Given the quirkiness of Neil Young's recording career, with its frequent cancellations of releases and last-minute rearrangements of material, it is a relief to report that this two-disc compilation is so conventional and so satisfying. A 35-track selection of the best of Young's work between 1966 and 1976, it includes songs performed by Buffalo Springfield, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, and the Stills-Young Band, as well as solo work. In addition to five unreleased songs, Decade offers such key tracks as the Springfield's "Mr. Soul," "Broken Arrow," and "I Am a Child"; "Sugar Mountain," a song that had appeared only as a single before; "Cinnamon Girl," "Down by the River," and "Cowgirl in the Sand" from Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere; "Southern Man" and the title track from After the Gold Rush; and "Old Man" and the chart-topping "Heart of Gold" from Harvest. This is the material that built Young's reputation between 1966 and 1972, although he is more idiosyncratic with the later material, including the blockbusters "Like a Hurricane" and "Cortez the Killer" but mixing in more unreleased recordings as the set draws to a close.

She may only be sleeping, but Mama Ain't Dead. This quartet continues the American roots tradition while infusing contemporary songs with old-time appeal. Multi-instrumentalists and songwriters Betsy Heron, Brie Green, Scott Heron, and Tim Cackett deliver a down-home sound driven by fiddles and banjos that fixes to leave toes tapping and feet stomping.

Zac Brown Band have announced the upcoming release of their sixth studio album. The superstar Southern rock group are set to release The Owl in September. The Owl marks ZBB's first new music since releasing "Someone I Used to Know" in November of 2018. The group have released a new digital single from the forthcoming album, "Leaving Love Behind." According to a press release, the album title is "inspired by the lore surrounding the great horned owl, which can see perfectly at night, making it a reliable guide, even during dark times." The group drew on that to create "their most personal album to date."

Sharing a light, lush airiness with bands like Poco, America, and Air Supply, Firefall sang fluffy love songs that were weak in lyrical nutrients but abundant with softened chords and harmonies. When radio was saturated with light rock in the mid- to late-'70s, they were right in the heart of it, reaching number nine on Billboard's Top 40 with the gentle "You Are the Woman," which remained on the charts for a startling 15 weeks. Firefall's greatest hits collects all of their mellow rock favorites in one place, presenting some thin but not unlistenable soft rock tunes. Lead singer Rick Roberts pours his heart out but still manages to stir up a decent tempo with "Just Remember I Love You," their second biggest single. The blue of the Colorado skyline, the band's home state, is visioned on the soothing flow of "Break of Dawn," and a slight attractiveness is felt throughout "Strange Way," another chart single in 1978. Roberts, who replaced Gram Parsons in the Flying Burrito Brothers, and drummer Michael Clarke, a onetime Byrds member, did give Firefall a talented history within its lineup, but the music being produced contained ample amounts of schlock that soon faded as radio became tired of this shallow drivel. Sometimes harboring a country feel a la Michael Martin Murphy best heard in songs like "Someday Soon" and "It Doesn't Matter," it was evident that the band had only one direction, which was that of a folk-rock sound. Since their material never strayed from this subtle easiness, Firefall's greatest hits is their most worthwhile offering.

In 1979 Chris Jones and Charlie Carr came together to record some of their own songs along with a few traditional pieces. The tapes of this recording lay hidden in the Stockfisch archive for 40 years, only to resurface again in 2019. Stockfisch Records is glad to release the results of this collaboration as the third album in its "Analog Pearls" series.

With Just the Same, Terri Clark proved she was going to be around for a while, and that the impression her self-titled debut made was no fluke. And like most acts Luke Lewis oversees, she's been allowed to grow with each release. How I Feel opens with one of the best songs written in the country genre in the preceding decade or so, Kim Richey's testimonial anthem "I'm Alright" from her own Bitter Sweet album. In Clark's interpretation, the song is less Americana and more mainstream pop-country, but Clark's voice is no ordinary instrument. She delivers both the humor and the pathos in the tune without forcing the issue. Produced by Keith Stegall, Clark is allowed to let her natural voice more fully into the mix.

