With his career-spanning album "Blue Without You", Pete Scales steps out of the shadows to offer a mesmerizing look into a mind permanently tuned to the strange frequencies of human connection. For over half a century, the retired psychologist, vocalist, and guitarist has mostly floated through the musical periphery. https://open.spotify.com/album/5c4EPzrnH1GnaKJHI2pPGJ?si=LbrNFPuVRwiuwgaTmkt8_w He played the coffeehouse circuit, brushed past the Grand Ole Opry, and leaned into contemporary Christian...

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...