Willie’s boy gets it right—and the best book I’ve read all year.

It’s the year of Japanese Breakfast!

Moby reprises his greatest musical moments, and one of my favorite novelists returns.

Counting Crows get buttery smooth, and one of the best pieces I’ve read all year.

Okkervil River returns, and let’s hear it for the poets!

A country trio welcomes you to their campfire, and one of the best hip-hop albums in recent memory takes hold.

Rhett Miller is “The Messenger,” and writers tackle vital topics.

Mt. Joy and Cautious Clay keep the week humming, and a moving spiritual elegy for DMX.

Esperanza Spalding traces a triangle, and beauty is in the eye of Ross Gay’s “Be Holding.”

Flock of Dimes weaves its spell, and poets stretch out across subject and form.