Jul 6, 2012
In their appropriately titled Damn Good Time!, veteran DC-based blues rockers the Nighthawks prove that after decades on the road, they can still serve up a toe-tapping set to satisfy their blues-roots following and make a few new friends in the process. Damn Good Time! follows up their Blues Music Award-winning Last Train to Bluesville (Acoustic Album [...] more »
by
Bill Wilcox
Jun 22, 2012
Albert Castiglia plays a hot guitar in a traditional blues format, taking cues from generations of Chicago electric bluesmen. Echoes of Freddie and Albert King, Otis Rush and Magic Sam can be heard in Castiglia’s playing, although Castiglia takes a decidedly more aggressive tack than those greats. Castiglia’s connection to those great Chicago artists that [...] more »
by
Bill Wilcox
Jun 19, 2012
Peter Karp and Sue Foley have developed a unique sound that seems to be a cross between country and blues – bluntry – but with a healthy dose of R&B thrown in. Both veteran blues-roots musicians, Karp and Foley joined forces for a second combined effort, Beyond the Crossroads, reprising the teamwork that made 2010′s [...] more »
by
Bill Wilcox
Jun 14, 2012
Ever since Little Village’s one disappointing album in 1992, I am prepared to be underwhelmed by any new group promotors tout as a “supergroup.” There have been, of course, huge successes when music superstars were mixed and matched into new units (e.g., Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young – comprised of members from Buffalo Springfield, the Byrds and [...] more »
by
Bill Wilcox
Jun 1, 2012
Delta Moon features unique dueling slide guitar leads that give the band’s music the swampy, gritty sound that has made it one of Atlanta’s best kept secrets. Black Cat Oil, the seventh album to feature the lap-steek guitar-work of singer-songwriter Tom Gray and bottleneck slide guitar of Mark Johnson, is a solid offering. Delta Moon, which until 2007′s Clear [...] more »
by
Bill Wilcox
May 25, 2012
Someone should sit Luther Dickinson down and tell him he needs to figure out what he’s going to do with his life. Still in his 30s, Dickinson laid down his first recorded guitar licks at the age of 14 on the Replacements’ Pleased to Meet Me (produced by Luther’s father Jim) in 1987. He established [...] more »
by
Bill Wilcox
May 18, 2012
Dr. John is an institution. With his characteristic mystical groovy-gumbo-voodoo schtick and funky keyboard playing, he has been a force in American music since his groundbreaking Gris-Gris in 1968. His early 1970s work, including Dr. John’s Gumbo and In the Right Place were instant classics. A gifted piano (and occasional guitar) player, Mac Rebennack, or Dr. John, [...] more »
by
Bill Wilcox
Mar 13, 2012
The Twin Cities based Honeydogs, who were tantalizingly close to stardom in the late 1990s, have kept their day jobs, survived and and now have released a new album that should please their enthusiastic followers. What Comes After follows the recipe of the band’s superb 1997 and 2001 releases, Seen a Ghost and Here’s Luck, with simple, straight forward lyrics and exceptional [...] more »
by
Bill Wilcox
Mar 6, 2012
The Carolina Chocolate Drops, whose informal folksy jug band approach belies a talent pool that is seemingly bottomless, have added another gem to their already stellar catalogue with Leaving Eden. The Drops, who in their live shows recreate the look and feel of a turn-of-the 20th century string band but with the anachronistic addition of human “beatbox” vocal percussionist [...] more »
by
Bill Wilcox
Feb 22, 2012
Otis Taylor and Corey Harris may be the most creative blues musicians active today. And with Harris spending much of his time exploring other musical avenues, that leaves Taylor pretty much in a class by himself as an avant-garde bluesman. His moody, atmospheric yet beautiful recordings are a welcome change from the many younger musicians trying [...] more »
by
Bill Wilcox
Jan 18, 2012
If you are looking for hot, fun country music by folks who are playing it because they love it, The Little Willies’ newest release, For the Good Times, should be your destination. A side project by several artists on separate musical paths, the best known of whom is the enchanting Norah Jones, this second album by The [...] more »
by
Bill Wilcox
Dec 27, 2011
The invisible line separating the United States from Canada appears to be an impenetrable wall for Murray McLachlan. One of the most respected singer-songwriters in Canada, McLauchlan doesn’t seem to have much of a following south of the border. Perhaps he doesn’t care. Over the years, McLauchlan has won 11 Juno awards (Canadian Grammys) and [...] more »
by
Bill Wilcox
Dec 21, 2011
Kim Simmonds and some form of the band Savoy Brown have been around pretty much since the beginning of time – or at least since the middle years of the British Invasion. In its original form, the band was comparable to the early Peter Green-led Fleetwood Mac (before they started to suck), Cream and Ten Years After. But while [...] more »
by
Bill Wilcox
Nov 16, 2011
Forty years. It has been forty years since John Prine released his first, self-titled album, with such classics as “Paradise,” “Angel From Montgomery,” and “Spanish Pipedream.” That first album was one of the few true folk albums included in Rolling Stone‘s 500 greatest albums (a bogus, arbitrary exercise to boost circulation for sure – but John Prine was on [...] more »
by
Bill Wilcox
Nov 8, 2011
Mason Jennings’ latest effort, Minnesota, is a lyrical romp with Jennings’ characteristic musical hooks that teeter on the edge of sappy but that work for him. Every song on Minnesota is worth the listen. The multi-instrumental Jennings opens with the subdued piano-based ballad “Bitter Heart” followed immediately with “Raindrops on the Kitchen Floor,” a [...] more »
by
Bill Wilcox