One of my highlights at Folk Alliance a couple of years ago was seeing a couple of sets from Larry & Joe. Their subsequent album, Nuevo South Train, was one of my top 5 that year. So when I heard they had a new record coming out, I had a little trepidation about whether their […]
Bob Sumner – Some Place To Rest Easy
Everyone has their demons. There are many people who have turned those demons into musical artistry. Unfortunately, that doesn’t always mean the story ends well. For British Columbian Bob Sumner, it seems like maybe it will. A genetic heart disease diagnosis became the catalyst for him to overcome alcoholism and turn his energy more toward […]
Fruition – How To Make Mistakes
It’s an interesting idea, being a prisoner to your own success. You start out with your dreams, work your tail off, and then find out what got you to where you are is what’s holding you back from your future. Portland, Oregon’s Fruition found themselves with a little bit of that happening when the pandemic […]
Tony Martinez – Everywhere West
The story is not an unusual one. A successful sideman works his tail off for years, building his chops and accumulating a catalog of songs, or at least the scraps and pieces of them. Then one day kismet stops by and everything falls into place to release an album. That’s the short version of how […]
Teni Rane – Goldenrod
The source of inspiration can be an interesting perspective into an artist’s project. Sometimes a big, life-changing event forces a new way of looking at things. Other times a small detail becomes the crux of a new viewpoint. Both of those figure into the new album from Chattanooga native Teni Rane. Ostensibly guided by the […]
Karen Jonas – The Rise and Fall of American Kitsch
Elvis has inspired many a musician over the years, but rarely, if ever, in the way he catalyzed Virginian Karen Jonas. Watching an Elvis biography on the plane home from SXSW she was incited to write 8 songs in 8 days and add a few others pulled off the shelf from a previous writing spurt […]
Solid Gold Stranger – Closer to the Flame
One of my discoveries at this year’s Father’s Day Bluegrass Festival up in Grass Valley was a San Francisco Bay Area band, Solid Gold Stranger. In addition to their sets on both the Main and Pioneer stages, the members sat in individually with various other bands at multiple points in the weekend. All that in-demand […]
Lasers Lasers Birmingham – Mystery Highway
If you’re a musician in California, you can feel a bit cloistered. Between Palm Springs and Lubbock there’s a lot of not much. So faced with an 8+ hour drive to the next gig east of the Mojave, or picking up 4 gigs in the 400 miles from LA to San Francisco or Sacramento, it’s […]
AJ Lee & Blue Summit – City of Glass
Some bands have a birthing moment, a specific date they first played together. Others form in what is probably best described as an organic fashion. The latter is the case with Santa Cruz’s AJ Lee & Blue Summit. Two of the members, mandolinist AJ Lee and guitarist Sullivan Tuttle, first performed together with his siblings […]
Melissa Carper – Borned In Ya
A couple of years ago, at AmericanaFest, one of my highlights was seeing a trio that later called themselves Wonder Women Of Country; Kelly Willis, Brennan Leigh, and Melissa Carper. I was familiar with the beautiful voices of Willis and Leigh, but Carper was new to me. She added an authenticity and balance to the […]