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 […]
Old Settler’s Music Festival Highlights
I’m from northern California where “layering” your clothing is a mantra more than a conscious thought. Sure came in handy this year for Old Settler’s Music Festival in Driftwood (Austin), Texas, where there was driving rain, freezing cold (at least it felt that way), and warm, late-spring sunshine. Oh, and lots of good music, which […]
Roman Carter + More, Album Previews
Roman Carter, “Never Slow Down (Full CD) [MySpace] In a year that graced us with a new album from Bettye Lavette, now we get Roman Carter of the famed Carter Brothers (Albert, Jerry, Roman) bringing us some funked up blues. The album is a collaboration with LA producer Tom Rothrock (Beck, Elliott Smith, R.L. Burnside). […]
Bad to the Bone, 25 Years Later
I had forgotten how good George Thorogood and the Destroyers are. The commercial success of the song “Bad to the Bone” and several of the songs on the album of the same name numbed my perspective of their talent. We’ve heard songs like “Bad to the Bone”, “Nobody But Me” and “No Particular Place to […]
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals “This is Somewhere”, Reviewed
“Stop the bus and turn the radio up high!” wails Grace Potter on the second track of the band’s third full length album titled This is Somewhere. This is exactly what you’ll want to do when you hear this song playing in whatever your version of a bus is. Grace Potter & The Nocturnals hail […]
Grace Potter & The Nocturnals @ The State Theatre
I recently took advantage of a chance to see Grace Potter & The Nocturnals on tour in the DC area (5/19/07). I’ve mentioned before that they were one of my favorite shows at SXSW back in March. As expected they put on an amazing show. Here’s some photos I took with my new Nikon digital […]
Grace Potter, David Serby & The Wells, via Tom’s Mailbox
One of the perks of being involved with Twangville is that some really great artists send me music to sample. The unfortunate thing is that more often than not, much of what is sent to me never sees the light of day. I’ve been burdening myself with the idea that I have to do an […]
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 […]
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 […]