Like many of us over the last couple of years, Calista Garcia found herself consumed by the negative events in the world. As an antidote, she decided to focus on all the good things she saw around her. She transcribed that awareness into a collection of songs that became her new EP, A Beautiful World. […]
Video Premiere: Mike Donello & the New Essentials – Southside
One of the things I like about live music towns is how a group of musicians will just sort of start playing local gigs and end up becoming a well-known part of the music scene. They can make a living, or at least have a healthy side hustle, performing frequently without ever having to sleep […]
Corey Harris – Insurrection Blues
Corey Harris long ago established himself as one of the most important and innovative bluesmen of his generation. He is an amazing musician. With Insurrection Blues, his first album in over three years, Harris has added yet another to a long line of fine albums. As a musical adventurer, Harris can be compared with Taj Mahal […]
This Lonesome Paradise – Electric Dreams
Sugar-loaded Christmas ballads aside, if there was ever a holiday that lends itself to a soundtrack, it’s Halloween. Pacific Northwesterner E. Ray Bechard was thinking a parallel thought, though more of a soundtrack to a movie in his own head. He pulled together some musician friends, now known as This Lonesome Paradise, and they headed […]
Hank Erwin – The Copper Album
“Having cancer and recovering from surgery was great. It was a distraction from the severe depression.” Taken from Hank Erwin’s website bio, that was my first hint that the inspiration for Erwin’s new album, The Copper Album, was captured from his own, less-than-fluffy, life experiences. Indeed, that bio serves as commentary on several of the […]
Old Settler’s Music Festival Preview
One of my personal rites of spring is to head 45 minutes southeast of Austin on the third weekend of April to the Old Settler’s Music Festival. Despite not having the name of an Austin City Limits or Coachella, OSMF has been ranked in the top 10 festivals in the country. There are a number […]
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram on embracing the Blues
Christone “Kingfish” Ingram plays a mean guitar for a guy barely old enough to drink in most states. And he has a reverence for the Blues that is uncommon in an artist so young. I reached out to Ingram recently as he was preparing to go out on tour, finally, in support of his new […]
Tylor and the Train Robbers -Non-Typical Find
Tylor and the Train Robbers are a family band that has toured relentlessly and been their own producers over two previous studio albums. Then, faster than you can say “pandemicâ€, things changed. Suddenly they were off the road and had a chance rethink their approach in their native Boise, Idaho. First hey jumped head first […]
Guy Davis – Be Ready When I Call You
Nobody can accuse Guy Davis of being wishy washy. He says and sings what he thinks no matter the consequences. Yes, Be Ready When I Call You may be Guy Davis’ most political album yet. On it, he sings about the Tulsa race massacre of 1921 (“God’s Gonna Make Things Over”), Flint Michigan’s drinking water […]
Jeremy James Meyer – Alive & OK
Listening to the new album from Jeremy James Meyer, Alive & OK, I realized that not only have I missed live music, but I’ve missed the sound of an entire band in a studio. During the pandemic, when bands recorded material, everyone did their own piece and then software assembled it all together. It sounds […]