MANDO SAENZ: Every once in a while, a veteran artist manages to tap into a new creative wellspring, discovers an exciting sound, and the floodgates open. Such was the case for Mando Saenz on his latest release, All My Shame. On this dynamic new album, Saenz fully embraces his pop and classic rock influences for the first time in his career – while still staying true to his Texas songwriting roots. It’s a bold new statement for the Nashville-based artist, and the culmination of his career as a journeyman writer and musician. All My Shame sounds like a synthesis of everything Saenz has learned and loved throughout his musical journey. It merges the old and new, and gives us a fresh, green blast of infectious, melodic rock wedded to his ever-thoughtful songwriting. “I think this record is more reflective of those influential [pop and rock] artists than my past records, which leaned more to my Texas roots,” he says. “But at the end of the day, I like to think that there’s more of me in there than anything. A Texas folky at the heart of it all.” With one foot in tradition and one in the future, Saenz’s career is a testament to perseverance. And in his case, he just keeps getting better. DAVID NEWBOULD: How people choose to navigate through life’s highs and lows reveals a lot about their personal character, not to mention what they’re willing to do in order to get to the other side of the horizon. Chronicling these seemingly endless cycles of daily peaks and valleys forms the backbone of Sin & Redemption, the latest album from noted Nashville-based singer-songwriter David Newbould. His songs often straddle that line in the sand we all face whenever coming to our own personal crossroads, at the exact moment when we have to make those hardline, either/or life choices. “You face the question of, ‘Do I make the right decision here, or the wrong decision? And if I do make the wrong decision, I’ll still have to find a way to make things work. There's a point of no return, but you have to stay positive. That’s the only way you’re going to make it to the end.” In many ways, the messages at the very core of the album show just how focused the Toronto-born and Austin TX/New York City-bred vocalist/guitarist Newbould is at being the director of his own ongoing sonic movie. It’s especially fitting, considering how Newbould’s inherently cinematic songwriting style has also led to a number of his tunes appearing in a score of TV shows and movies over the years, including “Criminal Minds”, “Dawson’s Creek”, “Joan of Arcadia”, and “Streets of Blood”. He is currently putting the finishing touches on Power Up!, an album recorded entirely in the garage studio of producer Scot Sax, which is slated for a late summer or fall 2021 release.