Cinematic and atmospheric Alt-Country

After nearly 50 years as a music fan and 15 as a reviewer I still get excited about discovering new bands and having my breath taken away by songs and tunes that I’ve not heard before.

I was aware of I See Hawks in L.A. but only owned 3 tracks on VA compilations when this album arrived, so was only mildly interested at the prospect of listening to it.

Well; it only took 15 seconds of a…

As a west coast Canadian, bluegrass has always seemed like an exotic musical form.  When I hear it, I think of mountains, forests, rivers, and a rural lifestyle that has long past and gone.  Artists like Ralph Stanley and the Monroe Brothers loom like Biblical characters in my imagination, leathery, rugged and indisputably American. In the same way that I always think that reggae bands from Jamaica are better than ones from England or Canada, I’ve…

Good new for those awaiting the release of more old Leonard Cohen from the days when he was still depressed and very much on the edge. In 2009, a CD/DVD package was released on Columbia of a concert that took place on The Isle Of Wight for the English version of Woodstock in 1970.

Both the CD & DVD are complete with many charming Leonard songs from his storied & timeless past like: "So Long Marianne" right after "Bird On A Wire." But this is not just another greatest hits…

We/Or/Me is Bahhaj Taherzadeh, a Chicago-based, Irish-born artist whose music has quietly and gradually been attracting the attention of critics over recent years. Jon Martin calls it “the soundtrack to your most quiet moments”, Sean Michaels says, it's a salve and a peace, and Robin Hilton at NPR has been a consistent advocate of the “wise and slightly weary voice, strolling through delicate melodies and heartbreaking narratives.”…

The Hangout Festival in Gulf Shores, Alabama, isn’t all about the headlining acts such as Kings of Leon and Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers.

The pride of Gainesville, Florida, Petty had sort of the home-field advantage Saturday night on the Hangout Stage, playing just one state over and practically a direct Interstate-10 shot from Heartbreakers…

Just For Today

Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters

It's Ronnie Earl's band, but he doesn't dominate it. Recorded live at a couple of venues in his home state of Massachusetts,the Stony Plains release is a seamless blend of jazz, soul and r&b by a band of seasoned vets comfortable enough with one another to have an intense musical conversation without stepping on each others' toes.

On“ Vernice's Boogie,” it's all Dave Limina on keys, rippling through a…

COLD SATELLITE (with JEFFREY FOUCAULT)

Cavalcade (Signature Sounds)

2013 sophomore album from this band centered on the collaboration between songwriter Jeffrey Foucault and poet Lisa Olstein. Cavalcade both refines and concentrates the band's signature amalgam of Rock, Blues, and Country. Described by legendary music…

Although Hans Theessink has made a name for himself with his acoustic blues guitar proficiency, he's the closest thing to Ry Cooder other than Cooder himself. On his last outing on Blue Groove, Theessink collaborated with long time Cooder vocalist Terry Evans for 2012's Delta Time, a soulful, gospel drenched electric blues excursion. This time out its all Theesink, acoustic and…

This is about Vitamin Water, the fiction writer Glen Hirshberg, and the poet Gaylord Brewer.



This is about writing.



This is about the blues and how much I miss Lightnin' Hopkins and Sonny Terry.



This is about how a song that I wrote in five minutes took 35 years to find.



This is about Meacham, a workshop and literary conference in Chattanooga.



This is about how my father says that when you put poetry and music together on the same stage…

"You don't make music for immortality, you make music for the moment, capturing the sheer joy of being alive on planet Earth... Everybody should live it that way."    Ray Manzarek  

In the summer of 1967 The Doors played the Anaheim Convention Center. I was 12 years old. I was completely transfixed by the band. Having an older musician brother, playing the Sunset Strip, signed to United Artist Records and playing frequent live gigs, made me no stranger to live…

Country artist's fine return to his bluegrass roots

Clinton Gregory had a run of Top-100 country hits in the early '90s, but both his releases and commercial success became scarce by mid-decade. He returned last year with Too Much Ain't Enough, his first album in…

On episode 140 of the Americana Music Show, Beth Lee talks about Lucinda Williams' and Wanda Jackson's influence on Beth Lee and the Breakups and the pros and cons of working in Austin.

Plus roots rock from The Del Lords, rockabilly from Wayne Hancock, stringband music from Steel Wheels, folk-rap from Alex Culbreth and the Dead Country Stars, southern rock from Deadstring Brothers, soul music from the…

On my guitar blog New.Old.Stock., I have a semi-regular column called "These are a Few of My Favorite Tones," highlighting my favorite recorded guitar sounds. Back in March I dedicated an edition of "My Favorite Tones" to acoustic acoustic Americana music. Time for the electric…

With a career as diverse as the emerging genre we call ‘Americana,’ Jim Lauderdale continues on the same track toward collaboration, generosity and an imagination fused with the influence of Country and Bluegrass traditions. His December, 2012 release with musical cohort, Buddy Miller, is a collection of songs, some covers and some originals, that focuses on the tight harmony vocal approach eschewing style over the feel and soul of the song. It’s a…

Irma Thomas' lost early-70s soul sides

After relocating from New Orleans to Los Angeles, soul queen Irma Thomas largely disappeared from public view for a few years. But a series of singles produced by Jerry Williams (a.k.a. Swamp Dogg) on the indie Canyon, Roker and Fungus labels led to this eight-track release in 1973. Williams had proven himself…

All twenty-eight of Eddy Arnold's chart-topping singles

For most artists, a twenty-eight track collection of their biggest chart hits would be a fair representation of their commercial success. In Eddy Arnold's case, twenty-eight #1 singles only very lightly skims the surface of nearly thirty-nine consecutive years of chart success that stretched…

What can I tell you? I’ve been a fan of Emmylou Harris since I first saw The Last Waltz at the cinema in 1979 and Rodney Crowell ever since a friend gave me a copy of Diamonds and Dirt on cassette as a birthday present. So, finally seeing not only one of them in concert, but both together had made me nervously excited for weeks in advance.

If you don’t know it, the Sage Music Centre on the Gateshead side of the banks of the River Tyne is an amazing building that…

By day three I'm starting to flag, but Canada House at the Blind Tiger looks intriguing: a line-up sponsored by music organisations from three of the western provinces. I'm off to Alberta at the end of July, so this could be a good warm-up.

'We're here to show you that Western Canada is about more than just wheatfields, gravel roads and kissing your cousin behind the barn,' says the man from Manitoba Music, introducing Winnipeg sextet Royal Canoe.

"Of…