ReviewYou Writers are from a wide variety of backgrounds and cover every genre of music. Here they are…
Ross Barber
Genres: Singer/Songwriter, Pop, Pop-Rock, Punk, Americana and Rock
Ross Barber is a music writer, web designer and social media consultant based in Glasgow, Scotland. In 2009, he graduated with a BA (Hons) degree in Popular Music Performance receiving particularly high praise for his dissertation, ’Virtual Scenes and Cultural Production: The Impact of the Internet on Hardcore Punk and Emo Subcultural Activity.’ His work has been included in various websites and publications including Absolute Punk, The List and Is This Music? and he likes to use his own blog (http://www.electrickiwi.co.
Alec Cunningham
Genres: Alternative, Folk, Rock, Indie, Reggae, and Punk
Alec Cunningham is a journalist and freelance writer from Knoxville, TN. Her passion for music goes back to the early days of her youth. For her, having the chance to interview bands and review their music, along with becoming introduced to new artists, combines the best of the music and writing worlds. She currently works for the Music section of BLANK Newspaper, Knoxville’s longest-running independent publication, writing musician interview articles and album reviews. She also serves as one of the main writers on Exposed, the official blog of Peter Lik, a world renowned landscape photographer.
Alex Henderson
Genres: Alternative Rock, Singer/Songwriter, Jazz, Metal, Punk, Latin, R&B, Hip-Hop, Reggae, Blues, World Music
Alex Henderson is a veteran journalist/music critic whose work has appeared in Billboard, Spin, The L.A. Weekly, Creem, HITS, Jazziz, JazzTimes, CD Review, Skin Two, Black Radio Exclusive, Thrash Metal and a long list of other well known publications. Known for his eclectic tastes, Alex has contributed several thousand CD reviews to The All Music Guide online and series of reference books since 1996. Jello Biafra, Sonny Rollins, Megadeth, Ice Cube, Live, Chick Corea, Public Enemy, Marduk, Bobby Brown, Ra and Everlast are among the many well known artists Alex has interviewed during his long career.
Alexa Spieler
Genres: Pop, Rock
At the age of fifteen Alexa Spieler started writing about music and managed to build up her very own music promotional website. Since then she has covered prestigious events ranging from the VANS Warped Tour to Arthur Ashe Kids Day, among more. Music has always been a passion of hers, as well as writing. Putting the two together came the formation of her conducting music reviews. She loves this since she now has the opportunity to find out about new artists, as well as getting to write her own opinion on them. She is always excited to find out about the next ‘big thing’ and as always, to interview them.
Andrea Guy
Genres: Pop, Rock, Folk, Indie, Alternative, especially Children’s and Holiday/Seasonal
Andrea Guy hails from Southwestern Pennsylvania where she collaborates with several friends on an online music site called Mossip. Mossip features music reviews, gossip, and the editorial column, “Elfslut Says” that is Andrea’s pet project among other fun musical features. Music has always been part of her life; from the age of 5, The Beatles and The Monkees dominated her listening. Over the years, music became more and more important and one room in her house is filled with CDs from the floor on up. There isn’t a genre she won’t listen to at least once.
» Click here to read reviews by Andrea Guy
Andrew Greenhalgh
Genres: Singer/Songwriter, Christian, Rock, Country, Southern Gospel
Andrew Greenhalgh is a music writer, content editor, and lifestyle commentator based in sunny southwest Florida. His writings have appeared in places as diverse as Relevant Magazine, Stereo Subversion, CCM, and Soul-Audio.com, where he serves as a co-editor. When not playing with his two rambunctious children or whipping up something tasty for his wife in the kitchen ala Julie and Julia, Andrew can be found surfing the net for the latest and greatest music, a passion he just can’t lay down.
