Shawn Brown’s EP, "Into the Furious Light," doesn’t slip quietly into the stream of modern indie-folk releases; it instead cups its hands around your soul like you’re a candle in danger of flickering out. The Portland troubadour crafts songs that feel like fragments of conversations—maybe ones you walked in on too late or letters unsent to someone dear but no longer near. You’re never...

Orlando Mendez, a renowned American singer, songwriter, and composer, shares his impressive abilities and a lifelong love of country music. Orlando's high school years were marked by a tremendous affinity for country music, which, combined with his upbringing in a mostly Cuban environment in Miami, earned him the loving moniker "Cuban Cowboy." To further his musical goals, eight months ago Orlando started his own band, simply...