Album Reviews

On “I Sing Them”, the midpoint of Ty Segall’s newest release First Taste, he declares his artistic mission statement, “I sing my song so I am free/I sing my song and sound like me/You know that I don’t care. I’ll sing my songs though no one’s there”. The insanely prolific artist just keeps pumping out […]

The Country Blues of John Lee Hooker from 1959 was long before “One Bourbon, One Scotch, One Beer, “Boogie Chillun” and ”Dimples” but the groundwork for such fare is here from this re-issue from Craft Recordings. In fact, much of the phraseology you’ve been accustomed to in blues songs is right here. “Black Snake” gave […]

Mentions of music festivals in the summer of 1969 usually bring one name to mind for most – Woodstock. Blues fans, however, point to the Ann Arbor Blues Festival, the first American festival totally devoted to blues music, and the blueprint for all that have followed. This is the strongest lineup of blues musicians ever […]

Hotel Last Resort, the 10th album from playfully abrasive folk-punk institution Violent Femmes, is a quick enjoyable listen of mostly two and a half minute songs. Singer/guitarist Gordon Gano’s vocals are front and center, the heart of the tracks – one of the band’s strongest assets if you’re into that sort of thing (which, if […]

Texas singer-songwriter Adam Carroll released his own I Walked in Them Shoes just this past April and many accompanying stories mentioned the chemistry that he, his wife, Chris, have in live performance. Since marrying in 2013, they have been touring together, first as co-headliners, then as a duo. So, this anticipated album is a result […]

Timed to coincide with his special opening Friday night concert at the Newport Jazz Festival, pianist/ Jon Batiste is issuing a live set from his residency at NYC’s Village Vanguard in the fall of 2018.  The rather short set of five selections features three Batiste originals as well as a vocal turn from Lake Street […]

Particle Kid, while for all intents and purposes considered a full band, is largely the solo project of Micah Nelson. If the surname Nelson gets your music royalty sensors tingling – and you’re not put off by the undoubtedly millions of Nelsons in the world – well rest assured they’re functioning as they should. Micah […]

Guesswork is the ideal title for the fifteenth Lloyd Cole album. The iconoclastic British expat seems to release new work, including box sets like Lloyd Cole and the Commotions Collected Recordings 1983-1988  and  Lloyd Cole in New York – Collected Recordings 1988-1996, simply to remind us how, since first making a splash in the Eighties […]

It’s surprising to realize that Fire Out of Stone is only Austin’s Chuck Hawthorne’s second album. Right away, he presents himself as a fearless songwriter with the opening verse to “Such Is Life (C’est La Vie),”about a biker’s last ride – “He smelled like marijuana/ Two finger cologne/He smoked his Regal cigarettes/ Through an ancient […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on Western Stars, the new solo album from Bruce Springsteen, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

Sixty years on, living legend Delbert McClinton hasn’t lost a bit of steam.  Tall, Dark & Handsome marks a return to his signature roadhouse rocking blues sound as his last effort, Prick of the Litter, ventured into a late-night jazz club vibe.  Surely, he mixes it up with some swing, Tex-Mex and other stylings but […]

It’s not unusual for an album to be described as a blast from the past. You can definitely say that about Ian Ferguson’s new album State of Gold, although that may be understating it. Ferguson has done such an effective job of capturing the sounds of the past that it sounds like this album could […]

Casual music fans may know only one or two Steve Goodman songs, if that many. Sure, they know “City of New Orleans” and probably “You Never Even Called Me By My Name” but may not realize that Goodman wrote those songs, among many others. With these two reissues, the live Artistic Hair and his last […]

In the latest Wannabe, artist Chris Prunckle offers his illustrated commentary on Strange Chemistry, the new album from alt-country outfit Have Gun, Will Travel, in his signature six-panel comic strip form. Click on the image for full resolution (best viewed on desktop):

Twelve albums in, we’ve long come to know Rod Picott as one of the most raw and honest songwriters in the genre, but he takes it to his most intimate, and deeply personal level with Tell the Truth & Shame the Devil. He leaves little room for interpretation here by providing all the lyrics and […]

One criticism that some people have of reggae is that it can be a bit formulaic. Even if that is the case, some bands create reggae that is anything but formulaic. On the new album Crazy for Jane, Locos por Juana shows that a reggae album doesn’t have to follow any particular pattern. For example, […]

Tycho’s music has always been difficult to classify. Too upbeat to be truly ambient, but nonetheless fulfilling a similar purpose in its undeniable chillness. The characteristic clean guitar motifs have shades of post-rock about them, the samples and beats reminiscent of chillwave electronica, while all awash in a mellow haze of delay and reverb making […]

Each and every Garcia Live vault release carries its own mark(s) of distinction and Volume 11 is no exception. Recorded in Providence, Rhode Island on what would be the Jerry Garcia Band’s final East Coast sojourn,  the two-CD set captures band’s most acclaimed line up in 1991 on a followup to their biggest arena tour […]

Christina LaRocca’s These Are My Whiskey Dreams is a vocal tour de force for an artist with only her third two full length album and two EPs.  The evolving songstress is restless, relatively genre agnostic, and courageous enough to vary her palette confident that her strong, soulful vocal pipes will carry her through. She originally […]

It’s admirable to take on the endeavor of creating that special night of The Band’s Last Waltz from 1976. While it’s impossible to recreate the magic and spontaneity of that evening, San Diego’s band, Mrs. Henry, (named after a Band song from The Basement Tapes), and their star-studded cast of friends did a fantastic job […]