COUNTRY/ FOLK

Hailing from Tipp City, United States, Friend/Monell is a duo rooted in a long history and hard-earned chemistry. Jeffrey Friend, former drummer, engineer, and producer of the award-winning band Ludlow Creek, teams up with Ray Monell, a songwriter with three decades of storytelling under his belt and a background in…

1. Your roots can often shape your journey. Can you share a story or moment from your early life that had a significant impact on your path into music? DAOUDA DIABATE: We don’t choose our birthplace, but in every part of the world where we are born, whatever legacy our…

Willa James is a country-blues singer bringing real stories to life. Blending soulful grit with modern tools, Willa delivers raw storytelling shaped by real lived human experience. Whether she’s singing about time catching up or trust running dry, Willa James sounds like the friend who tells you the truth, pours…

Jessi Robertson steps into darker, deeper territory with “Shadow War: Singularity,” a striking reimagining that opens the door to her Dark Matter Singularity Series. Dropping January 16, 2026, the track revisits one of the most thematically loaded moments from Dark Matter, but this time it feels expanded, unsettled, and quietly…

Rich Allen’s debut single The Ghost We Keep is a tender, introspective meditation on grief, memory, and the quiet persistence of love after loss. From its very first moments, the song establishes a reflective atmosphere. The track unfolds over gently strummed guitars paired with steady, thumping beats that anchor the…

Ulrich Jannert opens 2026 with “Two Men by the Harbor,” a powerful soul-rock reflection, written for those in-between moments when life asks uncomfortable questions. Now based in Northern Europe after a long musical journey that began in Germany, Jannert has a knack for turning personal crossroads into songs. This single,…

“Tequila at Dawn” is the last round at your favorite bar turned into a three-and-a-half-minute anthem. New Mexico songwriter JCCutter leans into his country-rock side here, trading in his usual grit and survival tales for something a little looser, louder, and funnier. It’s a mid-tempo, bar-room burner built for road…

“Leviathan” finds Andy Smythe doing what he does best: wrapping big, knotty questions about power, justice, and the future of humanity in a tune that feels like a street parade. The British singer-songwriter and alt-folk storyteller is gearing up for his eighth album, Quiet Revolution, a record that looks AI,…

“Soft Animal” finds UK artist Kwun trading cosmic fireworks for something far quieter and, in many ways, braver. After the ecstatic motion of “Cuíca” and the expansive energy of “Sovereignty,” this first single of 2026 slows everything down and pulls the listener back into the body. It’s the sound of…

Reverie..From Then Till Now opens a diary that’s been filling up for decades, then finally being read out loud. San Francisco artist Michellar steps into the spotlight with REVERIE..FROM THEN TILL NOW, an 11-track collection born from a life steeped in folk, choir harmonies, Latin records, rock bands, fine art,…