The unique Canadian duo Blue Moon Marquee is at it again with Scream, Holler & Howl, a release that proves that the duo owns the recipe to a fun, fantastic, genre-bending stew of their own design. The duo, which features A.W. Cardinal on vocals and guitar and Jasmine Colette on vocals and upright bass, captures […]
Sunny Sweeney – Married Alone
Popular culture is littered with references to the drifter, the rambling man, the loner. Soul tormented by assorted demons, both real and imaginary, they never get attached to anyone and deal with their insecurity by show of bravado. These characters are nearly always men. Sunny Sweeney takes exception to that on her latest album, Married […]
Shemekia Copeland Is All About the Blues
Even when Shemekia Copeland was a student at Teaneck High School in New Jersey, she was already committed to the blues. Born into Blues royalty (her father was blues guitarist Johnny Copeland), Copeland has become perhaps the most prominent woman performing blues and roots music today. “It was always going to be the blues,” she […]
Three Summer Gems
A lot of good music is coming out this summer. A number of the releases are shorter records or EPs. That sometimes makes it hard to write a full-length review. In no way does that mean you shouldn’t check them out. Three of my favorites are Nick Pagliari, The Early Mays, and Juliana Nash. Nick […]
Forrest McCurren – Oh Me, Oh My
Pick any small town in America and there’s a cast of characters you can generally recognize. The former high school football star; the good kid always in the wrong place at the wrong time; the family matriarch who’s the real power behind half the successful people in the county; the favorite cousin that just can’t […]
The Sadies – Colder Streams
If you read our blog, chances are you’re a fan of The Sadies. And so you know Dallas Good, who along with brother Travis was a guiding light of the band, passed away suddenly in February. I’ve gushed about the band before, and was saddened that one of the more talented musicians around, and quirkiest […]
Rusty Tinder – Alchemy Road
The cover of L.A.-based, keyboardist Rusty Tinder’s soon-to-be-released sophomore album, Alchemy Road, is a depiction of a musician dragging his piano through floods and past wildfires, to the accompaniment of a fiddling horseman of the apocalypse. You could also say it’s a musical theme throughout the record. Tinder’s resume includes everything from church choirs and […]
We Banjo 3 – Open the Road
I went on line to look up the antonym of stage fright. I got a bunch of words like calm, cool, and collected. If you’ve ever seen Galway, Ireland-based We Banjo 3 live, you know two things. First, their behavior on stage is diametrically opposed to stage fright. Second, it is not calm, cool, and […]
John Inghram – John Inghram
Whether it’s the ever-increasing ease of recording high quality music, a realization of mortality, or just the well-timed push of a friend, I’ve noticed a number of lifelong session players and sidemen deciding recently to release their first album. One that just crossed my playlist is from West Virginia native John Inghram. In addition to […]
Mike Stevens – Breathe In the World, Breathe Out Music
At the next Twangville town council meeting I’m making a motion to adopt “Municipal Harp Day” in honor of the best new recordings by blues and roots harmonica players. Along with Charlie Musselwhite’s new release, Canadian harmonica virtuoso Mike Stevens in May released his remarkable Breathe in the World, Breathe Out Music. Stevens has been […]