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Angel Olsen’s Whole New Mess showcases the skeletal recordings that led to 2019’s All Mirrors
On her new fifth album, Whole New Mess, Angel Olsen presents skeletal renditions of songs from her 2019 LP All Mirrors, filtering their themes of love, broken promises, and recovery through a stark, isolationist lens of a woman armed with only her guitars. While the record’s release date comes nearly a year after All Mirrors, […]
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Xoe Wise’s intimate indie folk makes the world feel a little more welcoming
Since this spring Chicago singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist Xoe Wise has been parking her scooter at intersections around town for small, outdoor pop-up performances—a series she calls “Curbside Live,” where she collects tips via Venmo to donate to local venues and businesses. Wise plays magisterial indie folk that retains its grandeur even when she pares […]
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Daniel Knox captures Mister Rogers’s care and generosity on his new tribute album
Chicago singer-songwriter Daniel Knox can conjure whimsy and tenderness with subtle shifts in his commanding baritone voice. That ability suits him well in his new album-length tribute to everyone’s favorite neighbor, Fred Rogers. You Are My Friend: The Songs of Mister Rogers honors the original spirit of the material; Knox plays simple piano melodies that […]
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Jason Wilber transports the thoughtful, minimalism of his work with John Prine into his new album Time Traveler
Jason Wilber is known to audiences around the world for his impeccable guitar tones and tasteful playing in support of the late John Prine over the past 25 years. As Prine’s musical director, Wilber helped steer him back to the minimal sound of his records from the early 70s and, in the process, showcased that […]
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Lucinda Williams is a forceful spirit on Good Souls Better Angels
Lucinda Williams writes raw, visceral songs filled with beaten-down people liberating themselves from bullies. “I changed the name of this town / So you can’t follow me down,” she sings on “Changed the Locks,” from her 1988 self-titled album. Her new record, Good Souls Better Angels, takes on similar demons, though its antagonists don’t just […]
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Singer-songwriter Gia Margaret shifts focus to instrumental ambient for Mia Gargaret
Chicago singer-songwriter Gia Margaret makes what she calls “sleep rock.” Its mellow vibes make it well-suited for early-morning or late-night listening, while its catchy melodies and driving beats can get heads nodding—albeit gently. Margaret’s 2018 debut full-length, There’s Always Glimmer, creates inviting atmospheres with crisp production and varied instrumentation: Margaret’s double-tracked vocals glow amid a […]
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Anne Heaton brings inspiration on To the Light
Wilmette-born, Milwaukee-based pianist and singer-songwriter Anne Heaton started learning classical piano at three years old, and since then she’s immersed herself in a variety of music. After studying at Notre Dame in the 90s, Heaton moved to New York, where she sang in in a Harlem gospel choir and toured in a band with jazz […]