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...

There is more to Rosina Buck's story than just music. There is also a story of change. She broke the silence with "Like a Lion," a song about an artist who turned her problems into wins and showed that making art can be the deepest form of revolt. She has turned her problems into victories. For six years, this tune has been being worked on. It's...