NEW SOUNDS

KACEY MUSGRAVES

Kacey Musgraves explored the end of her marriage and the painful healing process with her last album, "Star-Crossed". And with that collection, the country singer had distanced herself somewhat musically from the genre, diving deeper into pop, folk and rock textures. Now with her sixth studio album, "Deeper Well", Musgraves has returned closer to her musical roots. Since we last heard from her, she has done some work on herself, getting rid of bad habits that were a distraction in her life and moving into a new phase emotionally and spiritually. This is revealed musically on this record with Musgraves sharing her new life discoveries yet with her rebellious spirit still firmly intact. Beginning in April, Musgraves will be spending the rest of the year on a world tour to support the album.





LEDISI

With her eleventh studio album out now, "Good Life",  Ledisi has released more of her stylish classic soul that spotlights her gloriously rousing voice. Following the already charting songs, "I Need to Know" and "Sell Me No Dreams", the latest single is "Perfect Stranger", a sensual ballad that features a duet with fellow crooner, Kenny Latimore. Ledisi is currently on the road for the Good Life tour with a twenty-seven US city stop.





ST. VINCENT

Annie Clark, known to the world as St Vincent, is on the verge of delivering a new collection of music. "All Born Screaming" will be the eclectic artist's seventh album and due out in April. Not only will it be released on Clark's own label, Total Pleasure but it is the first time she has self-produced her own music. This album also moves in an unexpected direction with St. Vincent stating she wanted to go even further with darker and edgier sounds. The first single, "Broken Man" is an eerie track filled with throbbing beats and thrashing guitars. Cate Lebron of the alt-band, Drinks and Dave Grohl of Foo Fighters make contributions and there is a musical tribute to the late Scottish electronic musician, Sophie with the song, "Sweetest Fruit".

RANDOM SIGHTS + SOUNDS

First up, here are some interesting music videos I like:











After taking some time off to get married and have her first child (it's a girl!) last year, Jessie Ware didn't seem to have wasted anytime getting back to music. The British songstress has just released two new songs. "Midnight" is a haunting uptempo ballad delivering what we love about Ms Ware as it features her sensual vocals and sophisticated songwriting. While "Selfish Love" is another ballad but guitar-driven with a slight bossa-nova beat that presents a completely different vibe from the singer. Look for her upcoming third album, "Glasshouse" in October. In the meantime, check out the music videos for these songs:

I recently just heard one of his songs from back in the day and it made me wonder; what happened to Christopher Cross? This singer, born Christopher Geppert and originally from San Antonio, Texas, released his debut album back in 1979 and it was an immediate success. His collection of soft rock tunes included the hits, "Ride Like The Wind", "Never Be The Same" and the number one single, "Sailing" which helped sell five million copies of the album. Cross would go on to win five Grammy Awards including Best New Artist and Album of The Year. His follow-up album in 1983, "Another Page", continued the hits with "Think of Laura", "All Right" and included "Arthur's Theme (Best That You Can Do)" from the Dudley Moore comedy, "Arthur" which would go on to win an Oscar for Best Original Song. But after all this immediate pop success, the easy-listening rock of Christopher Cross soon wasn't having much of an impact on the charts. He's still around making music and about to embark on a cross-country North American tour. Here are a couple of songs that I love from Christopher Cross:

"Ride Like The Wind" - Christopher Cross (1979) mp3

"Sailing" - Christopher Cross (1979) mp3