When Bebe Stockwell made her ACL Festival debut last year, she mesmerized the afternoon crowd with her easy folk-pop melodies and low-tilting, dusky vocals. This year’s sophomore LP Volume 1 displays an impressive growth in her songwriting, a maturation from the youthful wonder and eagerness of debut Driving Backwards into songs that carry an assured wisdom swimming in poetic details and phrasing that floats behind her entrancing voice. The New England songwriter exudes a calming confidence, her earnest, introspective musings ringing with a relatable appeal in the vein of Noah Kahan. Trilling Tennessee songbird gabrielle hope opens with her fey folk. – Doug Freeman
