Real

*Real* is one of those exciting records where you sense an artist truly hitting their stride. Whether you’ve followed **Lydia Loveless**’s career forever, or you’re new to her game, *Real* is gonna grab your ears. On her first two Bloodshot full-length releases, there were fevered comparisons to acknowledged music icons like *Loretta Lynn, Stevie Nicks*, and the *Replacements*. But now, the reference points are all their own: genre-agnostic, Lydia and her road-tightened band stretch from soaring, singalong Pop gems, Roots around the edges, to Proto-Punk. Always a gifted songwriter, Lydia gives the full and sometimes terrifying, sometimes ecstatic force to the word “real.â€