Khruangbin and Leon Bridges know the time and place for a big production, with a wealth of material that crosses genres, honors multi-cultures, generations and sees the latter tapping fellow modern-day R&B savants. Today, on the pairings’ new song “Chocolate Hills,” the artists embrace spacey sensuality, as Bridges’ honeyed tones ooze into the song’s steady bassline, swirling guitar, Hammond organ and synthesizer.

Montreux Jazz Festival and BMG today announce the next instalment in The Montreux Years series with “John McLaughlin: The Montreux Years”, to be released on Friday, March 4, 2022. Curated and compiled by John McLaughlin, the album is a collection of his finest performances at the Montreux Jazz Festival between 1978 and 2016.

Is it okay to be proud of where one comes from even if that past is far from perfect? Can a country learn from the scars of its past and build something greater than any flawed, hand-me-down patriotism could ever encapsulate?

St. Paul & the Broken Bones will partner with Fitz and the Tantrums for a 17-date, co-headlining U.S. tour beginning June 1. The just-announced dates will be added to a major headlining tour for St. Paul & The Broken Bones, which will now see them perform a 50-show run that includes their biggest NYC show yet at The Beacon Theatre on March 11. The Birmingham, Alabama octet’s new album The Alien Coast will be released January 28 (ATO Records).

“This album,” says Amanda Anne Platt, “has been a wild ride — both in the global and personal events that took place during its creation and in the creation itself.” Wild ride though it may have been, that album — Amanda Anne Platt and The Honeycutters’ two disc The Devil and The Deep Blue Sea, on Organic Records — reveals, in its elegant, heartfelt combination of sweeping concept and intimate execution, an artist at the height of her powers, fronting a band exquisitely attuned to the blend.

Old Salt Union’s lead vocalist, bassist and songwriter Jesse Farrar has been in the Compass Sound Studio working on a solo project slated for release on Compass Records in 2022. In contrast to his work with alt-string-band Old Salt Union, Farrar’s solo debut is a more textured, Americana-leaning affair, placing him squarely alongside angst-driven indie folk singer/songwriter luminaries like Elliott Smith and Sufjan Stevens.