Over the course of six albums, Blitzen Trapper’s style has been gradually streamlined. Eric Earley’s shambling experimental and psychedelic tendencies have been sharpened and focused, with a more direct emotional connection. The touchstones on American Goldwing are mid-period Wilco, Neil ...

Future Islands is something like a postpunk band that plays keyboards instead of guitars, bassist William Cashion says. Someone once described them as “Joe Cocker singing for New Order. It’s kind of an easy description,” he says.

It’s hard to admire Sarah Jarosz without remarking on her age. Just 21, the Americana singer/songwriter and multi-instrumentalist has released two accomplished records and earned praise from critics and fellow musicians alike.

From the gutter opera “The Streets” to the hippy-dippy folk-rock of “Forever Together,” or the gospel-tinged Southern rock of “Freedom” to the ELO-inspired “Holy Touch,” The Church of Rock and Roll is an unashamed, passionate blare of smartly dumb pop-rock.

Grace Potter and the Nocturnals are at that delicate moment in the trajectory of fame, when hard work and word of mouth begin to translate into major fame.

Some songwriters compose with a pen and pad, nestling a guitar in their laps. Some bands work out arrangements by jamming on instruments together in a room. On their jittery and sprawling third album, Fragrant World, due out in August, ...

Harrison and company’s rural roots show through on their new album, but the songwriting and production tilt toward classic power pop and old-fashioned ’70s and ’80s radio rock.

It’s tempting to think of Stephen Perkins as Jane’s Addictions’ answer to Derek Smalls, the unassuming Spinal Tap bass player who stood between “fire-and-ice visionaries” Nigel Tufnel and David St. Hubbins, “kind of like lukewarm water.” After all, the seemingly ...

The Black Cadillacs stand on the cusp of their second release, Run, on a promising young indie, looking to build on their status as one of the two or three most popular rock acts in the city of Knoxville.

Under the stage name St. Vincent, Annie Clark records arty, complex music that is at turns pretty and ragged, but almost always challenging to the listener. She’s become a critics’ darling and indie sensation. But the 29-year-old Clark is no ...

Nellie McKay finds a lot of her musical inspiration from the past. But unlike Americana artists, she’s not digging through old scratchy vinyl folk records.

Megadeth frontman Dave Mustaine, now 50, is still provoking outrage these days, but from an altogether different direction than he used to. For the last decade or so, Mustaine has openly discussed his born-again religious faith, which seems to have ...

Here’s the new single from Knoxville metal band Whitechapel: Chugga-chugga-chug-growl-shriek-high-pitched tweedly guitar part-chugga-chug-repeat.

In a bleak decade for the recording industry, Death Cab for Cutie stands almost alone, making the jump from beloved indie rocker status to major record label success without losing its critical acclaim.

Tramp is Van Etten's most immediate and devastating collection of songs. Deceptively dark acoustic lullabies are augmented with raw, buzzing electric guitars (“Warsaw”), droning keyboards (“Magic Chords”), and beautiful vocal harmonies from some notable friends.