Reviews

Falling somewhere between Hope Floats and Roadhouse, Gruene Hall is about forty minutes south of Austin and holds the elite claim of being Texas’ oldest dang dancehall. Between the wood plank floors and lack of air conditioning and windows, it’s hard to dispute this fact. It is the type of place that most people think […]

As noted in their introduction to the stage, it was almost exactly nine years prior that Los Lobos appeared in this homey northern New Hampshire venue to play a largely acoustic two sets of music. In 2014, however, the circumstances were markedly different, making for a uniformly memorable performance, the intimacy of which may have […]

Raleigh has fully embraced the IBMA (International Bluegrass Music Association) World of Bluegrass festival, award show, and industry gathering. Or maybe the IBMA has totally embraced Raleigh. In any event, the two entities are hugging powerfully, and bluegrass music fans aren’t the only benefactors. The event, which stretches for 5 days and concludes with a […]

Anyone who falls in love with Wakey!Wakey! on the remaining dates of the Salvation Stripped tour owes that lure to frontman Michael Grubbs. Most famous for his cameo role on The WB’s young-adult drama One Tree Hill, Grubbs “stripped” down his latest album Salvation from its electronic and pop-filled catalog to a show with only […]

[rating=8.00] Hot Rize is one of the most influential and pioneering bluegrass bands of the last 35 years.  In 1978, Hot Rize began conjuring up their addicting brand of Colorado bluegrass that honors the traditional while embracing their own influences of blues, country, and celtic music.  They have influenced a wide range of popular artists […]

Beer and metal music go together like coffee and pie, so what better way to celebrate the largest beer festival and competition in North America than to throw a concert. In this case it was four esteemed breweries from around the country – Denver’s TRVE Brewing, Indiana’s 3Floyds, Texas’ Real Ale, and Minnesota’s Surly – […]

A small army of  veteran rockers assembled for a rare performance inspired by the music of Big Star, joined by an orchestra led by master collaborator and conductor Van Dyke Parks. Big Star, for the uninitiated was, perhaps, one of the first non commercial rock bands who helped form the sub genre “power pop” prior […]

[rating=8.00] It’s always been apparent in Luke Winslow King’s music that he’s a New Orleans-based artist. The warm blend of blues, jazz, and folk is so smooth you can practically smell the sweet chicory coffee. But on his latest record, Everlasting Arms, that presence is more prevalent than ever before. Perhaps the most contemporary of […]

[rating=8.00] On Caribou’s sixth album, Dan Snaith latches on to what people loved about his last albums to create Our Love: an album that is both conceptual and inviting. The concept is love. Snaith clarifies though that he is not talking about “the kind of pubescent ‘love at first sight’ new love or in the […]

The show was billed as an evening underneath the stars at Gundlach Bundschu Winery and the winery’s website stated that “the current touring iteration of the Dave Rawlings Machine will provide a night of distinctive picking, high lonesome songs, and many other fine acoustic entertainments. “  Indeed, this was an almost perfect description of the […]

[rating=9.00] Jackson Browne’s previous two studio albums, The Naked Ride Home and Time the Conqueror, are earmarked as much by the sympathetic and authoritative accompaniment of the musicians as the literacy and passion of the compositions. Standing in the Breach follows suit in both respects, but also  elevates Browne’s well-established skills as a recording artist, […]

Lydia Loveless is a touring machine, garnering more and more attention with each show she plays. And when she played the intimate Studio at Webster Hall on Sunday, September 28th, it was easily one of her best shows ever. It was the final night of the tour for her and her powerhouse band of Todd […]

[rating=7.00] The many changing ways in which we approach albums makes it difficult to say whether the format itself is on its last legs. Perhaps Weird Al’s singles-focused approach is what’s right for this morphing medium. Or maybe Thom Yorke has struck gold with a BitTorrent bundle, whatever the hell that happens to be. Regardless […]

It wasn’t clear whether or not anyone in the audience at Rough Trade in Brooklyn knew what they were in for when Christopher Denny took the stage on September 15th. Opening for beloved Philly band Strand of Oaks (a seemingly odd pairing), Denny stood unassumingly on stage with his guitar and played a stunning set. […]

Part concert, part frat party, and part religious revival, Vintage Trouble’s Boston performance last Tuesday was one hell of a good time. From the opening notes of the double timed blues progression of “High Times” lead singer Ty Taylor, whose stage persona exhibits a strange combination of James Brown and Iggy Pop, he made it […]

[rating=8.00] Once an unknown band that lurked in the shadows while releasing tracks anonymously, with its full-length debut Sir Sly shines a light on an immense talent for creating infectious pop hooks. You Haunt Me is in a sense the band’s proper debut album, with all four songs from the Gold EP re-released here. With […]

[rating=8.00] Garcia Live Volume Four stands as a testament to the wealth of material available for the on-going archive project. In fact, this two-disc set, from a Colorado stop on a tour with Robert Hunter, might well serve as a template for the series in terms of song selection, performance and packaging. It’s well nigh […]

Denver five-piece Ark Life played Glasslands on September 27th, sandwiched between sets from Nevada Nevada and The Spring Standards. With only a little less than an hour on the stage, they made the most of it, sharing their big sound with the small, but packed room. Led by These United States’ Jesse Elliott in all […]

Looking more American than Colonel Sanders these days in cool (weather-wise) Hawaii shirt and trade-mark moustache, Manny Charlton is now an ex-pat in Texas who was born in Spain in 1941 but started his career in Dunfermline Scotland. Homeland of the Sensational Alex Harvey Band, Teargas (from which SAHB grew), Beggars Opera, Writing on the […]

Nestled in amongst some trees and long stretches of highway is a community which has over the past couple of years been building a small oasis by bringing some music to their laid back part of the state in Louisiana. A hidden little gem known as the Bogalusa Blues & Heritage Festival, it doesn’t need […]