Actor and guitarist Guy Davis is all about the blues. His new two-CD set combines his talents to create an audio play, blending storytelling with music. The result is a musical odyssey of a make-believe bluesman packed with all the stellar deep blues fingerpicking and slide work of which Davis is so capable. Davis grew [...]
Translated, the title of this album reads “Swing From The Heart Of Paris.” But that only begins to sum up Rocky and Mundine Garcia and their musical home. The Garcias are stalwarts of La Chope des Puces, the tiny bar in the center of the Paris flea market just around the corner and paces away [...]
Think Detroit rock and roll – the MC5 and Iggy by way of Ted Nugent and Kid Rock: gear-grinding rock with plenty of volume and aggression. Throw in some Hendrix, Guns N’ Roses, and even some SRV. That gets you close to describing the antics of Kenny Olson Cartel. Olson formed the Twisted Brown Trucker [...]
Molly Maher is blessed. She writes songs that ring true. Her singing is a fine balance of deep and soulful, somewhere between Lucinda Williams and Emmylou Harris. And to top it all, she picks a mean guitar. On her fourth release, she leads her loose-knit Disbelievers through a sweet blend of folk, bluesy, and countryfried [...]
Think of Holden as the Velvet Underground with a French accent. This noise-pop duo differs, however, in chronicling not the wild side of the ’60s, but the existential estrangement of modern-day life – all set to haunting vocals and swirling guitars a la Nico and Lou Reed. At its heart, Holden is the partnership of [...]
If you listen to Wanda Jackson’s ’50s rockabilly and country recordings, you know she didn’t need Jack White. Cuts like “Let’s Have a Party” were shockers to mainstream decorum – especially when they came from a gravelly-voiced, sweet-looking, hard-rocking young woman. Now, in 2011, White adds his production sense, label, and guitar, and proves the [...]
Paul Pigat is a believer in the Big Twang. Based in Vancouver, he plays guitar like he was born under a bad neon sign in Memphis. Pigat is the guitarist, composer, and bandleader of Cousin Harley, a roots/ rockabilly combo backed by string bassman Keith Picot and drummer Jesse Cahill. Pigat picks with abandon and [...]
African-American jazzman Eddie South was known as the Dark Angel of the Violin. His moody compositions and hot solos were influenced strongly by Eastern European Gypsies, with whom he studied. And it was thus little surprise that Django Reinhardt sought him out to play together before joining forces with Stéphane Grappelli. The group Violinjazz seeks [...]
Florence Joelle sings rock and roll like Billie Holiday might, croons a torch ballad as Wanda Jackson may, and spices it all with a bit of Patti Smith attitude. Add to that Joelle’s French accent by way of London’s Camden Town, plus a wardrobe of silk and satin vintage evening dresses that can cause whiplash. [...]
Jazzman Kenny Burrell boasts some 40 records to his name as a leader and dozens more as the consummate sideman. Amazingly, he still has much more to say and, on this new solo record, speaks with eloquence. Burrell made his recording debut in 1951 with Dizzy Gillespie’s sextet. Now, six decades on, he remains one [...]
