There’s always been a bit of seediness in American culture and Steakhouse have managed to translate some of that destitution into digestible little snippets on their upcoming album Amer Rouge.
Captain Kirk Douglas is already a legend to so many, but he’s not ready to settle. The Roots’ guitarist stepped out as a frontman back in 2019 under the moniker Hundred Watt Heart with his debut solo album Turbulent Times.
Whoever would’ve thought that, with forty-five years of hindsight, The Ramones’ Rocket to Russia (released 11/4/77) would become so topically relevant? But all political and cultural issues aside, the prototypical punks’ third album both looks (in its black and hot pink color scheme) and sounds (in the comparative clarity of crashing guitars and drums) like their definitive work. And while it doesn’t quite render obsolete their eponymous debut or their resounding reiteration of that opening statement in the form of the sophomore album Leave Home, it certainly functions as a reliable benchmark for the genesis of punk.
It only stands to reason Bob Dylan would return to his roots with Good As I Been To You (released 11/3/92). The /solo acoustic foray comprised exclusively of traditional material harkens directly to this earliest folk roots and, with three decades hindsight sounds like the perfect antidote to the misconceived and clumsily-executed studio efforts of the era, 1985’s Empire Burlesque, mixed by Arther Baker and five years later, Under The Red Sky, produced by Don Wa
Not only does Olli Hirvonen fuse jazz with Americana, but he adds slide guitar, and fashions an airier, lighter overall sonic due to both his own playing and that of bassist Kenney, who plays a Fender Bass VI.
Though no stranger to delicate Americana heart-tugging music, on Love Songs For Losers, The Lone Bellow’s fifth LP and second in two years, the band once again traces scars of loneliness and hurt, but also offers some reflection on love and joy throughout making for one of their most eclectic albums yet, both musically and thematically.
The first solo release from Dean Fertita as Tropical Gothclub is a mix of all the dark and somewhat exotic bands he has played in and supported over the years: Queens of the Stone Age, The Dead Weather, and The Raconteurs.
The new SmallsLIVE Living Masters Series has issued Kirk Lightsey Live at Smalls Jazz Club, their second offering, following this past August’s release of vocalist Sheila Jordan’s Live at Mezzrow. As the series name implies, these recordings honor the best of iconic jazz musicians that are still with us.
Aside from being a great improvisational drummer, Paul Motian is perhaps best known for his composing. Motian was the ideal artist for the dream-like ethereal sounds often captured by the ECM label on which this tribute Once Around the Room appears. His melodies seem to drift like shrouds of mist above a foundation, sometimes shifting but more often sturdy. It’s the kind of music that places a premium on listening and group interplay rather than a series of solos.
We spoke with Mike Ryan about playing performing at the Grand Ole Opry, his new album ‘Longcut’ and more.
