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...

Bruce Sudano, a native son with big dreams, an American music legend, he has written songs recorded by the likes of Michael Jackson, Dolly Parton, Reba McEntire, and his late, Grammy-winning wife, Donna Summer. Sudano not only writes songs but also runs the record label Purple Heart Recording Company. Sudano's first band was founded when he was just 13 years old, marking the beginning of his...