ENTERTAINMENT NEWS COVERAGE AND EDITORIAL WORK:
Find a full list of my countryliving.com contributions on my AUTHOR PAGE.
MUSIC WRITING: Find a full list of my contributions—including album reviews and artist interviews—on my AUTHOR PAGE.
Interview: Bear Rinehart Shares the Creative Process Behind New ‘Wilder Woods’ Project
EXCERPT: This sound, of course, achieves Rinehart’s original goals for the album—the tracks refuse to be boxed into any one genre. Listeners will find doo-wop ad-libs (“Supply and Demand”), gospel choir background vocals (“Light Shine In” and “Someday Soon”), and funky electric guitar (“Feel”), all swathed in slinky R&B mood lighting and grounded with a little Southern grit.
Review: Patrick Droney Delivers Instant Classics on Juggernaut Debut EP
EXCERPT: “Brooklyn,” a catchy pop-leaning track and an undeniable standout, finds Droney flexing his storytelling muscles as he illustrates a cityscape backdrop on which to lay his emotions. The once-ordinary moments he details—“Slept like a rock between subway stops with your head on my shoulder, babe”—have become monumental in hindsight, and so he airs out his heartbreak atop a delicate chorus, its devastating mantra (“Baby, we don’t talk anymore“) bolstered by layers of falsetto.
Interview: Brent Cobb’s Debut Artfully Showcases Layered Lyrics and Organic Country Themes
EXCERPT: Brent Cobb writes songs. But the thing about Brent Cobb is that by “writing songs,” he really means “hanging out with friends who also might happen to be musically inclined.” He’s always had an organic approach to songwriting, and prefers the old-school Music Row co-writing methods he’s heard about from the likes of Don Schlitz: friends are drinking at a bar, someone pulls out a guitar to play something written to impress said friends, collaboration ensues and a great song naturally emerges.
Review: Dave Cobb Executes the Perfect Potluck with ‘Southern Family’ Compilation
EXCERPT: This album is one of a kind. It’s inclusive and familial—much like the title suggests—but don’t write it off as idyllic or cliché. Sure, many tracks are sprinkled with Southernisms and rural references, but the lyrics are truly universal and the raw honesty unparalleled. The songs invite you inside, greet you warmly, force you to face your troubles and then help you overcome them.
Natalie Schumann 