Posts by Jim Hynes

[rating=7.00] Thirty years on, the enduring upstate NY band Donna the Buffalo, returns with their first album in five years, intent to get us all dancing. Yes, this seems to be a set of material geared to their live shows and devoted fans, the Herd. It’s impossible to sit still or not tap your feet […]

It’s as if The Rolling Stones’ career has come full circle. They began with early albums in ‘60s covering a number of blues tunes from originators.  Two years ago they released Blue and Lonesome, an album of a dozen blues covers.  Just two months ago they collaborated with Chicago blues musicians to release Chicago Plays […]

[rating=8.00] We are bringing you Erin Costelo’s second album this year in the space of just seven months. Sweet Marie follows Down Below, The Status Quo which was released in her native Canada in 2016 but here in the states just last March. This one was recorded in 10 days in a timber-frame home on […]

[rating=9.00] Rosanne Cash has delivered some of the most memorable albums in this millennium.  Her previous, 2014’s The River and the Thread earned three Grammy Awards.  This time out though she steps away from her roots, history and familial linkage to write from a deeply personal perspective on her life, the world we’re in, and […]

[rating=7.00] New Freedom Blues is the sixth studio album for the North Carolina-based Town Mountain, the follow-up to 2016’s Southern Crescent. Helmed by producer Caleb Klauder, the band stepped outside the bluegrass parameters to embrace new instruments and some high profile guests. They feature drummer and Sturgill Simpson collaborator Miles Miller, as well as a […]

[rating=8.00] This is a throwback to vintage blues, played acoustically by three of the genre’s best players.  On Journeys to the Heart of the Blues Grammy-winning guitarist, vocalist and Blues Hall of Famer Joe Louis Walker, widely acclaimed pianist Bruce Katz, and British harmonica ace and bandleader Giles Robson get down in a thoroughly traditional […]

[rating=7.00] The modern-day Waylon Jennings, Michigander Whitey Morgan, is back with his first album in three years, Hard Times and White Lines. It follows 2015’s Sonic Ranch, named after what’s becoming an increasingly fond recording studio in the middle of the desert in Tornillo, Texas, not far from El Paso. This one was also recorded there. […]

[rating=9.00] Rarely has a title been more appropriate for an album. “Griot – (in West Africa) a member of a caste responsible for maintaining an oral record of tribal history in the form of music, poetry and storytelling.” Troubadour Eric Bibb works with numerous musicians throughout the world for this major project, Global Griot, that […]

[rating=9.00] This remarkable five-disc package commemorates the politically and racially volatile year of 1968 and the entire body of 120 singles issued by the iconic Stax label that year in Stax ’68, A Memphis Story.  We’ve all heard many of t these songs before, but in addition to getting them in one package, serious music […]

[rating=8.00] Soul/blues singer and guitarist, New Englander Dave Keller debuts on Catfood Records, the home of his mentor Johnny Rawls, James Armstrong, Barbara Carr and others in the soul/blues field. Every Soul’s a Star is a breakthrough for Keller who first caught attention by singing on Ronnie Earl’s Living in the Light. Since then he’s […]

[rating=8.00] Names like Bonamassa, Guy, and Popovic get lots more headlines but Kirk Fletcher belongs right there with them as simply one of the most powerful, fiery guitarists playing now.  His new album, Hold On, unleashes his guitar fury, in a trio configuration of just drums and keyboards. Fletcher also sings but mostly just plays […]

[rating=8.00] Jason Isbell has been the top winner at the annual Americana Awards Show for the past three years on the strength of three excellent albums and riveting live shows.  This set, mostly culled from Nashville’s fabled Ryman Auditorium last year demonstrates why he and his band, The 400 Unit, can seemingly do no wrong […]

[rating=8.00] This could well be one of the most unusual and interesting albums you’ve heard.  Yes, this is a banner year for cross -genre efforts and we’ve recently heard the merging of classical and jazz from Kamasi Washington and Wayne Shorter to name just a couple of artists.  Robert Glasper blended several genres with R+R=Now […]

[rating=8.00] Boston’s Sarah Borges & The Broken Singles reunite with producer and guitarist Eric “Roscoe” Ambel to let loose with their patented, fiery brand of rock n’ roll. Borges has been on the scene for over a decade now as a bandleader, solo act, and now bandleader again. She’s made seven records, tours relentlessly, and […]

[rating=8.00] This is John Hiatt’s first album in four years and 23rd overall, enlisting producer and stellar keyboardist Kevin McKendree who has done excellent work for Delbert McClinton and Tinsley Ellis to name just a couple. This marks a departure from Hiatt’s association with Doug Lancio as guitarist and/or producer for his previous three albums. […]

[rating=8.00] This is only Amy Helm’s second solo album and if you’ve been to her rocking, infectious live shows it may surprise you. Helm is essentially restrained throughout This Too Shall Light, choosing a subtler, but still passionate approach with an intense focus on  caressing rather than belting every note she sings and then wrapping […]

[ratomg The kick in the Brandy Alexander is the cognac/brandy, smoothed out by fresh cream and crème de cacao.  This new soul-rock band from Brooklyn takes their name from the cocktail as powerhouse vocalist Brandi Thompson delivers plenty of kick, while her supporting Alexanders flesh out the sound, not necessarily smoothly but more often with […]

[rating=8.00] Will Hoge’s My American Dream has a copy of the U.S. Constitution printed with the lyrics in both the LP and CD, clearly signaling the messages within. Hoge is Americana’s answer to the late Gil Scott-Heron here, holding little back. Or, hearken back to Neil Young’s “Southern Man” – that’s the tone. In fact, […]

This is a year to see lost albums resurface mysteriously in a few genres now. Of course, John Coltrane made the biggest splash with June’s “Both Directions at Once.” Now we have what some have referred to as the third member of jazz’s ‘holy trinity’ (Miles, Trane, Monk) follow with a lost live recording from […]

[rating=7.00] Randy Waldman may be best known as Barbara Streisand’s pianist for over 30 years, but his career is wide-spanning, having performed and toured with the biggest names in jazz, R&B, and pop. His work can be heard in hundreds of movies, television shows and albums. Waldman won a Grammy for co-arranging “Somewhere” on Streisand’s […]