Spring is in the air, and recent releases from Nashville musicians are filling up the inbox and the racks at record shops near and far. The Scene’s music writers have seven new recommendations for you. Add ’em to your streaming queue or pick them up from your favorite record store. Many of our picks are also available to buy directly from the artists on Bandcamp, whose Bandcamp Friday promotion — in which the platform waives its cut of sales for a 24-hour period — comes back on April 5.
Dante Williamson, Away (so far we are here)
Dante Williamson’s latest nicely mixes elements from different idioms — running the gamut from hip-hop to R&B to emo rock — into an entertaining, often very engaging and delightful presentation. His lyrical focus is as broad as his musical menu, with songs like “Shelby Park 2” offering a wistful, evocative stroll down memory lane as opposed to “Old Friends?” about evaluating relationships with the benefit of hindsight, or the emotionally intense opener “Anxiety!” Williamson can be equally compelling as a crafty rapper, a reflective observer and a suggestive romanticist, and Away proves both an ambitious and an accomplished EP. RON WYNN
Find away on your favorite streaming service, and follow Williamson on Instagram for more.
Bats, Good Game, Baby (self-released)
Jess Awh, the belletristic engine of Bats, has leveled up quite a bit since 2022’s Blue Cabinet. The result is Good Game, Baby, in which Awh further sharpens her bootgazey introspections against the whetstone of Nashville and its environs. “Tell me the truth, tell me that you’ve grown,” Awh sings in “Oh My God” — it’s like a measured retort to the snarling chorus of “Like a Rolling Stone” nearly 60 years later, the acrimony of that time displaced by contemporary dissociations. The song has a Woolfian denouement that I don’t want to spoil for you here. Go crank this album in your beat-up car and drive west on Charlotte toward the sunset, and you’ll hear it soon enough. CLAIRE STEELE
Don McGreevy, Insouciance (Sulphuric Music Library)
Don McGreevy’s Insouciance is a lively bit of post-modernist program music that references Celtic rock and folk along with the dark expressionism of European prog. McGreevy grew up in Buffalo, N.Y., and spent two decades in Seattle, where he played bass with doom-prog-folk band Earth for a couple of albums. Insouciance documents McGreevy’s work between 2017 and 2020; the multi-instrumentalist and composer moved to Nashville in fall 2022. Insouciance tracks like “The Equity of Knowing and Sharing” and “Amidst a Jejune Bloom” register as art rock that bears traces of Popul Vuh’s hushed pastoralism and John Fahey-Robbie Basho-style guitar moves, combining New Age tropes with touches of soundtracks by masters such as John Barry and Ennio Morricone. EDD HURT
The FBR, Ghost (Limestone Music Group)
The FBR take their name from the Leonard Cohen song “Famous Blue Raincoat,” and while the group led by Malarie McConaha and Tim Hunter began as an acoustic project, their debut is not in any sense a singer-songwriter record. A half-century ago, Ghost probably would have been considered Southern rock, and there is a retro vibe to the album, but that speaks mostly to its timeless sound and the authenticity of the performances. Lead vocalist and lead guitarist McConaha has a powerful, soulful and alluring voice, and her inspired singing on the material mostly written by harmony singer Hunter is what make this such an enchanting record. DARYL SANDERS
Find Ghost on your favorite streaming service or via The FBR's website, and follow the group on Instagram for more.
Dead Runes, Raidho (Hammer Down)
On the title track of their debut album Raidho, Nashville trio Dead Runes blends elements of stoner, doom and prog metal across a nearly nine-minute musical odyssey. Even at its most ferocious, the song’s general vibe remains enchanting. Album closer “Sea Tripper” navigates similar waters, but with more prog-rock riffs and added psychedelic undercurrents. Those are but two of several warlocks’ brews of metal subgenres on the eight-song offering. When the band cranks up the tempo, as they do on the lightning-propelled “Allfathers Path” and “Different Stars,” they follow a brutal yet catchy path in step with The Sword and Mastodon. “Iron Song” strikes a balance between doom dirge and heavy-metal thunder when singer-guitarist Hunter East’s best work in both roles slices through the hotboxed haze. ADDIE MOORE
Patrick Sansone, Infinity Mirrors (Centripetal Force)
Some musicians first fall in love with music when they pick up an old guitar wasting away in a closet; for others, piano lessons become more than an obligation to appease eager parents. For Patrick Sansone, it was hours of experimenting on his own time with secondhand synthesizers he got his hands on as a teenager in the 1980s. From there, he’s had decades of music-making, including writing and performing with Wilco, composing and performing Mellotron Variations with John Medeski, Jonathan Kirkscey and Robby Grant, and producing for a slew of artists. March 1, he released his first solo record Infinity Mirrors — a collection of six meditative synthesizer pieces that bring his long and rich musical journey full-circle. BEN ARTHUR
The Robe, “I Could Stay” b/w “The Last Dancer” (YK)
In the two years since Soccer Mommy released Sometimes, Forever, the musicians involved in Sophie Allison’s project have been on the road for long stretches. But now that touring has slowed down, side projects are emerging; guitarist Julian Powell dropped the first LP from his project mg in the fall, and every month this year, there’s been a new pair of tracks from The Robe, aka drummer Rollum Haas (aided and abetted onstage by his wife Katie Haas). He emphasizes rhythm, with a lot of electronic percussion, synth melodies and treated guitar; the compositions have a lot of space in them but don’t feel severe or bleak, even when the narratives aren’t happy. Strong synth-pop and disco influences shine through on the latest digital single, “I Could Stay” backed with “The Last Dancer.” Both songs are thoughtful (and danceable) looks at relationships the narrator is loath to leave, despite recognizing how unhealthy they are. STEPHEN TRAGESER
