Shires, Amanda
Amanda Shires Isn’t Letting Nashville, or Her Marriage, Off the Hook
Amanda Shires wasn’t trying to name-drop, honest. It’s just that she’s been working alongside country music legends since she was 15, so most of the characters who populate her anecdotes happen to need no introduction. My onyx ring reminded her of one John Prine once gave her — which she promptly dropped down a sewer […]
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Beyoncé’s ‘Break My Soul,’ and 12 More New Songs
The first song from Beyoncé’s album due July 29, “Renaissance,” has a clubby house beat and an attitude that equates defiant self-determination with salvation. She and her co-producers, Tricky Stewart and The-Dream, work two chords and a four-on-the-floor thump into a constantly changing track. They sampled shouted advice — “Release your anger! Release your mind! […]
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13 New Christmas Albums That Reimagine Holiday Songs
Steve Perry, ‘The Season’ Steve Perry, formerly of Journey, must be proud of his high notes. On “The Season,” he pushes a familiar repertoire — “Winter Wonderland,” “Auld Lang Syne” — down to slow tempos and up into the range where his tenor verges on falsetto. The arrangements take a vintage 1950s approach, jazz-inflected piano […]
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