The ambitious new album See The Light, from Alabama quintet Fiddleworms is a cavalcade of styles with literally a parade of guest musicians including the University of North Alabama marching Band. The eleven original tracks are interspersed with snippets of radio sound effects and spoken word segments that flow from jazzy blues to stomping country rock fusion all centered around the lazy everyman vocals Russell Medford. The level of production and…

When you think about the new disc Goodnight Stranger in general terms, what’s it about?

Hmmmmm, well that’s a pretty loaded question… or more so a loaded answer, lol.  This was a really hard and personal record for me to write and even harder for me to listen to now.  In a nutshell I would say that when I was writing these songs I was in a very dark and confusing place in…

The offspring of two famous musicians prove their worth independently on this commendable effort

I came to this music on “Wreckin’ Yard” not knowing anything about Stevie Agnew and his band. And that’s a good thing, because as time went by I learned more and was pleasantly surprised.

I don’t usually read biographies or research other critics reviews of an artists’ music because I don’t want to be influenced by what they might…

After listening to many great releases by many talented artists I was afforded a chance to sit back and listen to something I can simply enjoy in the spirit in which it was made. This music was actually recommended to me by another musician I respect and admire.  

Jay Aymar has been mining a stylistic narrative songwriting vein for a few years now but this latest effort – “Overtime” -- while being for selective tastes – and…

Luke Winslow King is a man born a century too late. His smooth down home tenor and seamless acoustic and slide guitar accompaniment to his pre-war blues, ragtime, southern gospel and Tin Pan Alley sing-alongs are straight out of 1913, not 2013. Lucky for us, his new album The Coming Tide was impeccably recorded, engineered and co-produced by Earl Scioneaux III at Piety Street Studios in New Orleans in a modern digital format instead of a scratchy old…

They call themselves The CD Woodbury Band but make no mistake this five piece band of seasoned pro’s is a fully collaborative unit and their new studio album Monday Night proves that the value of the whole is greater than the sum of the parts. This strong ten song set was recorded by Chip Butters at the REC Room studios; the band pays tribute to the happenings in this unique environment of live performance space and recording facility on the second…

Ron Hacker has been a fixture of the bay area blues scene for nearly forty years for his tenth album simply titled “Live in San Francisco he and his trio The Hacksaws and caught doing what they do best, laying down some serious deep delta blues grooves, and slide guitar perfection. 

The ten song set was recorded at the fame Biscuits and Blues club on one magic night in November of 2011. Hacker begins solo on the Sleepy John Estes classic…

That Niall Connolly is a folk icon isn't debated by other musicians. He is, to a degree, a “musician's musician,” someone whose work you hear about when you ask guitarists to tell you their secrets. Ryan Langlois of the Third Wheel Band stared me dead in the eye in 2010 and said, “Everyone should listen to Niall's music. Everyone.”

Connolly's creaky, achingly sweet Irish voice is a familiar instrument, and he performs tirelessly. Among the most vibrant, poignant, and…

Countrified Rockin' from Citizens Band Radio

Back in the 1970’s the airways were filled with the Country and Southern Rock sounds of bands like Poco, the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, The Allman Bros, The New Riders of the Purple Sage, Marshall Tucker, and of course the good old Grateful Dead.  No longer mainstream, satellite radio stations still play these and similar acts, labeled “Americana” or “Outlaw Country.”  One up and coming New Jersey band…

Tinsley Elis -Get It - Heart Fixer-- Rick J Bowen 

One might think releasing an instrumental album of blues, surf and guitar rock in this day and age is unwise, but with the fastest growing genre of music today being “EDM” aka...electronic dance music, the new album Get It, from Tinsley Ellis may prove he has some real moxie. 

The strong ten tracks not only pay homage to great groove instrumental groups of the past by…

The cover art of Phosphorescent’s Muchacho depicts a grittily lit scene with two topless women on a motel room bed - one on her back and the other upright and beaming, sporting a cowboy hat. Matthew Houck (aka Phosphorescent) laughs in the foreground, much of his face off to the side of the frame. Something about the photograph’s atmosphere – given one’s familiarity with the aching and forlorn terrain of Phosphorescent’s music – tells you the joy of the scene is likely…

Bang Bang Boom Boom, the new album from California chanteuse Beth Hart, runs the gamut of musical styles from low down blues to swinging cabaret, rock, gospel and soul with one simple theme holding the songs together: love. The 11 songs were recorded live off the floor and masterfully produced by Kevin Shirley, all designed to highlight the impeccable depth and power of Hart’s smoky alto, a true gift from the gods. She has been compared to Janis…

When Mark and Michael Holland (along with bassist Thomas Royal) were playing as Jennyanykind in the early ‘90’s, they were signed to major Elektra Records on the strength of their huge, prog-rock sound. Most artists (like, for example, the Flaming Lips) would have ridden this out for years, milking a career and continuing with a sound that would guarantee the bills got paid. But, the Holland brothers are true artists. This would have bored them to tears. With no thought about the…

For over a decade Wall Walla’s Rob Barrett and his Coyote Kings have been a driving force in the eastern Washington blues scene and now are the proud hosts of the 2nd Wall Walla guitar festival. In 2010 the Kings teamed up with power house vocalist Michelle “Mush” Morgan, releasing the critically acclaimed album Move, in 2011. Their follow up, Nasty Habits and Dirty Little Secrets, features eleven new songs immaculately produced and penned by Barrett…

Ry Cavanaugh is one of the founding fathers of Session Americana.  This is a short and sweet Q and A with Ry.  I’ve been a fan of Session Americana for a long time…only wish that I had been there back in the day when they played those sessions at the legendary Tir na nOg in Somerville.  As Ry says, it was a magical time.  I’ve come to discover though…that any time that Session Americana gathers together around that little bar table of theirs….magic happens.  It’s a special…

The Delta Saints know a thing or two about how to market their sound and personalities. They do exactly that right up front in their bio. On the band’s Facebook page, the Nashville five-piece announce their interests to be “Women, Whiskey and Woes,” while their influences are summed up with “Dames. Working hard. Playing harder.” Under “Artists we also like,” The Delta Saints say, “You name it, we love it.”

Those coming into the band’s debut full-length album armed with that…

This could be a throw-back to an earlier time but Linda McRae has pipes.

At first listen of “Ramblin’ Man” Linda sounds like she’s the resurrected ghost of 1920’s guitar-banjo-vocalist Lee Morse – who in the Paramount Picture’s A Million Me’s video clip there’s a segment at 3:00 minutes where she sits down in a café with an acoustic guitar and proceeds to do these vocal gymnastics similar to yodeling but it’s not yodeling and Linda McRae is mining this vein in…

The expectations are often set quite high for the progeny of well-known artists who decide to follow in their parents’ footsteps, often leading to mixed results. No doubt Nashville’s Lilly Hiatt felt this pressure being the daughter of well-known singer-songwriter John Hiatt, but her debut album Let Down rises to the challenge.

Like her father, Hiatt knows how to turn a phrase and compose songs that seem quite simple on the surface with their quickly familiar themes of life…

Capitalizing on the momentum of his BMA nominated album Hard Dollar, Texas blues troubadour Hadden Sayers keeps the spirit moving with his new release Rolling Soul. The twelve song collection forges into the deeper waters of the heart and soul with confidence and conviction earned by time on the road. The tunes are less hooked fill than his last offering but have a masterful approach to song craft reminiscent of John Hiatt and James Taylor, pushing Sayers toward becoming the blues…

If the title is familiar, it’s because it should be. However, that doesn’t mean Run 8 Rider’s version of Devo’s iconic 1980 New Wave smash “Whip It” sounds anything like the original. Run 8 Rider give the herky-jerky punk-funk of Devo’s classic a country-fried makeover. Gone are the choked-up nerdy vocals and robotic throb that ushered in the Rock of the ‘80s, replaced by raspy Southern-boy harmonizing and pedal steel guitar. In other words, it’s a total laugh riot, a blast of wit…