Folk

'Freedom Highway' from Rhiannon Giddens is one of those amazing rarities, a politically charged and artistically refined album. The music is spectacular, the lyrics are beautiful and inspiring, and the singing is as glorious as you'll hear anywhere.

While Ian Anderson has put out several albums of new material in recent years, he seems happy to rework old successes too. Reviving classic Jethro Tull material for string quartet is a striking new twist. The result is a serious lark: lighthearted but with plenty of creative depth.

‘When The Earth Was Still Flat’ seems to have been written for a time when we believed in things that long have been disproved.

Falling in love is euphoria and terror. There is no other way to achieve its beauty and hope.

Much of Jethro Tull's second album still stands up, so to speak. The bright nasality of the hyperactive mandolin on "Fat Man," the blues-rock/progressive fusion of "Nothing is Easy," and the dark psychedelia of "We Used to Know" are all of their time, yet in the new mixes they leap urgently from the speakers. A 1969 Stockholm concert and a booklet packed with reminiscences and commentary help make this new edition something Tull fans will value.

In an exclusive interview with Blogcritics, New Zealand native and music icon Bic Runga discusses 20 years of music, her fifth LP, 'Close Your Eyes', and who she is today.

Here are my highlights in popular music from 2016. It includes records by Sophie Ellis-Bextor, Bright Light Bright Light, David Bowie, Melanie C, Hikaru Utada, Beyoncé, and many more!

If 'Blue Mountain' represents a new, more prolific era for this music legend, Weir fans of all stripes have a lot to look forward to. Even if he takes another 16 years to complete another album, listeners can take comfort in the rich tones of this mature work. Now more than ever, the world needs the comforting, self-assured songs of Bob Weir.

Coruscating Latin rhythms with a four-mallet attack, folk-jazz from a guitar-ukelele-vocal duo, and baroque-jazz crossover from the late bassoonist Daniel Smith

One could view 'In Winter' as a stylish stopgap between Melua's last recording 'Ketevan' and her next album. However, one should embrace it as an inspired seasonal concept album that ties 'The House' as her most ambitious undertaking yet.