Dan MacIntosh
Genres: Christian, Country, Rap, Soul, R&B, Pop, Singer/Songwriter, Rock, Blues, Reggae, Classical, Dance, Electronic, Punk, Alternative, Metal, Jazz
Dan MacIntosh has been a professional music journalist for 30 years and his work has regularly appeared in many local and national publications, including CCM, CMJ, Paste, Mean Street, Chord, HM, Christian Retailing, Amplifier, Inspirational Giftware, Stereo Subversion, Indie-Music, Soul–Audio, Country Standard Time and Spin.com. He’s an expert in Christian and country music, but he’s also extremely knowledgeable when it comes to most every kind of rock. In addition to reviewing CDs, he regularly writes artist features and biographies.
GW Hill
Genres: Progressive Rock, Classic Rock, Pop Rock, Metal, Country
Gary is a musician and has been a music fan since a young age. His main musical interests are in progressive rock and heavy metal, however he enjoys many other types of music. He has been writing for quite a long time, having worked as a freelancer for such publications as All Music Guide. Hill’s book The Strange Sound of Cthulhu: Music Inspired by the Writings of H. P. Lovecraft was published in 2006. He created Music Street Journal in February of 1998 as a means of covering the music that he enjoys.
Emma Peterson
Genres: folk rock, singer/songwriter & alt-country
Emma Peterson is a music lover, tour manager, startup-owner and freelance writer based in Des Moines, Iowa. In 2010, she graduated from the University of Northern Iowa with a BA in Communication. Since then, Emma has toured the nation with Des Moines’ roots-rockers, The Nadas and launched an artist-focused, fan-friendly online ticketing company by the name of Tikly. With a passion for live music of all kinds, Emma is always listening to & supporting new artists. Emma’s preferred genres are folk rock, singer/songwriter & alt-country but she can be won over by any music that is infused with talent, honesty, rhythm & heart.
Heath Andrews
Genres: Pop, Power Pop, Pop-Rock, Country, Blues, Bluegrass, Celtic, Gospel, Rock, Jazz, Fusion, Singer-Songwriter, New Wave, Synthpop
Heath Andrews discovered a passionate love for music at the hands of Huey Lewis & The News. Inspiring him greatly, he attended Ithaca College, obtaining a B.S. in Radio/Television and scriptwriting. During his award-winning tenure there, he hosted and produced multiple programs for the station 106VIC and interviewed musicians such as David Knopfler, Nils Lofgren, and Bruce Hornsby. Heath also contributed numerous written pieces to the campus newspapers and 106VIC website in addition to the websites of peers and colleagues. Heath continues working on his screenplays while scouring the Internet for new and unique musical artists.
» Click here to read reviews by Heath Andrews
Jason Randall Smith
Genres: Hip-hop, Electronica, Soul, Funk, Techno, Downtempo, Chillout
Based in Mount Vernon, New York, Jason Randall Smith is a contributing writer for Impose Magazine. In addition, he maintains his own website, Both Sides Of The Surface, and is also the creator of Radio BSOTS, a podcast featuring independent hip-hop, soul, funk, and electronic music. Jason was also a World Music Community Blogger for the 52nd Annual GRAMMY® Awards. Under the pseudonym Macedonia, he served as a member of WCDB Albany 90.9 FM, hosting shows and producing promo spots during the 1990s. Jason collects vinyl, treats liner notes like canonized literature, and still equates the term “mixtape” with actual cassettes.
» Click here to read reviews by Jason Randall Smith
Justin Kreitzer
Genres: Indie Rock, Folk, Psychedelic, Metal, Punk, Christian, Electro, Alternative, Lo-Fi, Retro, Americana
After years of playing in various bands and managing a local record store, writer Justin Kreitzer of Dayton, OH turned his experienced ear and life long passion for music into Atlas and the Anchor, the ever-growing indie music blog he started over four years ago. His writing has also been featured on Seattle music blog Indie Rock Reviews. Justin’s love of music began as an acid-washed-Metallica-patched-jean-jacket-wearing eight-year old, banging on the drums in his bedroom and continues today!
