SOUL COUNTRY

Listen closely to Ronnie Milsap’s golden voice and you’ll hear a singer as close to the heart of American music as anyone who’s ever made the charts. He wound through the R&B nightclubs of Memphis and Atlanta, where he sang straight-up Southern soul and rock ‘n roll, before moving to Nashville at the urging of Charley Pride. Milsap’s voice has always been one of my favorites. I was only about 12 when I first noticed his warm, beautiful tone, classy phrasing, and his way of

Devon Gilfillian is one of the most accomplished rock and soul artists in Nashville that many roots music listeners still may not know about. A self-described melting pot of music, the Philadelphia native is deeply inspired by the too often unheralded impact of Black music in Nashville and its influences on country and rock ‘n’ roll. Gilfillian’s hero, Jimi Hendrix, expanded the genres – and Hendrix’s connections to Nashville aren’t lost on him. The amiable, passionate Gilfil

NEW ORLEANS — When you listen to the great soul artist Irma Thomas sing, you understand why she’s called the Soul Queen of New Orleans. She can move heaven and earth with her voice while also finding great subtlety and nuance in her songs. You can feel that same magic when she talks about music, too. It’s “having people around you that understand what your heart is,” she said, musicians “to back you up, to allow you to be you.” “This mechanical music,” she said of today’s man

NASHVILLE — More than three years after writer and musician Peter Cooper passed away, but Eric Brace and Thomm Jutz are now able to write, sing, and talk about their late friend like they were with him yesterday. The enormous hole that Peter left among his loved ones, in Nashville, and among his two brothers-in-music is evident on Circle and Square, the duo’s beautiful new album on Red Beet Records, a collection of gorgeous, restrained, folk-oriented songs about Peter and art

(Editor’s Note: This story contains potentially triggering language about sexual assault and addiction.) NASHVILLE — Country singer Ty Herndon can break your heart, but he sure knows how to put one back together. The man speaks from experience. In his intense and candid new memoir What Mattered Most, Herndon recalls how he became a child preacher in Alabama, rose to fame in Nashville, and suffered some devastating personal crashes — eventually coming out of the closet and fi

Joy Clark, at left, and Jennifer Knapp perform in New Orleans. (Photo by Alan Richard) It was the revival some of us didn't know we needed. When an array of talented LGBTQ+ singer-songwriters gathered for a special show in New Orleans following the Folk Alliance International back in January, it was a moving experience for artists and audience alike. It was spiritual. As singer-songwriters Joy Clark and Jennifer Knapp , two of the evening’s performers, finished their set of