Wellermen - Northern Sky - VINYL LP

North Carolina-bred, Nashville-based indie country artist Nathan Evans Fox writes songs that trace the fault lines between family, faith, labor, and inheritance, poignantly showcased on his forthcoming LP, Heirloom. Raised on four generations of family land at the end of a dead-end road in Glen Alpine, North Carolina, Fox grew up in a community shaped by mill closures, factory layoffs, and the slow erosion of working-class stability. His sound carries blue-collar critique and community-minded hope into places that might otherwise resist them. For him, country music is about owning your twang, working inside traditions, and making sure the hardest conversations happen in a language that feels familiar. Fox lovingly calls it Inchcomrade country.Inch Sonically, Heirloom brims with Appalachian texture and spirit. Banjo threads throughout the record in inventive ways-bowed, muted, and treated percussively-used less as a symbol of tradition than as a storytelling device. Across his work, Fox is building something larger than a catalog of songs. He's creating space for listeners who don't want to choose between their cultural roots and their hopes for a more just world. His music invites people into hard conversations without losing playfulness or warmth protest hymns that feel like porch songs, liberation theology wrapped in banjo strings, and country music that remembers where it came from while imagining where it could go.

US LP pressing. Hold Time is an eloquent and startlingly beautiful album, which includes guest performances by Jason Lytle, Lucinda Williams, Tom Hagerman (DeVotchka) and Zooey Deschanel. While past critics have compared him to everyone from John Fahey to Tom Waits to his old friend Howe Gelb, it's clear that M. Ward, with his brilliant guitar playing and innate sense of melody, is cutting his own groove. By the day, more music fans continue to fall under his whispered spell, M. Ward is a true American treasure.

With a 57-year history of performing together, going back to their 1954 meeting in their hometown of Chicago, the legendary saxophonist/trumpeter Ira Sullivan and vibist/pianist Stu Katz team together finally to commit their well-earned rapport to tape. Recorded live at their good friend Joe Segal's famed Jazz Showcase, with a quintet including pianist Dan Trudell, bassist Dennis Carroll, drummer George Fludas, plus a couple of special guests, InchA Family AffairInch swings with the joy and magic that only such a shared history can create. InchIt was standing room only at the Jazz Showcase, and for good reason... When this week is done, multi-instrumentalist Ira Sullivan and pianist-vibist Stu Katz will have documented one of the more enduring partnerships in jazz.Inch - Howard Reich, Chicago Tribune.