Country and Americana

Melissa Carper's 'A Very Carper Christmas' is the best Christmas album of 2025, and one of the very best so far in this century.

Fans of mid-20th-century Southern music will likely recognize the name of the act for which Rich-R-Tone is most known: the Stanley Brothers, whose first 14 bluegrass recordings appeared on the label and are all included here.

What might well offer sufficient reason to fork over your money for this expanded edition are the live performances of 'Nebraska'’s songs, which are presented in the same order as on the original album and offered both on CD and as a film on Blu-ray.

Hardy was popular throughout Europe, and a sensation in her native country, where she scored 11 Top 10 singles, nine Top 10 LPs, and numerous lesser hits. Folks in the U.S. now have a chance to hear some of what they’ve missed, thanks to a slew of reissues.

Most notable are previously unreleased live jams from the 'Some Time in New York City' sessions. They feature Elephant’s Memory, augmented by a star-studded guest list that includes George Harrison, Eric Clapton, Frank Zappa, Keith Moon, Nicky Hopkins, and Klaus Voormann.

There’s not a bad track on the album, which isn’t surprising given how consistently Holzman’s fabled label [Elektra] issued superlative music in its heyday.

Doc Pomus began his musical career as a blues singer before turning to songwriting. He went on to write and co-write lots of classic early rock and pop hits, from "A Teenager in Love" to "Viva Las Vegas."

Formed from the ashes of a group called the Ashes (which included future Jefferson Airplane drummer Spencer Dryden), the Peanut Butter Conspiracy dealt in frequently adventurous rock, much of which deserves more attention than it has received.

"Did you hear, she up and left me, like some old country song. Don't have a dog or truck, but if I did they'd be gone."

Perhaps the Pale Fountains will finally garner some notice following the appearance of a new four-CD box set devoted to Michael Head's critically acclaimed band, which formed in Liverpool in 1980 and split up in 1987.