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 […]
The Little Willies – For the Good Times
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 […]
Murray McLauchlan – Human Writes
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 […]
Savoy Brown – Voodoo Moon
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 became a Top 40 pop group), Cream and Ten Years […]
John Prine – The Singing Mailman Delivers
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 […]
Mason Jennings – Minnesota
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 retro […]
David Bromberg and Ry Cooder
The release of new albums by two masters of roots music this summer flew pretty much under the radar. Both David Bromberg and Ry Cooder have churned out album after album of Americana spanning folk to R&B since the early 1970s. Bromberg’s career has been the oddest, with long periods of withdrawal from public performance […]