Robert Baird

Just before Christmas 2025, American music suffered two irreplaceable losses with the passings of Raul Malo (December 8) and Joe Ely (December 15). While a lot of musicians exist on the artistic and commercial fringes, Malo and Ely were foundational artists, gifted creators and performers who refused to be confined by artistic boundaries.

Salt Collective: A Brief History of Blindness; Geese: Getting Killed; Tame Impala: Deadbeat; Tortoise: Touch.

Opinions vary, but like everything connected to The Beatles, charged arguments over Giles Martin's ongoing remastering of, and sonic tinkering with, the band's hallowed recording catalog are unending.

Punk rock was never meant to grow old. For their first three studio efforts, The Replacements epitomized the punk ethos. Sorry Ma, Forgot to Take Out the Trash (1981), the EP Stink (1982), and Hootenanny (1983) are loud, bashy fun.

Roy Brooks: The Free Slave; Amanda Monaco: Deathblow; Timo Vollbrecht: Bremen New York; Sun Ra And His Intergalactic Myth Science Solar Arkestra: Sleeping Beauty & On Jupiter.

Richard Ashcroft: Lovin' You; Chris Stamey: Anything Is Possible; Pigeons Playing Ping Pong: Feed the Fire; Joseph Kamaru: Heavy Combination 1966–2007.

"The term 'sales' is an anachronism. Today, it's about streaming and ancillary income."—Randall Grass, general manager at Shanachie Entertainment.

Jeff Tweedy: Twilight Override; Big Thief: Double Infinity; Blood Orange: Essex Honey; Tedeschi Trucks Band and Leon Russell: Mad Dogs & Englishmen Revisited, Live at Lockn'.

Her life became a whirlwind. Taking the train in from Brooklyn to Manhattan to pitch songs and experience the East Village scene, she landed a song-publishing deal at age 14. In 1968, at 18, after a chance meeting in an elevator, a legendary songwriter/record producer was interested in assisting her in making her debut album.

Elvis Presley: Sunset Boulevard; Paul Weller: Find El Dorado; Deep Purple: Made in Japan; Cory Hanson: "I Love People".