Posts by Gary Schwind

  Singer-songwriter Matt Lovell grew up learning to sing three-part harmonies in a household steeped in soul and Southern gospel, influences which have wound their way into the music he makes today. He comes by it honestly; in the 1950s, Lovell’s maternal grandfather was in touring gospel quartets, spending weekends singing for congregations across the […]

Andy Frasco and The U.N. is – as the name implies – a band that is all about inclusion. From the different nationalities of the members to their different instruments and different styles, this is a band that isn’t easily pigeonholed. Perhaps there is no better example of this than Songs from the Road, which […]

Satin Nickel is a band from New York that began as a collaboration between Samantha Aneson (vocals, guitar, banjo) and Morgan Hollingsworth (guitar, vocals, mandolin), who explored it as an intersection of Americana and folk. You can hear the Americana and folk influences on their new album Shadow of Doubt, but there are many more […]

Jono Manson is a musician who was at the forefront of the scene at The Nightingale in New York, a bar that served as a springboard for Blues Traveler and Spin Doctors among others. Since those days, he is known mostly as a producer. Silver Moon is his new album and it features guest appearances […]

When you think about albums for kids, certain themes probably come to mind. There are those that lean toward educational themes, and there are those that teach the value of things like friendship and doing the right thing. Encouraging kids to be rebellious is not something you find very often on albums made specifically for […]

If a friend – even one whose music tastes you trust completely – told you they had a gospel group for you to check out, what would your reaction be? It’s an honest question. Maybe you’d be really excited about it. Maybe you’d think that this friend of yours was trying to steer you toward […]

When you listen to a lot of reggae – no matter the artist – you realize that consciousness is a running theme throughout the genre. It makes sense when you consider the philosophy of Rastafari. That theme is intensified when the artist is also a yogi, as evidenced by Jah9’s new album Note To Self […]

One of the great things about music is that no matter your mood, you can always find some music to suit the time and place in your life. Sometimes you want music that is loud and aggressive. Other times you want music that is mellow and introspective. If you want the latter, Jah9’s new album […]

Some bands do a tremendous job of carving out a niche for themselves. That can certainly be said for Austin musical collective Brownout, who have melded rock and funk with Latin tones and rhythms. The band carved out an even deeper niche with some Brown Sabbath albums that gave us something we didn’t know we […]

Mother Yeti is a duo from Moscow, Idaho that describes its sound as “experimental rock”. Experimental is a term that sometimes scares music fans away because they equate experimental with weird. That’s not necessarily incorrect, but it does make the assumption that weird is undesirable. If you keep an open mind, you might be pleasantly […]

Jangling Sparrows is a trio from North Carolina whose lead singer Paul Edelman has shared the stage with stalwarts such as Drive-By Truckers and The Bottle Rockets. On the band’s new album, Bootstraps and Other American Fables, the band takes its place among those alt-country acts in showing its capacity for strong songs that tell […]

SHEL is a band comprising four sisters: Sarah (bass, fiddle, vocals), Hannah (accordion, keys, vocals), Eva (lead vocals, guitar, banjo, cello, mandolin), and Liza Holbrook (percussion). The band is currently promoting a video for its single “Rainbow”. The video depicts women in India who have been exiled simply because they are widows who are outcast […]

Mortimer is a reggae artist who gained some recognition when he appeared on the last two Protoje albums. It attracted enough recognition that he was able to work with Grammy-nominated producer Winta James. When Fight the Fight was released digitally, it debuted at #3 on the Billboard reggae chart and at #1 on the iTunes […]

Calibro 35 is an Italian combo that labels itself as “cinematic funk”. Generally, it’s a good thing when bands create their own label to describe their music because it shows that the band is hard to fit into well-known categories. The trouble with a band creating its own genre is that it’s hard to define. […]

Robert Randolph is an artist who recently received his sixth Grammy nomination. This one is for his new album Brighter Days in the category of Best Contemporary Blues Album. He’s in pretty good company considering Gary Clark Jr. and Southern Avenue are nominated in the same category. By phone, the esteemed pedal steel guitar player […]

With so many of his hits on the radio for such a long time, Sam Cooke is a familiar artist and a titan of soul. However, on the new collection The Complete Keen Recordings (1957-60): The Wonderful World of Sam Cooke, you can rediscover Cooke’s music and his wonderful voice. The first disc begins with […]

If you’re familiar with Marcus King Band, you know that it’s a healthy blend of rock and soul that makes for some irresistible songs and shows. On his new solo album El Dorado (produced by Dan Auerbach), Marcus King carries that same ethic. The new album isn’t vastly different than what you would hear from […]

Renee Holiday is a soul singer. As an up-and-coming R&B artist in Seattle, she released two EPs (Scatterbrain and Molting) under the name Shaprece. She also released the more progressive C.O.A.L.S., which showed her power as a vocalist. As Shaprece, she was frequently featured as a guest on tracks by Seattle hip-hop artists. In working […]

A box set of any kind is meant to be a thorough collection of songs. It’s hard to imagine a collection more thorough than Down in Jamaica: 40 Years of VP Records. This collection of reggae includes 94 songs and features 101 different artists ranging from Gregory Isaacs to Beenie Man. It not only takes […]

If you’re a fan of funk and soul, you probably know that you can find a lot of European groups playing in those genres. It kind of makes you wish that those bands would come over here and spread the gospel of funk and soul. On their new album Bumpin’ On, The Eminent Stars (from […]