It’s been three years since Randy Houser released his last album, How Country Feels, and finally fans who have been waiting patiently have new tunes for their ears – 17 as a matter of fact – with the release of his fourth studio album Fired Up. The album starts off with the emotional “Back,” written by Jeffery Steele and Bridgette Tatum; a deep song about looking back at his choices in life, how a father’s death can affect one’s view of one’s own life, and hoping that when it’s time to leave this Earth, his father would be proud of the life he led. The poignant lyrics of the chorus allows Houser to really show off his signature full baritone voice.

The SnakeDoctor Circus, a concept record, features Cyrus’ longtime collaborator and songwriting mentor, Don Von Tress. It’s a full circle moment for Cyrus because Von Tress wrote the multi-platinum smash “Achy Breaky Heart” on Cyrus’ record-breaking debut album Some Gave All. Cyrus penned “Some Gave All” about a Vietnam veteran in 1989 only to meet Von Tress, whom is also a Vietnam veteran, a few years later. The collaboration between the two songwriting titans more than 25 years ago continues with new music on The SnakeDoctor Circus.

Sabrina Claudio can pass for a pop star, but her music is unlike most on Top 40 radio. Rather than writing for massive hooks and thumping choruses, her songs take time to develop and fit more in a jazz or lounge mold. Lana del Rey comes to mind, yet Claudio is more avant-garde, with songs that also incorporate more electronica on record. At her show at the Masonic on Thursday, she and her technically proficient band balanced on a tightrope between sensual desire and other strong emotions with a restraint that’s uncommon in pop music. It was the musical equivalent to a leisurely drive on a track with muscle cars.

Whitesnake scored the band’s third consecutive platinum record with its eighth studio album, Slip of the Tongue. Originally released in November 1989, it peaked at number 10 on the U.K. and U.S. album charts thanks largely to its two Top 40 hits – “Fool For Your Loving” and “The Deeper The Love.” The fan favorite turns 30 this year and Rhino is celebrating with this special HiRes edition set.

The descent into darkness is a trope we find time again across history, literature and film. But there’s also an abyss above. There’s a winding white staircase that goes ever upward into the great unknown — each step, each turn, requiring a greater boldness and confidence than the one before. This is the journey on which we find Angel Olsen. Olsen’s artistic beginnings as a collaborator shifted seamlessly to her magnificent, cryptic-to-cosmic solo work, and then she formed bands to play her songs, and her stages and audiences grew exponentially.

Ghosteen is the new two part album from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds. Ghosteen is the seventeenth studio album from Nick Cave and The Bad Seeds, following 2016's Skeleton Tree. The album was recorded in 2018 and early 2019 at Woodshed in Malibu, Nightbird in Los Angeles, Retreat in Brighton and Candybomber in Berlin. It was mixed by Nick Cave, Warren Ellis, Lance Powell and Andrew Dominik at Conway in Los Angeles.'The songs on the first album are the children. The songs on the second album are their parents. Ghosteen is migrating spirit.' Nick Cave.

"Scarlatti" is the new album from the internationally renowned pianist Lucas Debargue. This stunning new album features 52 beautiful sonatas by Scarlatti—often considered ne of the most influential composers of the Baroque era. Debargue started taking piano lessons at the age of 11. At the 2015 International Tchaikovsky Competition , Debargue was awarded the coveted Moscow Music Critic’s Prize. Debargue has performed at numerous prestigious music venues including the Royal Festival Hall, Wigmore Hall, the Berlin Philharmonic hall , Carnegie Hall and the Concertgebouw. Debargue has won many awards including the highly regarded Echo Klassik award in 2017. Scarlatti (1685—1757) was a baroque composer who spent most of his life composing for the Portuguese and Spanish royal families. Scarlatti’s music has been praised by acclaimed composers and musicians including Bach, Mozart, Brahms, Horowitz and Pogerelich.

Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection.
Jean-Luc Ponty plays himself some really modern keyboards here, creating very atmospheric textures, rather urban, often flirting with a jazz-New Age style.

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music
Dreamy. Ethereal. Beautiful. These are the words that first spring to mind whenever I listen to A Taste for Passion by Jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty.

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music
This live album was my starter to JL Ponty his work. I was in a record shop, watched the cover picture (photos from Armando Gallo, known from his work for Genesis) …

Essential: a masterpiece of progressive rock music
In 1977, French jazz fusion violinist par excellence Jean Luc Ponty released his outstanding ENIGMATIC OCEAN..

Excellent addition to any prog rock music collection.
Jean-Luc Ponty reaches a musical peak by releasing this excellent fusion record. Looking at the new line-up here, the talent and reliability of the musicians is not questionable: Mark Craney (Jethro Tull's "A") plays very fast and EXTREMELY elaborated drums.

It’s a sublime journey back to the pop gems of the 30s and 40s and inspired originals as Lake Street Dive vocalist Rachael Price joins guitarist and singer Vilray for this intimate performance.

Double Trouble is an American blues rock band from Austin, Texas, formed by guitarist/singer Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1978. The group was active throughout the 1980s and contributed to reviving the blues, inspiring many later blues and rock musicians. By the mid-1980s, they had become an international act, touring extensively around the world until August 1990, when Vaughan was killed in a helicopter crash after departing East Troy, Wisconsin.

Something about the Kansas-born mezzo-soprano Joyce DiDonato makes British audiences roll over and put their paws in the air, and this frothy but enjoyable recital gives additional indications about what it is. The album is taken from a pair of live recitals at London's Wigmore Hall, and the Erato label deserves credit for a sound environment that captures the relaxed quality of the events. Simply, DiDonato has the confidence to master whatever she tackles, and it's infectious. Known for muscular pieces like the little-known Haydn scene that opens the program, she shifts easily to semi-popular and popular songs as if it were the most natural thing in the world.