Here’s a glance at some new albums I had the chance to listen to this week. The Wreckers, Stand Still, Look Pretty I have to admit, Michelle Branch has always been a guilty pleasure of mine. She’s gone off and started a group with her former backup singer, Jessica Harp. They’ve taken a more Country […]
SXSW 2006: The Bands (Part 2)
Coulda, shoulda, woulda… With over 1,200 bands appearing during the course of the festival it was inevitable that I would miss a few gems. Here are a few artists that may have slipped by me at SXSW but they didn’t escape me completely. Susan Cagle – I missed her in Austin but I made up […]
SXSW 2006: The Bands (Part 1)
Is it possible to hear too much music? I think not. Here are some of the best from SXSW 2006. Margot and the Nuclear So and So’s – Sounding like a more lively version and less pretentious version of Bright Eyes, this outfit offered up some moody rock songs and an energetic live performance. Its […]
Let the Music Play: The 2006 SXSW Recap
Another SXSW has come and gone. This year’s event brought over 1,000 bands to Austin for five days of music, cheap beer and great barbeque. Sounds pretty good to me. Although this year’s event was light on new discoveries, it was filled with old favorites. And now for the highlights: The New Orleans Social Club: […]
The Wood Brothers – Ways Not To Lose
The Wood Brothers released their first official album recently. Until now all that had been available were bootlegs of live shows that were only attainable through generous friends. Their new album is titled “Ways Not To Lose” and was released by Blue Note records, the same label that has claim over bassist Chris Wood’s other […]
Party Like It’s 1899
In the 200 years since Irish-Scots settlers crossed the broad Atlantic, their instruments, tunes and stories have dramatically affected the music of the Appalachian region, an antecedent of many of the rootsy styles we lovingly call “Twang.” Irish Folk and traditional Celtic music is a proud living tradition, rich in history, poetic, entertaining, and intensely […]
Rosanne Cash’s “Black Cadillac” Reviewed
If you are remotely familiar with the Cash family, you are aware of what they have been through in the past couple of years. Rosanne Cash started writting songs for this album back in Spring of 2003. Over a two-year period where she suffered the loss of her stepmother June Carter Cash, her father Johnny […]
Album Review: Bruce Springsteen – Hammersmith Odeon London ’75
Bruce Springsteen & the E Street Band Hammersmith Odeon London ’75 Rock / Pop / Soul The legendary, oft-bootlegged Odeon concert was finally “officially” released in DVD form as part of the Born to Run: 30th Anniversary 3-disc box. Though the box also included the long-awaited Born to Run remaster and a DVD about the […]
Album Review: Railroad Earth – “Elko”
Elko Railroad Earth Folk / Bluegrass / Americana / Jamgrass Live albums just suit some artists. Anyone who’s compared Peter Frampton’s studio recordings to Frampton Comes Alive knows this well. Some artists go to great lengths to preserve the live vibe; Joe Jackson recorded his Big World album in a New York club and asked […]
Best Albums of 2005 (Tom’s Picks)
My Top 10 Albums of 2005 listed in order. 1. Back to Me, Kathleen Edwards An impressive follow-up to 2003’s Failer, for me Back to Me was the album to beat all year. I’ve listened to songs from this album all year long. Her tales of absence and heartache delivered by smokey yet smooth vocals […]