Kelly O’Neil
Genres: Christian, Adult Contemporary, Pop, Jazz, Classical, New Age, Rock
Kelly O’Neil began her career in Public Relations in NYC with a diverse clientele including Foreigner, Jessica Simpson and Sir James Galway. Her journalism career launched when she moved to Nashville and wrote for CCM, U and CrossWalk magazines. Kelly’s freelancing credits include Reader’s Digest, christianmusicplanet.com and christrock.com. In addition to contemporary Christian music, Kelly is well versed in classical and jazz, having played in numerous ensembles, most notably the Nashville Philharmonic. She met her husband over a mutual admiration for King Crimson and now resides in Raleigh where she assists him with his professional recording studio Request Records.
» Click here to read reviews by Kelly O’Neil
Kevin Mathews
Genres: Pop, Rock
Kevin Mathews is a well-respected music writer (based in Singapore) and has written for Singapore newspapers like the New Paper & TODAY, print magazines like BigO (Singapore), Amplifier, Pop Culture Press (USA) & Bucketfull of Brains (UK) as well as online zines like his own Power of Pop blog, MTVAsia.com & PopMatters.com. Kevin is also a singer-songwriter, perhaps best known for his #1 hit song, “My One & Only” with Watchmen in 1993 and has released four albums and three EPs with Watchmen, The Crowd and Popland respectively. In addition, Kevin is an accomplished film score writer.
Matheson Kamin
Genres: Rock (all types), Americana, Heavy Metal, Country, Jazz
After being part of a few failed internet-based companies, Matheson started writing for Cleveland-based Exciting City, a small hard-copy publication, in late 2004. At the time, he wanted to promote exciting things that were happening in the arts and entertainment fields. After writing for Exciting City for almost 3 years, he joined an online publication called The Rock And Roll Report. He loves being part of ReviewYou where he can lend his writing talents as a music journalist and add needed feedback to bands that want their music exposed to the world.
» Click here to read reviews by Matheson Kamin
Matthew Forss
Genres: World, Folk, Ambient, Downtempo, Electronica, Jazz, Reggae, Zydeco, Bluegrass, Old Time, Comedy, Latin, Blues, Pop, Rock, Fusion, and Dance.
Since 2000, Wisconsin-based Matthew Forss has been actively involved in the ‘global’ world music scene as a music journalist for the Edmonton, Canada-based Inside World Music (www.insideworldmusic.blogspot.com). Matthew holds an MFA in creative writing and is also a world music consultant, co-producer, and album compiler. Some of his music/book reviews and essays have been published in Songlines, Ethnomusicology, African Music, cultural encyclopedias, among others. Matthew’s favorite interviews include Yulduz Usmanova (Uzbekistan), Tinariwen (Mali), and Hevia (Spain). He diligently maintains his ever-growing collection of music from every country in the world, while looking forward to discovering (and reviewing) new music.
Melissa Nastasi
Genres: Indie, Folk, DJ
Melissa Nastasi is a lifetime New York resident with a passion for all things music. Two years ago she started ModernMysteryBlog.com, where she writes albums reviews, interviews, editorials, show reviews and more. Formerly the Associate Editor of the music site GreenShoelace.com, her work has also been featured on BreakThruRadio.com, MyMusicSuccess.com and BrooklynVegan.com. She has interviewed a great deal of artists from The Dandy Warhols to We Are Scientists and even conducted the first ever Surfer Blood interview. She has been a Pavement fan since she was 12 years old.
Michael Korn
Genres: Metal, Prog, Punk Rock
Mike Korn was bit by the music bug at a very early age, exposed to his dad’s collection of jazz, country and pop music before discovering the world of 70′s classic rock. After hearing Judas Priest and Motorhead, there was no turning back and he became possessed by the metal spirit. Under the pen name of Dr. Abner Mality, he has written for a number of publications such as RAM Magazine, Music Street Journal and his own project, Wormwood Chronicles, which reflects a whole range of eclectic underground tastes. Wormwood Chronicles has existed since 1998 and features his interviews with artists ranging from Anthrax to Molly Hatchet and Blue Oyster Cult to Morbid Angel.