Trisha Yearwood firmly enters middle-age with Everybody Knows, a collection of ballads and country-pop. Even when she kicks the tempo into high-gear, Yearwood and her band lay back, easing the beat along instead of pushing it. Similarly, the country-pop is engaging and relaxed, gently winning you over. But the heart of the album lies in her ballads, which are appropriately theatrical and grandiose it's big music with big melodies. The quality of the songs are a little uneven, but Yearwood continues to improve as a singer, which means she brings conviction even to the lackluster material on Everybody Knows.

Hindsight being 20/20, when Trisha Yearwood's eponymous debut was issued in 1991, it was obvious a star had been born. From the choice of players, to Garth Fundis' snappy crisp production, to the songs written by the cream of the crop of Nashville's new generation including a pair by Garth Brooks, Pat McLaughlin, Carl Jackson, and one by Kostas and Hal Ketchum. What set Yearwood apart is her enormous voice; coming from Georgia, there is no lilt in it she can go from a whisper to a full-throated wail in a second, and her pitch is spot on every time. Fundis and MCA chose the kinds of songs Yearwood sings better than almost any of her peers working-class love songs, from the opener, the simple mid-tempo rocker

Memphis-based artist Amy LaVere is releasing her new album Painting Blue and The Big Takeover is excited to be hosting the U.S. premiere in full today. Painting Blue comes out August 16th via Nine Mile Records (Glorietta, David Wax Museum, Carson McHone, Patrick Sweany).

Crowell tries to stretch out a bit too much on Jewel of the South, but it remains a fine album, nonetheless. Featuring guest performances by the Mavericks' Raul Malo, Bela Fleck, Vince Gill, Kim Richey, and Billy Joe Walker Jr. among others, the album tries to do too many thing, but it does enough of them well enough to make it an entertaining listen.

Quality is laced throughout It s Never Too Late, the first regular studio album featuring Emmanuel completely solo without guests since 2000. A friend and follower of the late Chet Atkins who christened Emmanuel a Certified Guitar Player, making him one of only five musicians to receive the C.G.P. distinction from the master Emmanuel easily skates between musical styles, playing with blues in One Mint Julep, infusing Spanish tradition in El Vaquero and exploring folk in The Duke. An accomplished fingerstyle player, Emmanuel frequently threads three different parts simultaneously into his material, operating as a one-man band who handles the melody, the supporting chords and the bass all at once. That expert layering is evident in It's Never Too Late on the quixotic Only Elliott, the calming title track and the gorgeous Hellos And Goodbyes.

In her brief liner essay, Nanci Griffith claims that Ruby's Torch – a collection of torch songs, what else? – is a "dream come true" and something her listeners have requested over the years. Fair enough, but in typical fashion Griffith has put a spin on these nuggets, only two of which are her own compositions (old ones at that). In addition to "Brave Companion of the Road" and "Late Night Grande Hotel," there are three songs by Tom Waits (including his classic "Ruby's Arms," which the album title is adapted from), Jimmy Webb's "If These Walls Could Talk," Sandy Mason's "When I Dream" (the best-known version is by Willie Nelson, but Crystal Gayle's is better), "Bluer Than Blue" by Randy Goodrum (and a hit by Michael Johnson in the '70s), and "Never Be the Sun" by Donagh Long.

2001 Independent release on Dangling Rope Records. Features "Whiskey Tears" and "Bartenders, Barstools, Barmaids" (renamed "Bartenders Etc.") which were re-recorded for his self titled 2003 release on Capitol Records

The standard line on Nanci Griffith's five-year sojourn at MCA Records is that Griffith, a Texas-born singer/songwriter, earned a major-label Nashville contract after four independent folkie releases on the basis of Kathy Mattea's Top Ten country recording of her song "Love at the Five and Dime," at a time when country music seemed more open to new sounds and MCA's Tony Brown was also signing such mavericks as Steve Earle and Lyle Lovett.

The attraction of singer-songwriter Jimmy LaFave's music lies in his voice and vision that strikes responsive chords at the heart of folk, blues and American rock & roll. Jimmy's latest album, Favorites 1992-2001, is a collection of songs from his days on Bohemia Beat Records. It includes cuts from all six records as well as three newly recorded versions of songs he wrote during that time period.