Music Top 5: July 2021

Photo: Matthew Gilson

1
Steve Dawson
“At the Bottom of a Canyon In the Branches of a Tree”
The singer-songwriter brings his deft, incisive songwriting and gorgeously evocative high tenor to a whole new slate of folk tunes; the first two singles demonstrate a range from traditional folk to high-gloss pop.
Available July 16

2
Shawn Maxwell
“Expectation & Experience”
The saxophonist and bandleader teams with a succession of topflight musicians for an intimate, adventurous and often very affecting series of tunes written as an ongoing commentary on the epochal year 2020.
Available now

3
Bryan Away
“Canyons to Sawdust”
Based on its early singles, this album is as notable for the grandeur of its vision and its studio wizardry, as for its melodic inventiveness. It places Away in the lineage of pop visionaries such as Brian Wilson and Sufjan Stevens.
Available July 9

4
Brandon James
“Soul Sessions (Live)”
The ridiculously gifted R&B singer has an astonishing range—not just in terms of vaulting from tailbone-vibrating depths to a sky-high falsetto; he also pivots effortlessly between hushed crooning and arena-worthy power belting.
Available now

5
Lou Heneise
“Trial & Error”
The debut EP of this singer-songwriter is a hushed, contemplative set that, while rooted in heartland imagery, still manages an occasional waft of both the ethereal and the eternal.
Available now

Robert Rodi

Robert Rodi is an author, spoken-word performer and musician who has served as Newcity’s Music Editor since 2014. He’s written more than a dozen books, including the travel memoir “Seven Seasons In Siena,” and his literary and music criticism has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the Chicago Tribune, Salon, The Huffington Post and many other national and regional publications.
Contact: robert@newcity.com