Forever and Then Some

Singer Lillie Mae Rische’s tough-and-tender debut recalls a lot of things: the outlaw country of Willie Nelson and Guy Clark, the well-worn Americana of Lucinda Williams, the fiddling traditions she grew up with. But *Forever* also establishes her as her own strong-willed voice, from the spirited “Honky Tonks and Taverns” to the stunning “Loaner”—sweetly sung stories whose messages of heartache and bootstraps make Rische sound far older than her 26 years.

Dust off your boots for Jack White's country music protege, Lillie Mae, who's already a star in the making

There’s a difference between nostalgia as fetishism and emulating a bygone tradition because it’s effective.