Ryan Montbleau’s latest album, I Was Just Leaving, is a stripped-down journey into the nature of loneliness. Directly off the heels of the astronomical success of his cover of Tracy Chapman’s “Fast Car,” which has clocked in over 15 million plays on Spotify as of the writing of this review, I Was Just Leaving operates in the same vein of profound simplicity. This solo offering marks a departure from some of Montbleau’s funkier work, providing listeners with a clear lens through which to experience his inspired songwriting.

Danny Barnes is already known as an iconic American musician, a banjo playing innovator who’s earned high praise from everybody from Bill Frisell and Dave Matthews to Steve Martin, who presented Danny with the Prize for Excellence in Banjo in 2015. From the days with his groundbreaking Austin band, the Bad Livers, to his two decade solo career experimenting with electronic music, jazz, old time string band music and more, he’s a genre bending, rule breaking original who prefers to color outside the lines.

Internationally acclaimed Mexican acoustic rock guitar duo Rodrigo y Gabriela are back on the road again, celebrating their 10th anniversary and bringing their unique instrumental blend of metal, jazz and world music to audiences all over the US. Rodrigo Sanchez and Gabriela Quintero have been playing together for more than fifteen years.

Working across multiple continents, Nattali Rize continues her mission to empower and inspire collective freedom through her upcoming debut full-length release Rebel Frequency, out  now through Rootfire Cooperative / Baco Records. Following her relocation to Kingston in 2014, Nattali now lives where the music takes her.

Few bands have flown the southern rock flag for as long (and as well) as The Outlaws have done - as proven by their impressive body of work. And they continue to expand their discography, with the recent release of a killer concert recording, Legacy Live, which features rockin’ versions of such classics as “There Goes Another Love Song,” “Freeborn Man,” “Green Grass & High Tides,” and “(Ghost) Riders In The Sky.” And a lyric video for another standout from the album, “Gunsmoke,” has just been unveiled: