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Steve Leftridge's Blog (85)
Pour Some Sugarland on Me: Why Country Music is the New Classic Rock
Added by Steve Leftridge on April 14, 2010 at 9:30am — 22 Comments
John Hiatt--The Open Road--New West
The last we heard from John Hiatt, he was singing “Let’s Give Love a Try”, the final tune from 2008’s Same Old Man. On that song, Hiatt admitted, “Sometimes I don’t like being where I am”, a notion that Hiatt has explored for much of his going-on-40-year career as a singer-songwriter. Calling himself “old” (sort of) in the title of that record marked a transition of sorts for a rascal… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on March 19, 2010 at 7:18am — 9 Comments
Album Review: Johnny Cash--American VI: Ain't No Grave
Johnny Cash--American VI: Ain't No Grave--American/Lost Highway
The newest, and purportedly last, installment of Johnny Cash’s “American series”, the priceless Rick Rubin-produced string of albums that rounded out Cash’s life, is American VI: Ain’t No Grave. This is the second of the American albums to be released posthumously, following American V: A Hundred Highways, and these 11 songs are mined gold from the… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on February 26, 2010 at 5:30am — 3 Comments
Album Review: Emmitt-Nershi Band--New Country Blues
Emmitt-Nershi Band--New Country Blues--SCI Fidelity
Few musical styles are quite as polarizing as that of jam bands. The haters deplore the never-ending and meandering solos, the emphasis on instrumental improvisation over singing and melody, and the conspicuous uniformity of the fans, with their emphasis on drugs and identical dancing. The lovers argue for the unmistakable musical…
ContinueAdded by Steve Leftridge on February 5, 2010 at 1:00pm — No Comments
Album Review: Patty Griffin's Downtown Church
Patty Griffin--Downtown Church--EMI
It’s hard to think of an artist in a more enviable position than Patty Griffin. Fifteen years ago, she had a guitar, a sweet voice, and a crush on Bruce Springsteen, but no recording contract. Today she’s perched among the elite singer-songwriters of her generation. She has released five critically acclaimed records, each more accomplished than the last, won over a legion…
ContinueAdded by Steve Leftridge on February 5, 2010 at 1:00pm — 3 Comments
Album Review: Caroline Herring--Golden Apples of the Sun
Caroline Herring
Golden Apples of the Sun
(Signature Sounds; US: 10 Nov 2009; UK: 14 Dec 2009)
Folk singer-songwriter Caroline Herring’s keening alto and hummingbird vibrato will grab you hard on her blisteringly beautiful new album, Golden Apples of… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on January 4, 2010 at 6:40am — 1 Comment
Best Bluegrass Albums of 2009
For bluegrass fans, 2009 was a great year for music, a bad year for frugality. Though we’re only listing the Top Ten, there are many excellent artists and albums worthy of an honorable mention, including Donna Ulisse’s Walk This Mountain Down, Doyle Lawson &… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on December 31, 2009 at 10:22am — 4 Comments
PopMatters' Top Ten Americana Albums of 2009
10. Greg Koons and the Misbegotten
Welcome to the Nowhere Motel
(Kealon; US: 23 Jun 2009; UK: 23 Jun 2009)
This Pennsylvania-bred songwriter is the… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on December 30, 2009 at 12:59pm — 2 Comments
Album Review: John Cowan--Comfort and Joy
John Cowan--Comfort and Joy--Koch
Other singers would crawl through broken glass to borrow John Cowan’s larynx for 15 minutes. While Cowan has always remained loyal to the progressive bluegrass he helped define in the ‘70s as the singer/bassist for New Grass Revival, fans of the genre and the pilgrims who make it to the big summer roots festivals know that Cowan can sing pretty much anything. From high-lonesome bluegrass to… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on December 18, 2009 at 6:00am — 9 Comments
Album Review: Catie Curtis--Hello, Stranger
As of this writing, there have been 46,837 rootsy singer-songwriter album releases in 2009. So what is veteran folk-rocker Catie Curtis to do to stand out among the overwhelming glut of strumming and emoting? Not by going back to the drawing board for a new set of originals, which she has done nine other times, but by recruiting an all-star group of bluegrass superpickers and reinventing some of her old songs as well as some choice covers.… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on November 19, 2009 at 10:33am — No Comments
Album Review: Phonograph--OKNO
There’s a nice song deep on Phonograph’s sophomore album, OKNO, that drifts along in a euphonious swirl of ambient-roosty, quiet-noisy, mainstream-indie, organic-electronic, Brit-influenced Americana. The song is called “American Music”, and ain’t it the truth. Indie-rock is a head-swimmingly dense scene, but Phonograph is a band out of Brooklyn that helps define what American rock sounds like in 2009, if such a thing is… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on November 16, 2009 at 7:35pm — 4 Comments
Album Review: Brandi Carlile's Give Up the Ghost
