Popcorn Zombies

                                        By Michael Momper Ryan Bingham is a raspy-voiced New Mexico native who has consistently been one of my favorite staples of the alt-country or Texas Red Dirt country music scenes for many years now. His songs are honest reflections of the outlaw and rambler lifestyle, and with his raw guitar playing and soulful vocals his songs seem to perfectly encapsulate the dusty West and the plains of this great nation. 2015's Fear and Saturday Night was an excellent addition to his catalog, as it brought us some Dylan-esque harmonica/acoustic ballads, fuzzy rockers like "Top Shelf Drug", and foot-stomping sing-alongs like "Island in the Sky". His newest album is American Love Song, and it is most likely my most-anticipated album of the year. Coming in at over an hour of music, this latest addition to the Bingham canon is a long journey, full of a...

By Michael Momper Music is an art form that, at its best, is meant to fill a particular space, or indulge in a certain mood in order to relate to listeners and find the commonality between Man. Bluegrass is a genre that oftentimes recalls one to the foothills of the Appalachian Mountains, or the simple pleasures of the "down home" South. It is a genre where, much like country, the best lyrical poetry is often found through honest storytelling or the celebration of the roots of society, like family, faith and hard work. Mandolin Orange is a duo, a married couple in fact, from North Carolina. Up until now, I have returned to them frequently as a very relaxing bluegrass band with tasteful mandolin and guitar. Their lyrics are usually quite friendly and paint calming portraits of nature when they are in top form ("the starlight and the sea, together form eternity, and the wind moves like an echo, as the world drops off to sleep"- from their 2016 song Echo). T...