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Rich Kienzle
Chris Stapleton
Higher
Chris Stapleton’s distinctive style – blending elements of Outlaw country with high-caliber original songs, powerful vocals, and a minimalist, edgy sound – proves Nashville artists can prosper without mindless “bro-country” formulas. Stapleton has earned every bit of critical acclaim and commercial success he’s enjoyed. There are just two guitarists on these 14 numbers – Stapleton…
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Rich Kienzle
Jerry Kennedy
A-Team Guitarist, A-List Producer
Jerry Glenn Kennedy, a 13-year-old who recorded for RCA Victor as “Jerry Glenn,” got the shock of his young life when he walked into a Nashville recording studio in September of 1953. • There, among the studio band hired to accompany him, was his ultimate guitar idol – Chet Atkins. “When I saw him, I…
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Rich Kienzle
Coco Montoya
Writing on the Wall
Since his debut album in 1995, Coco Montoya – who cut his teeth with fellow southpaw Albert Collins and John Mayall – built a reputation marked by skill and feel. His ninth album was recorded with his touring band and a few guests. The result is 13 tracks featuring powerful vocals and rip-roaring, incandescent virtuosity,…
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Rich Kienzle
Kenny Wayne Shepherd
Dirt on My Diamonds, Vol. 1
It’s easy to summarize Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s raw-yet-modern blues approach. Joined by co-vocalist Noah Hunt, Shepherd delivers a lyric straight up. His remarkable guitar chops allow him to create riveting instrumental interludes that excite yet never overstay their welcome. He doesn’t constantly quote licks from past greats, yet on every break his ideas carry their…
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Rich Kienzle
Raul Malo
Say Less
Raul Malo’s passionate, searing vocals helped define the Mavericks from the early ’90s on. Malo blended his Cuban-American roots into the band’s rich, varied sound, as they embraced rockabilly, classic country, pop ballads, Vegas jump-jive-wail music and anything else that caught their fancy. Malo did the same on his various solo projects; this one, however,…
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Rich Kienzle
Vince Gill & Paul Franklin
Sweet Memories: The Music of Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys
Ray Price (1926-2013) created a distinctive hard-country sound in the ’50s, combining his powerful vocals with the iconic Cherokee Cowboys, a fiddle/pedal-steel band echoing the honky-tonk and Western swing of Price’s native Texas. Cowboys alumni included some of Nashville’s greatest instrumentalists along with singer Johnny Paycheck and Country-Hall-of-Famers Willie Nelson and Roger Miller. Vince Gill…
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Rich Kienzle
Vince Gill & Paul Franklin
Homage to Ray Price
Vince Gill and longtime friend, collaborator, and pedal-steel giant Paul Franklin share a love of country music history. Bakersfield, their 2013 collaboration, paid homage to the timeless, twang-heavy music of Buck Owens and Merle Haggard. Sweet Memories: The Music of Ray Price and the Cherokee Cowboys celebrates the late, iconic Texas singer and his Western-swing…
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Rich Kienzle
Hot Tuna
Live at Sweetwater / Live in Japan
Jorma Kaukonen, who started as an acoustic folk-blues guitarist, returned to that style in 1969 when he and bassist Jack Casady formed Hot Tuna. Recordings from their early gigs at Bay Area clubs made up their 1970 debut LP. While the lineup has varied over the past half-century, the duo’s roots focus remains a constant.…
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Rich Kienzle
Tommy Emmanuel
Accomplice Two
On this rich, diverse collection of duets, Emmanuel and Billy Strings get right to it with an exuberant medley of Doc Watson’s “Doc’s Guitar/Black Mountain Rag.” Emmanuel’s free-flowing fingerstyle kicks things off, followed by Strings and his flawless flatpicking. He and Mavericks vocalist Raul Malo create a nuanced, reflective, rendition of the pop ballad “Faraway…
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Rich Kienzle
Cash Box Kings
Oscar’s Motel
For two decades, the Cash Box Kings have stood apart from the multitudes of “blues bands” that focus on bar-band rock, not actual blues. Inspired by the 1940s-’60s Chicago sounds of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, and Little Walter, the Kings stay true to the roots, even on original tunes. Singer/harmonica player Joe Nosek, vocalist Oscar…