Brandi Carlile’s third full-length album, Give Up the Ghost, opens with a single strum and then the cuffed chugging of her acoustic guitar as the 28-year-old Seattle native starts singing in her warm alto. The song, “Looking Out”, builds to a soaring pre-chorus that shows off Carlile’s remarkable power and range. The band comes crashing in—including writing and touring partners, and twin brothers, Tim and Phil Hanseroth, on guitar and… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on November 10, 2009 at 6:24am — 1 Comment
Album Review: David Mead's Almost and Always
The tendency among rock fans might be to dismiss David Mead as a lightweight on his new album, not with respect to his obvious prodigious ability, but for the softness of his music. One can imagine, for instance, the indie-rock community disparaging Mead’s winsome piano-and-acoustic-guitar ballads as too precious, too pretty, too schmaltzy, too Broadway. However, those who can get past such predispositions will be carried along by Almost and… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on November 9, 2009 at 2:22pm — No Comments
Album Review: Kris Kristofferson's Closer to the Bone
Contuining a collaboration with producer Don Was that began with A Moment of Forever (1995) and This Old Road (2006), Kris Kristofferson went back into the studio this year with Was to make Closer to the Bone, a spare, mostly solo set of new original songs. Major kudos to Was, whose work with and encouragement to Kristofferson is turning out to be the kind of fruitful treasure that Rick Rubin provided with Johnny Cash on the… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on November 9, 2009 at 2:11pm — 3 Comments
Album Review: Carly Simon's Never Been Gone
The obvious question is, “Why?” That is, why would a legendary artist go back into the studio and re-cut her best-loved hits for a new release? What makes Carly Simon’s new project especially confusing is that no one thinks her classic singles need the least bit of tinkering with; those mellow-groove adult-contemporary folk-rock vibes are what made Simon a ‘70s superstar in the first place.
The new project, Never Been Gone, is… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on November 9, 2009 at 2:00pm — 2 Comments
Album Review: Lyle Lovett's Natural Forces
Attention, Lyle Lovers: Your man is back with a new album, Natural Forces, his tenth studio album, and third consecutive for the Lost Highway label. Although, as you’ve no doubt learned, if he were always the man that you wanted, he would not be the man that he is. Let’s review how we got here.
From 1986 to 1996, Lyle Lovett was hitting with Tony Gwynn-level consistency. Lovett made it look easy on album after album of… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on November 9, 2009 at 2:00pm — 4 Comments
Live Review: Farm Aid 2009
Something unusual was present at the press conference before the Farm Aid 2009 concert in St. Louis: a sense of optimism. Obviously, the situation in which family farmers in America find themselves is bleak, but the activists, farmers, and artists—including Farm Aid’s musical board members, Willie Nelson, Neil Young, John Mellencamp, and Dave Matthews—insisted that hopeful signs were on the horizon. First, people across the country are getting… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on October 16, 2009 at 10:00am — 2 Comments
Album Review: The Avett Brothers--I and Love and You
The Avett Brothers--I and Love and You--American/Columbia--September 2009
Are the Avett Brothers the Next Big Thing? They certainly bring formidable weapons to the sweepstakes. The Avetts, guitarist Seth and banjoist Scott, are two sweet-singing, super-handsome bros who harmonize on idiosyncratic, soulful folk songs about love and family and connection, the kinds of tunes that inspire lots of linked arms and swaying… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on September 29, 2009 at 3:39am — 2 Comments
Album Review: The Black Crowes--Before the Frost...After the Freeze
The Black Crowes--Before the Frost...After the Freeze--Megaforce--September 2009
Two decades after the Black Crowes debuted with Shake Your Money Maker in 1990, the band is hitting a new stride with Before the Frost…Until the Freeze, a double-album of new songs recorded live last spring for an audience gathered at Levon Helm’s barn in Woodstock, New York, home to his Midnight Ramble shows. Given that this… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on September 18, 2009 at 12:40pm — 2 Comments
Album Review: Phish--Joy
Phish--Joy--Jemp--September 2009
The 14th studio album from Phish, and their first after a five-year hiatus that ended with a series of reunion shows in March, starts with “Backwards Down the Number Line”, a Dead-style piece of sunny roots-rock that finds singer/guitarist Trey Anastasio’s vocals taking on a smoother sheen these days—close to Eric Clapton’s timbre—perhaps thanks to the steady production hand of Steve… Continue
Added by Steve Leftridge on September 12, 2009 at 6:00am — 2 Comments
Latest Blog Posts
- Pour Some Sugarland on Me: Why Country Music is the New Classic Rock
- John Hiatt--The Open Road--New West
- Album Review: Johnny Cash--American VI: Ain't No Grave
- Album Review: Emmitt-Nershi Band--New Country Blues
- Album Review: Patty Griffin's Downtown Church
- Album Review: Caroline Herring--Golden Apples of the Sun
- Best Bluegrass Albums of 2009
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