Another Look: More Recent Releases You Don’t Want to Miss

Slowly but surely, the live-music economy is starting back up in a limited capacity — and in enough places that artists are planning tours! But musicians across Nashville’s constellation of music scenes continue to release great records at a brisk pace, and our writers have seven new titles to recommend. Add ’em to your streaming queue or get a physical copy from your favorite record store. Or drop them on your wishlist for #BandcampFriday — the promotion in which the platform waives its cut of artist fees — coming up on May 7.

Also check out our previous lists for even more recommendations:

• 2020: March, April, May, June (1), June (2), July (1), July (2), September (1), September (2), Best of Nashville Writers' Choices (October), November, December, Top Local Albums Critics' Poll (December)
• 2021: January, February, March 

Fancy Hagood, Southern Curiosity (Mick Music)

The fact that Fancy Hagood’s music is unclassifiable is one of his greatest strengths, but for a time, it was the singer-songwriter’s greatest obstacle. Originally performing under the name Who Is Fancy, Hagood had a couple of pop hits in the mid-2010s but couldn’t find a label — in Nashville or Los Angeles — that knew what to do with his genre-fluid music. Hagood finally makes his proper debut with Southern Curiosity, a glittering wonderland of pop, Southern rock, country and psychedelia. Since many of his songs tell raw, honest queer narratives, it’s hard to pin down just what’s more powerful: Hagood’s soulful, acrobatic voice or his knack for translating emotional experiences into catchy, expertly crafted songs. BRITTNEY McKENNA

Visit Hagood's website or your favorite record store to get a copy of Southern Curiosity, or find it on your favorite streaming service.

DD Island, Scaphoid (self-released)

The latest release from DD Island continues to showcase Brandon Rhodes’ affinity for the wide, morphing spectrum of psych rock. Named after the wrist bone he broke in a skateboarding accident, Scaphoid features five songs that reflect a youthful perspective on life, love, friends and drugs. Though the songs touch on different emotional states, some more hopeful than others, they’re all backed by catchy and fast-paced riffs, layered with chaotic drumming and fuzzy vocals. Each track passes quickly in a short, energetic burst resembling the cathartic celebration one might experience after recovering from a debilitating injury — or, y’know, coming toward the end of a global pandemic. It’s an EP for getting back out and dancing again. KELSEY BEYELER

Cristina Vane, Nowhere Sounds Lovely (Blue Tip Records)

Because she functions as a singer-songwriter who plays various pre-WWII guitar styles, Nashville singer Cristina Vane sounds like a convincing Americana artist on her new full-length Nowhere Sounds Lovely. During a pair of live Nashville performances I recently saw — one solo, and the other with a tactful drummer — Vane played in a masterfully understated style, and I got the idea that she’s a picker who knows her Skip James and Robert Wilkins licks. Her immaculate touch helps make Nowhere Sounds Lovely an updated version of ’70s English folk-rock, with plenty of sharp blues licks. Vane, who was born in Turin, Italy, moved to Nashville in 2018 with an impressive pedigree as a student of blues and folk guitar. Her studied approach to those idioms adds some mojo to a set of thoughtful songs about the wonders of the North American landscape. “Badlands” is pop blues with an edge, and even her relatively sappy singer-songwriter tunes have their charms. Catch her live — she can play. EDD HURT

Petty, #53 Fridays (self-released)

For most musicians, releasing one new song every week for a year sounds like a recipe for disappointment. When ace rapper Petty announced his #53 Fridays project, it didn’t seem like something remotely beyond his scope, as he’s been one of Music City’s most consistent and most prolific artists for years. The tracks he’s released in the series (which, by the way, is not his only project this year) feature a ton of collaborators working in an array of styles. Some standouts include “Through Your Mind,” a slow-jam-schooled piece with athletic verses from Tim Gent and Gee Slab, and “I Exist,” a dark and complex track produced by The Pro, but the whole project is appointment listening. STEPHEN TRAGESER

Follow Petty on Spotify to hear all the #53 Fridays releases.

The Minor Second, EvilOlive (self-released)

Looking for something Smiths-y, but don’t want to support Morrissey? Nashville pop-rock ensemble The Minor Second’s palindromically titled second album EvilOlive has you covered. Beyond its Anglophile influences, the band nods to Yo La Tengo and The Dream Syndicate with the alternately swirling, skronky six-string interplay between lead axman Mike McDonald and frontman, rhythm guitarist and bandleader Trevor Evans-Young. Bassist Jon Bynum and drummer Alex Nixon, meanwhile, clearly paid attention to Tina Weymouth and Chris Frantz’s contributions to golden-era Talking Heads, adding a welcome funkiness to the jangly, moody proceedings. Evans-Young’s songwriting meanders some — the hooks are there, but they don’t come out and take you by the hand. But with months of too-hot-to-live evenings imminent, EvilOlive should make a good companion for “spending long summer days indoors,” to quote a certain gifted-if-problematic ’80s tunesmith. CHARLIE ZAILLIAN

Morgan Wade, Reckless (Ladylike/Thirty Tigers)

Singer-songwriter Morgan Wade made a strong solo debut with Reckless, a no-skips listen if ever there was one. Produced by Paul Ebersold and Sadler Vaden (of Jason Isbell’s backing band The 400 Unit), Reckless is a succinct country-pop record tinged with soft-rock and alt-pop influences. Wade, who grew up in Virginia schooled in bluegrass, paired with Vaden to co-write most of the songs. What resulted are vulnerable, conscientious reflections on love, sobriety and other very personal habits. Songs like “Wilder Days” and “Take Me Away” emulate the soulfulness of Tom Petty and Lucinda Williams, while “Mend” and “Met You” pack the raw emotion and goosebump-inducing melodies of Isbell’s early albums. OLIVIA LADD

Visit Wade's website or your favorite record store to get a copy of Reckless, or find it on your favorite streaming service.

Rhiannon Giddens (With Francesco Turrisi), They’re Calling Me Home (Nonesuch)

Sometime Nashvillian Rhiannon Giddens has proven time and again that being both an incredible musician and a diligent, thoughtful musicologist aren’t mutually exclusive. Giddens, known for her scholarship on Black musicians’ overlooked contributions to the string-band tradition, made They’re Calling Me Home with partner Francesco Turrisi during lockdown in Ireland, an adopted home for both. The songs present a wide range of expressions of grief for things we’ve lost or that we’re bound to lose, running the gamut from Monteverdi’s 17th-century aria “Si Dolce è’l Tormento” to the folk staple “O Death” to the Giddens and Turrisi original “Avalon.” As we’re trying to figure out how to put our world back together once the pandemic is over — hopefully better than it was before — I expect to turn to this record often. STEPHEN TRAGESER