Posts by Jim Hynes

This resurgence of jazz we are now experiencing is global with London as one of the brightest spots. Tuba player and composer Theon Cross has been dominating airwaves and stages recently. He’s part of a thriving group of young London-based musicians who have regularly supported one another in stretching the boundaries of jazz. On this […]

Katarina Pejak has journeyed throughout the world but make no mistake, this brilliant talent has arrived. Having earned Berklee’s prestigious Songwriting Achievement Award and receiving much critical acclaim for her three prior releases in her native Serbia, Pejak recorded this, Roads That Cross, her Ruf Records debut and breakout album in Texas with bluesman Mike […]

Yes, the British are coming! Here is another in the growing line of UK jazz musicians being signed to a U.S. label; in this case, the progressive Ropeadope label, home to artists like Christian Scott aTunde Adjuah and Logan Richardson. This is Duncan Eagles’ debut as a leader apart from his UK group Partikel, a […]

If you’re familiar with Carsie Blanton, then draw your own comparisons.  But, for the uninitiated think blatant sexuality of Liz Phair, filtered more cleverly, and then delivered in a vocal style that’s more jazz-like in phrasing like a witty Madeleine Peyroux. Some have compared her to Nina Simone and Billie Holiday.  The inside jacket photo […]

Robert Ellis’ career has come a long way since his 2009 debut The Great Re Arranger and even since his 2014 song and album The Lights from the Chemical Plant, (one of the best songs in the last decade). So, yes, his latest effort comes highly anticipated. Count on Ellis to do something a bit different. The […]

Following his rather bleak breakup album, Lovers and Leavers, Hayes Carll seems rejuvenated on What It Is. The album is co-produced by fellow songwriter and fiancée Allison Moorer and long-time cohort Brad Jones in Nashville. Carll wrote some of these songs alone and co-wrote others with Moorer, Matraca Berg, Adam Landry, and a few others. […]

Yes, these are two separate releases coming out on the same day as New West Records releases Albert Collins and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown from the acclaimed Austin City Limits TV show sessions. Each clock in at over 60 minutes and the recordings capture the definitive unique nature of each performer. These are issued with exquisite […]

There’s a dark intimacy to Gurf  Morlix’s albums. They can be so spooky and real that you’d swear he’s in the same room with you. It’s inevitably a haunting experience. Yet, having survived a scary heart attack a few years ago, his take on mortality with this, his tenth solo recording, offers more slivers of […]

Pianist, producer and composer Mark de Clive-Lowe is a half-Japanese half-New Zealander who calls Los Angeles home.  de Clive-Lowe isn’t content to be restricted to jazz and he purposefully reaches across a broad palette of genres and influences to create his unique sound. Heritage is a deeply personal exploration of his ancestry and cultural roots. “I was raised […]

Like-minded revered roots guitarists and in-demand producers Colin Linden and Luther Dickinson collaborate on an album of sentimental, romantic love songs that eminently define Americana music. On Amour, produced by Linden, they play with a backing band dubbed “The Tennessee Valentines:” Dominic Davis – bass; Bryan Owings – drums; Fats Kaplin – violin and accordion; […]

Certain songwriters have an innate gift for infectious songs that just linger for days on end. Reed Foehl  is one of them. Each song on his fifth album, Lucky Enough, tells a story in his quietly understated way that somehow results in powerful imagery and emotions. Foehl’s songs resonate and it doesn’t hurt to be […]

The cliché goes “it’s a hard act to follow.” Such was the case for Mandolin Orange who broke out with 2016’s Blindfaller, which spawned high profile festival appearances and sold-out worldwide tours. The personal and intimate was present there as it’s been on all the albums done by the North Carolina duo of singer-songwriter Andrew […]

Perhaps Finland’s Ina Forsman came to your attention with her self-titled debut or on the Ruf Records Blues Caravan 2016. The gifted 24-year-old vocalist returns with her more expansive, fully realized sophomore effort Been Meaning to Tell You.  She’s been singing professionally since age 17. Growing up in Helsinki, she says, “I was six years […]

As we know by now, The Stray Birds left us in September with the parting Let It Pass, the last of their great albums. A central figure in making those was co-founder and often frontwoman, multi-instrumentalist and superb vocalist/songwriter Maya De Vitry. This solo effort, Adaptations, gives De Vitry the freedom to put those great […]

[rating=8.00] Amelia White is one of those Americana artists revered in her home town of East Nashville and certainly in the UK, where a previous version of this album, Rhythm of the Rain, was released last year. This one has four different songs, and a few different session players. Her songs are not for the […]

[rating=8.00] The classically-infused and operatic ethereal sounds of Frances Cone bear the deep family roots of frontwoman Christina Cone’s upbringing and the more contemporary indie sounds of bands like Lucius. It took them a full five years to reach the point where they’ve fully flushed out their approach on Late Riser.  The band has already […]

[rating=8.00] Former Carolina Chocolate Drop Leyla McCalla is uncomfortable with the current political environment as exemplified by the album title, Capitalist Blues and several of its songs. Yet, she is growing increasingly fond of the musical culture of New Orleans, where she’s resided since 2010.  Although she added several instruments and voices to her 2016 […]

[rating=8.00] The Steel Woods with Old News may have the strongest thematic storytelling southern rock album since the Drive-by Truckers’ 2004 The Dirty South. This is only The Steel Woods sophomore album, having debuted auspiciously with Straw in the Wind last year. It’s a major leap forward for the songwriting team of Alabama-raised Wes Bayliss […]

[rating=8.00] We’re living in the age of the blue-eyed female soul singer. Perhaps it was the late Amy Winehouse that paved the way for the likes of Courtney Marie Andrews, Erin Costello, Amy Boone of The Delines, Tami Neilson, Mandy Barnett, and others who have plied this turf recently. Enter Liz Brasher, who created quite […]

[rating=7.00] Buoyed by the success of Alligator’s 2015 release, Meet Me in Bluesland, the label encores the by now almost iconic southern rockers The Kentucky Headhunters (KHH) first overseas festival appearance, along with additional tracks with Johnnie Johnson. This band has a way of connecting with an audience that few others can match. That’s due […]