Wilco, ‘Sky Blue Sky’ With hints of Southern California folk-rock reminiscient of the Eagles, Wilco is back with its sixth studio album. I may be alone in this thinking, but I’m relieved to hear less ‘experimentation’ in this release. With the exception of a few songs, 2004’s A Ghost is Born was not for me. […]
Grant-Lee Phillips & More, Album Previews
Grant Lee Phillips “Soft Asylum (No Way Out)” Grant-Lee Phillips, Strangelet (Zoe/Rounder) Out with his fifth solo recording titled “Strangelet”, Grant-Lee Phillips looks to cosmic abnormalities to inspire a “record for strange times”. Check out the Grant-Lee Phillips’ MySpace profile for song previews. File under: Rock, Acoustic, Alternative. ALSO LOOK FOR: Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver, […]
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals, The SXSW Encore
Here’s a short clip of the encore Grace Potter and Scott Tournet belted out as described on my SXSW Recap. I must have been standing just to the left of the cameraman. Great to see someone captured this. I can’t tell you how much better it sounded live. Also, note the glass of scotch Potter […]
Low Stars, On the Radar
Harmony, harmony, harmony. Apparently, its back in style and it sounds great. Witness foursome Low Stars with their debut album. I know what you are thinking… these guys are a CSN ripoff. You’d be right, but they don’t hide from this. In fact, they embrace it. “We wanted to make an authentic-sounding record that was […]
Mike’s Best Albums of 2006
I waited 24 years for The Who (my favorite band) to release a new album, and it didn’t make my 10-best list! What a drag. Oh well, maybe they’ll get it right in 2030. Not to worry, there were plenty of discs to celebrate in 2006. Drum roll… #1 John Gorka Writing in the Margins […]
Sarah’s Best Tracks of 2006
I purposely titled this one ‘best tracks’ because some of these songs have been floating around for a couple of years or longer, but have been released in the past year as live tracks or, in one case, a compilation release. While some people might argue that they should therefore be out of the running […]
Happy Holidays
LA band Shurman offer up this original holiday gem, “Santa You Can Skip Me This Year.”
The New, Weird America: The Harry Smith Project Revisited
“My dream came true. I saw America changed through music.” As a Grammy Awards audience acknowledged his genius, a frail Harry Smith, months before his death, basked in the recognition that had eluded him for a half century. The importance of his landmark Anthology of American Folk Music cannot be overstated: it is often credited […]
Josh Ritter – In The Dark, Live At Vicar Street
I’ve learned all too well that the Holiday Shopping season has commenced. Borders has been packed with people buying gifts left and right, and in that spirit, I wanted to make sure you all got the heads up on Josh Ritter’s new live CD/DVD combo, “In The Dark”. It won’t be released until November 24th […]
Me First and The Gimme Gimmes & More, Album Previews
THIS WEEK’S ELITE: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, Love Their Country (Fat Wreck Chords) country, pop These guys could be the best cover band around. This time around the album theme is classic country hits played as always with the bands signature punk-pop delivery. K.T. Tunstall, K.T. Tunstall’s Acoustic Extravaganza (EMI) acoustic, folk Tunstall […]