Album Reviews

Like a lot of artists, Sweetlove’s introduction to music came in a church. That gave her a good background and preparation for singing backing vocals for Grammy-nominated and Tony-winning artists. Also, like many other artists, Sweetlove found herself creating as a way to deal with some pretty serious emotion. The new EP Goodnight, Lover was born […]

As the 90’s drew to a close and Britpop was declining in favor, Travis released their sophomore album The Man Who with its single “Why Does It Always Rain On Me?” and brought attention to the post-Britpop movement. However, before their breakout album, The Man Who, Travis’ debut album Good Feeling had already been making […]

They’re Calling Me Home is the follow-up to Rhiannon Giddens’ Grammy- nominated 2019 album with Francesco Turrisi, there is no Other which we covered on these pages. As you learned then, as that album was recorded in Dublin, that Giddens and Turrisi both live in Ireland when they aren’t on tour. They have been there since March 2020 […]

This ambitious project pairs the versatile reedman Greg Abate with NEA Jazz Master, pianist and composer Kenny Barron across two discs of all Kenny Barron material, altered and reworked by Abate, and recorded with the stellar rhythm trio of Barron, bassist Dezron Douglas, and drummer Johnathan Blake at Rudy Van Gelder’s famed studio. Magic Dance: […]

The living legend, drummer Steve Gadd, is still very much at it. Gadd, of course, won a Grammy in 2019 with this band (or the core of it) and boasts a resume like few others.  This live date, At Blue Note Tokyo, is one of his groove steady outings as he lays mostly in the […]

If the press materials are to be believed, Athens-GA-based Haunted Shed came to be when singer/songwriter Etienne de Rocher pulled together some local musicians to help provide some ambiance and spooky vibes for an impromptu haunted house in his backyard shed. Hence the band’s name, and regardless of the truth, always print the legend! And […]

What began as the project of one disaffected culture journalist is now, some seven years later, a six-headed beast. Charles de Boisseguin had carved out a niche for himself as a respected journalist. As a critic, Boisseguin had a burning conviction that he could no longer disparage the works of others until he had a […]

Debut albums are relatively rare on these pages. Enter resonator-playing, foot-stomping Cristina Vane, different enough to merit our attention on her first recording, Nowhere Sounds Lovely. The headline connotes blues, which is fundamental to her sound, but mountain music, folk music, and even western waltzes are part of her widely encompassing sound. Born in Italy […]

Most of us know all these songs so well that we can likely sing many of them word for word. Yes, The Weight Band on this outing is a cover band but one of the first order, with members having played in The Band or in the Levon Helm Band, or both. Instrumentally, they can […]

Singer-songwriter-guitarist Jon Klages, who helped create the Hoboken Sound as lead guitarist for the Individuals, returns with an eclectic mix of originals and instrumentals that provide a broad view of his artistry on Fabulous Twilight. While Klages belongs in the same conversation as the dB’s, Continental drifters, and The Bongos: you may also recall his […]

Esther Rose is a singer-songwriter whose sound, despite being steeped in classic country, is very much her own. It has earned her a spot opening for Nick Lowe as well as being asked to sing on Jack White’s latest album.  Her new solo album How Many Times was written over the course of two years […]

On his self-tiled debut, 20-year-old Jackson Scribner shows a remarkable talent not only for writing a solid folk song, but in harnessing a voice laden in emotion.  It’s hard not to draw parallels to Sammy Brue, another extremely talented folk/Americana wunderkind, but Scribner also manages to strike out his own unique identity on the debut, […]

For the most devoted music lovers, Peachheads or otherwise, the Allman Brothers’ superlative musicianship on Down in Texas ’71 will no doubt transcend many, if not all, the shortfalls of this archive release. And certainly, that’s as it should be, even as, with repeated listenings, the inadequacies of the package continue to nag, at least […]

It seems difficult to believe that the singer-songwriter and acclaimed guitarist Damon Fowler is here already with his eighth solo album. Fowler made a name for himself with a string of strong releases on Blind Pig, mixed in with self-released efforts and his wildly heralded brief stint with the southern super group Southern Hospitality. Consider […]

It has been over a decade since funk legend George Porter Jr. gathered his Runnin’ Pardners for a full-length studio album and their return, Crying For Hope, is a rock-solid showing of the funk which has been the basis of Porter’s sound for over half a century.  The record opens with the topical title song […]

Peter Silberman, the man behind beloved indie outfit The Antlers, has built his career on grand, conceptual catharsis. Every album in The Antlers oeuvre, especially their undeniable apex, 2009s Hospice, builds its theatrics on Silberman’s emotive persona. Combining anguish and euphoria in his lyricism with an equally timid and incensed delivery, the singer is often […]

The fourth album from Canadian duo Death from Above 1979 is an energetic collection of dance-punk that melds savage ferocity with infectious hooks. Is 4 Lovers follows the style of its predecessors, delivering impossibly heavy drum beats and virtuoso bass riffs with hard-charging aggression. Throughout the album, Jesse F. Keeler’s basslines vary from dance grooves […]

When you think of soul music, you probably think about places like Detroit and Philadelphia, not Lincoln, Nebraska. However, Lincoln is home to Josh Hoyer and Soul Colossal, a band that plays ultra-groovy soul music that is influenced by the sounds of Motown and Stax. The new album Natural Born Hustler was produced by Eddie […]

Tower of Power celebrates its half-century milestone in high style with 50 Years of Funk & Soul. Rather than a de rigeur rehash of past glories, of which there are admittedly more than a few, the band documents the expansion of its personnel and repertoire on a colorfully-designed and extensively annotated two-CD plus DVD package. […]

California born and raised and now Nashville ex-resident Brigitte DeMeyer made several strong records while in Music City, collaborating with Buddy Miller and more recently with Will Kimbrough. As she now returns to her native state, she brings with her another gem, Seeker, co-written and produced by Jano Rix, The Wood Brothers multi-instrumentalist, who also […]