(Cow Island Records, CD)... Read more

(Self-Produced, CD)... Read more

(Vibe Theory Music, CD)

If the name “Hollis Brown” sounds familiar, it should. Bob Dylan’s grim ballad about a destitute South Dakota farmer is one of the poet’s more haunting and oft-covered works. It’s also the unlikely namesake of a promising young outfit poised to sell records. There’s nothing bleak — or particularly iconic — about Hollis Brown (the band). Instead, the kids from Queens line their eponymous debut with melodies that linger like a summer rain.... Read more

Montréal’s reputation needs little embellishment. Canada’s second largest city, a nexus of French culture just 90 minutes from Burlington, famously hosts the world’s premier jazz festival, among other things. Amid the pageantry of the current Champlain Quadricentennial, Vermonters might have dismissed this north-of-the-border fête.... Read more

(Stony Plain, CD)... Read more

(Self-released, CD)... Read more

(Self-produced, CD)... Read more

(Sonic Mirage, CD)... Read more

(Self-released, CD)

Come winter, many of us lament the chill that crawls over our cherished landscape. To poets, however, this is yet another rich layer, a deeper shade of blue in Vermont’s spectrum. Meg Devlin Irish understands. Sure, the seasoned songstress prefers milder months. But her breezy style carries warmth year round. Sprinkled with folksy cheer, lovelorn melancholy and nostalgia, her latest album, Deeper Shade of Blue, feels a bit like Christmas on the lake.... Read more

(Vital Records, CD)

Vermont has birthed its share of exports, but Pariah Beat stand a breed apart. Suffused with salty Green Mountain charm, Thetford’s gypsy outlaws compose a multigenre maelstrom that threatens to hijack Boston airwaves. Framed as a faux FM broadcast and brimming with jug-band enthusiasm, Pariah Beat Radio teeters between roots and rockabilly, often within the same track. There’s much to discover here.... Read more