The heart of a poet and the power chords of an old-soul, New Age Janis Joplin…Atlanta-born Dylan Taylor conjures up her own magical, hardcore blend of “genre mut” voodoo whenever she puts gut-wrenching, heart-felt lyrics to the guitar-raising lyrical. This Nashville rebel pushes every boundary, from one outrageous extreme to another, picking up the pieces of addiction and ruin and singing the quiet parts out loud — with a riptide of unflinching, confrontational, hook-tastic emotion. Like the “genre-mut” she is, Taylor embodies the essence of rock, folk, country, and blues. There’s not one fake note in her, or her original, stand-alone releases: from the epic, 2018 breakthrough anthems, “Sarah Dreaming” and “Get High,” to two major EPs— solo and most recently, with her latest Hippie Speedball band (“Fuck the Police,” “Don’t Think Twice,” “Good for Wreckin’”) — loaded with gut instincts, laugh-riot vibes, and brute honesty, the kind a true soul sister shares with her BFF.

-Carol Banks Weber