Mike DeGagne
Genres: Classic Rock, British Blues, Blues, Progressive Rock, New Age, 70′s Punk/New Wave, 80′s AOR/Pop, Pop/Rock
Mike DeGagne has been writing about music for over 15 years. Hailing from Sudbury, Ontario, Canada, Mike has a B.A. in English from Laurentian University. He started reviewing music for a couple of local newspapers, and then graduated to the All Music Guide as a contributing writer specializing in album and song reviews from a multiple of genres. Although his forte is rock and pop, he has covered such areas as jazz, blues, country, avant garde, new age, progressive rock, and alternative. With over 1000 reviews written for the All Music Guide, both in the printed editions of the encyclopaedia and on their website, Mike has a true passion to write and to express his love of music in his writing. He has a fondness for British Blues and Classic Rock, with The Rolling Stones, early Fleetwood Mac, The Who, and The Beatles included as some of his most cherished artists. In his spare time, Mike teaches English to adult learners in Sudbury and also contributes reviews to the American Noise website.
Nick Deriso
Genres: Pop, Classic Rock, Jazz, Blues, Deep South, Cajun, Zydeco, Country, Gospel, Bluegrass
Nick Deriso, writing from various kudzu-covered locales across the Deep South, has explored jazz, blues, roots and rock music for Gannett News Service and USA Today, the Louisiana Folklife Program, AllAboutJazz.com, Blogcritics and for his own SomethingElseReviews.com. Over that 20-year career, he’s interviewed B.B. King, Terence Blanchard, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Marcus Roberts and Aaron Neville, among many others. His live-music venue once hosted the likes of Guy Clark and Rick Danko of the Band. (James McMurtry stopped by, too.) He’s also been programmer and host for a series of programs across the same genres, both on public and commercial radio. So, you could call it an obsession.
Reed Burnam
Genres: Ambient, Blues, Electronica, Folk, Metal, New Wave, Pop, Psychedelic, Punk, Rock, Singer-Songwriter, World.
Reed Burnam is a musician, freelance writer, and amateur photographer/filmmaker from Austin, Texas. Cutting his musical teeth on a steady diet of punk, folk, lo-fi, noise, metal, and psych, he has spent the past twenty years playing multiple instruments in a small army of bands, as well as self-recording and releasing numerous solo albums on his own record label. His interests have led him to collaborate on varied musical projects stretching from improvisational noise to parody rock; in his free time he manages to write, attend shows, and work when he can stand it. He is currently residing in Los Angeles.
» Click here to read reviews by Reed Burnam
Rhonda Readence
Genres: Metal, Alternative, Rock, Punk, Rockabilly
Rhonda Readence is a freelance writer based in Cleveland, OH and Pittsburgh, PA. Her love of music began at age two when she began dancing to Elvis, and has blossomed into the all consuming monster that it is today. Formerly a writer for Exciting City Magazine, Rhonda has interviewed many bands and written about genres ranging from punk to metal to classic rock to jazz. She also enjoys going to as many live shows as possible. A one-time protégé of Neon Cactus Studios, Rhonda has also dabbled in the art of production and engineering.
» Click here to read reviews by Rhonda Readence
Wildy Haskell
Genres: Rock, Country, Jazz, Metal, Blues, Children’s, Religious, Classical, Broadway, Comedy, Spoken word, R&B, Hip-hop
Wildy Haskell is the writer/editor of Wildy’s World, a blog dedicated to shining a light on the best music the Indie world has to offer. Wildy’s reviews have also appeared on CelticMP3s.com, Indie-Music.com, and have even been quoted in London’s The Independent. Based in Amherst, New York, Wildy is a lifelong music fanatic and performer, with classical training in voice and a handful of guitar chords under his belt. Wildy’s reviews show a deep appreciation of music, and an ability to “get” what the artist was after.
» Click here to read reviews by Wildy Haskell
