Brett L Walker’s new single, “Best Redneck Life,” is a curious and compelling thing. From the opening notes, it leans into its identity with a sound that’s all humidity and frayed denim—a confident strut of swampy, chicken pickin’ guitars that feel both West Coast-baked and Southern-fried. It’s a track that plants its flag firmly in the soil of North Carolina, unapologetic and unconcerned with...

To listen to Stevie Hawkins’ take on "A Song For You" is to have a conversation with a ghost in a dimly lit room after the show has ended. Hawkins, long the rhythmic engine for the song's originator Leon Russell, steps from behind the drum kit to the microphone, and the space between these two roles compresses decades into four and a half minutes....