Calexico: Garden Ruin
For the better part of ten years, Calexico has sounded like no other experimental rock outfit. Where else can you hear mariachi singers, marimbas and happy trumpets with shades of highway Americana? Recently reaching the Billboard 200 album chart with their 2005 In the Reins collaboration with Iron & Wine, Calexico
Loose Fur: Born Again In The USA
Side projects have become a hit or miss avenue. For every novel Postal Service, there is an over-hyped Velvet Revolver with the whole
Shooter Jennings : Martini Ranch, Scottsdale, AZ 3/15/2006
With a back up band that looks more L.A. than Nashville, it’s hard to take Shooter for straight up country, especially when he says, “we’re country music,” while one guitar riff teases Black Sabbath’s “Sweet Leaf,” and another purges in psychedelic excess.
I Am The Resurrection: A Tribute to John Fahey: Various Artists
These are nice musical variations, and each artist retains their own style, but I Am The Resurrection isn
The Minus Five: The Gun Album
As a collective, the latest from The Minus 5 is summed up by “Cigarettes Coffee and Booze” and “Twilight Distillery,” two substance flavored tracks that toy with rockabilly, country and jangly pop. Sure, we’ve heard this all before with The Minus 5, but it’s the guests that keep you coming back. “The Gun Album” is no exception.
Neil Young – Heart of Gold: Directed by Jonathan Demme
For his latest escapade to the big screen, Young hooked up with director
Jonathan Demme to capture his recent “Nashville phase” during two nights in August of 2005 at the hallowed Ryman Auditorium.
Jenny Lewis with The Watson Twins: Rabbit Fur Coat
Jenny Lewis, The Rilo Kiley front-woman has struggled with her child star-meets-sex symbol status with grace, yet after a summer of opening the big sheds for Coldplay, you knew her star was about to shine brighter. Rabbit Fur Coat reinvents Lewis as a brainy borderline diva, who merges her indie spunk with cozy bygone harmonies.