Robin James Hurt’s “A Song, A Story Told” arrives with a sound you can almost run a thumb over, like worn corduroy. In an age of sterile, diamond-polished productions, this album is a defiantly handmade thing, tracked onto vintage cassette machines. The result is not a flaw, but an ingredient. A faint, persistent hiss breathes alongside the instruments, a ghost in the machine who...

David Alex-Barton has just dropped his new single and music video, "Crush", and the track operates with a deeply frantic, delightful energy. The New England-born, Nashville-based singer, songwriter, guitarist, and producer has a knack for genre collision, carrying the restless pedigree of Boston power pop punk legends The Outlets and the country rock swagger of Tattoo Cowboy. This time around, he’s steering headfirst into...