Wounds of Recollection - You Were a Garden of Empyrean Light

I've been listening to a lot of Dolly Parton recently, and while this record might not sound much like Dolly (unless I missed her black metal period) it is drawing from the same Appalachian region and has a nostaglic, wistful quality that much of Dolly's early work also did.

Aside from that this a solid one-man black metal album.  Varied and intense with enough space in in the compositions to let the music breath, it feels spacious but still knuckles down when it needs to.

Buy/listen here

Rhiannon Giddens & Francesco Turrisi - There is No Other

As a departure from the mostly metal/rock stuff I've been posting, this is a folk album from an American singer-songwriter and an Italian jazz musician.  I heard this referenced while listening to the excellent Dolly Parton's America podcast and it's great, it's an exploration of the history of folk music on it's journey from the Middle East through Africa and Europe and on to America to end up with what we think of classic country music, what you get as a result is a wonderfully varied and interesting record.

Rhiannon Giddens, among a LOT of other work, also has group called Carolina Chocolate Drops who are great, they play a version of old-time Americana mountain music which is steeped in history and modern sensibilities.

I usually link to the act's bandcamp but this one came out on a major label so it's available wherever you'd expect it to be.