Kassi Valazza • From Newman Street • 2025

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"Valazza is a songwriter’s songwriter, the kind of lyricist who makes it embarrassing to describe her with such a cliché. Across three albums of thoughtful, increasingly ambitious folk music, she’s carved out a reputation for her sharp pen and even sharper ear. Equally indebted to Laurel Canyon-era Joni Mitchell, Sandy Denny-era Fairport Convention, and the humanistic freak-folk of the late Michael Hurley, whom she collaborated and toured with toward the end of his life, her sound straddles just about every folk subgenre without truly belonging to one… From Newman Street, Valazza’s third album, contains her most incisive writing yet.”