American Songwriter's Scores

  • Music
For 1,814 reviews, this publication has graded:
  • 50% higher than the average critic
  • 5% same as the average critic
  • 45% lower than the average critic
On average, this publication grades 0.8 points higher than other critics. (0-100 point scale)
Average Music review score: 74
Highest review score: 100 Rockstar
Lowest review score: 20 Dancing Backward in High Heels
Score distribution:
  1. Negative: 4 out of 1814
1814 music reviews
    • 87 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Loveless may have left the twang behind, but returns with one of the most powerful, moving and musically sophisticated offerings in a career that is clearly still growing despite, or perhaps because of, any self-doubts.
    • 93 Metascore
    • 100 Critic Score
    It’s a 10-song collection woven together with surprise, gratitude, pain and musical beauty the world has never quite seen before.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    None of this is sonically abrasive but it’s all challenging and a little goes a long way. At over 50 minutes, it’s a heavy lift that may confuse some but also intrigue others.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    In the end, the LP is something you can put on at a party to get the feet flying and the shirt-tails waving. It’s also perfect for a Saturday drive down the highway, sunshine on your sunglassed face. Or it’s an album to put on with your morning coffee to equally parse and appreciate openly.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Jubilee is everything one might expect from an Old Crow album, that same combination of depth and delight that’s made them a bastion of bluegrass and Americana icons.
    • 74 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    While REVAMPED is enticing enough as a filler project, it doesn’t hold up as a major release. Perhaps that wasn’t the point, but apart from a few powerful moments and some buzzy names, the album is a little lackluster.
    • 90 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Few albums in recent memory are as thematically bold and cohesive as The Land is Inhospitable and So Are We. Mitski has a firm world built around her. Her identity as a musician has been long set in motion. Nevertheless, she flies past her own mark in this record, creating something more multifaceted than ever before.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    On Valley of Heart’s Delight Cilker proves herself to be one of our finest and most literate songwriters, one whose physical and psychological distance from the pressures of Nashville seems to be at least partially tied to her artistic triumphs.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 78 Critic Score
    Some, like musician Dean Evenson, believe that nature itself has a tone, a vibration. It’s low, hushed, almost imperceptible. But Barnett’s new LP seems to bring those sensibilities to the light, to the cultural forefront. Whether Barnett has studied the theory that Evenson espouses or not, the truth is that it’s in her work here. Clear as day.
    • 56 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Desperation and fear meet talent and ingenuity in a fascinating way on How Do You Sleep At Night? making for one of the most thrilling full-length listens of the year thus far.
    • 72 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    None of these improve on Russell’s superlative, often raw and profound recordings. Perhaps if fans of these artists are inspired to dig into his albums, that’s a worthwhile outcome for this well-intentioned, yet frustratingly inconsistent collection.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    This Is The Kit are content to dwell in more solitary spaces, but given the ethereal arrangements and Rhy’s carefully considered input, Careful Of Your Keepers emerges as an affecting effort, with layer after layer of melody and mystique. Not surprisingly, This Is The Kit ensures all the pieces fit together fine.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    This is a powerful, insistent collection of generally unknown artists laying down a murky groove that few contemporary artists get right.
    • 85 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Even on slower material, like the teary closing six-minute ballad “I Think About You Daily” featuring stressed, experimental strings arranged by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, Hynde injects so much riveting emotion that few will be disappointed.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    It not only boasts a familiarity factor but the advantage of an official release that ought to make it truly mandatory as far as more rabid Young fans are concerned. Indeed, there are several early stabs at certain songs that only true Neil nerds will be able to differentiate from those versions released later on.
    • 76 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    He’s not reinventing any wheels, but Road is an enjoyable, even impressive, release from an aging rock star who still, to trade on the album’s theme, has plenty of gas left in his tank.
    • 78 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Credit Taylor and his colleagues —Alex Bingham (bass, vocals, mellotron), Chris Boerner (guitars, synth), Nick Flak (drums, percussion), and Sam Fributh (keys, vocals)—for executing an effort that can easily be considered another major achievement for this ever-consistent combo.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Given its rallying refrains and carefully considered sentiment, Peace…Like A River easily ranks as Gov’t Mule’s most moving effort yet. This River flows courtesy of soul, sentiment, passion, and purpose.
    • 81 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Like his dad, Nelson has a way of combining emotion, humor, and happenstance in equal proportions. That said, no comparisons are necessary. At this point in his career, this Nelson rests on a reputation all his own.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    Supernatural Thing veers in a decidedly different direction. His cast of characters has a lot to do with that, due to the fact that he frequently cedes them the spotlight, but here again, his mood is clearly brighter all around. And that ensures Supernatural Thing doesn’t remain so ominous after all.
    • 83 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    This moodier, more prickly attack suits Glaspy’s voice, concepts, and vision. She aligns with other New York City performers who push into shadier, more extreme territory with a similar snarl, mirroring the insecurity, brashness, and honesty the area seems to instill in its finest artists.
    • 77 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    Why it took ten years to craft is unclear, but if this qualifies as a comeback, The Hives have returned with a thunderous buzz.
    • 88 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    An epic effort in its entirety, The Complete Dirty South now offers an excellent opportunity to revisit this decidedly descriptive album. It continues to loom large in the band’s legacy, encapsulating the Southern culture in ways only true sons of the South were capable of conceiving.
    • 66 Metascore
    • 70 Critic Score
    While his 17 new songs don’t amount to a flawless masterpiece, they do paint a picture of a Post Malone who not only knows he needs to turn things around, but also intends to at any cost.
    • 67 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    Overall, arriving nearly five years removed from his prior studio album, UTOPIA sees Scott stay true to his style, his preferences, and his principles, going against the grain of the tendencies in the viral-hungry world that is 2023 rap.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    So far, Jepsen has us in the palm of her hand. Every song, every beat, every intonation has been sublimely chosen.
    • 79 Metascore
    • 90 Critic Score
    A remarkable recording, it can easily be considered an album for the ages.
    • 61 Metascore
    • 80 Critic Score
    They’re still unabashedly clicked into late ’60s-early ‘70s bygone rock, and Starcatcher is, indeed, classic Greta Van Fleet.
    • 68 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    Other piano-based narratives like the closing “Angel Blues” are delicate, pretty, and charming, but edge dangerously close to schlocky and don’t play to Lofgren’s tougher talents. Thankfully there’s enough solid material here displaying Lofgren’s impressive vocal, instrumental, and songwriting qualities to punch another notch on his belt of good but not great albums.
    • 75 Metascore
    • 60 Critic Score
    The percolating pop of “Home Again,” “Caught By Night,” “818,” “One Chance,” and “Libertude” are but a few of the examples of the catchy and quirky nature of Hammond Jr’s individual offerings.