• Smith/Kotzen

    Music

    Smith/Kotzen

    Black Light/White Noise

    This is the third album from rock veterans Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs). The busy axeslingers – especially Kotzen, who is always involved in solo and band projects – released their full-length debut and an EP in 2021. Smith-Kotzen has happily blossomed into a going concern. What’s interesting about Smith/Kotzen’s

    Read more >>

Juicy Lucy

Juicy Lucy/Lie Back and Enjoy It/Get A Whiff A This

Any discussion of unsung guitar greats needs to include Glenn Ross Campbell. Thankfully, his work with Juicy Lucy is documented on this two-CD three-fer. Between Freddie Roulette playing Chicago blues on lap steel…

Selwyn Birchwood

Living In a Burning House

Selwyn Birchwood’s third album for Chicago-based Alligator Records represents new creative frontiers for the 36-year-old Florida native. The robust use of keyboards and baritone sax makes it his most sonically expansive effort to…

Marcus King

Young Blood

Young gun Marcus King enlists Dan Auerbach of The Black Keys as producer on this latest project. Young Blood combines blues, rock, and a pervasive swampy feel with southern-fried vocals and mondo guitar…

R.L. Burnside – Well… Well… Well

Well… Well… Well

If you’ve ever heard R.L. Burnside play, you’ll know the significance of this album’s title; “Well… well… well” is one of his pet phrases, a constant punctuation to his conversation. Burnside is a…

Chris Hillman

Flying High

To understand this album’s significance, it’s worth recounting the highlights of Chris Hillman’s distinguished career. An admired West Coast bluegrass musician, in 1964 he picked up an electric bass and joined the original…

Cage the Elephant – Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked

Brothers Brad and Matt Schultz had a rough youth in small-town Kentucky, where music, money and hope were hard to find. Growing up in an eventually broken home with six people squeezed into…

John Lennon – Rock ‘N’ Roll

In 1975, ex-Beatle Lennon paid homage to his rock and roll roots – something Paul McCartney wouldn’t get around to until 1999’s Run Devil Run. Lennon’s early-rock credentials were beyond repute, as anyone…

The Yardbirds – Birdland

Birdland

It’s hard not to be skeptical over every “reunion” that comes along when you’ve got Toad The Wet Sprocket reuniting after all these years – five to be exact. If that’s a reunion,…

Justin Currie – The Great War

Rykodisc

Justin Currie was bassist, lead singer, primary songwriter, and co-founder of the Scottish band Del Amitri, which didn’t make much of a splash outside their native U.K. circa 1980 because they simply came…

Buck Page – Right Place To Start

There have been more than one group known as the Riders Of The Purple Sage (not counting country-rock’s New Riders Of The Purple Sage). In 1936, Buck Page was a founding member of…

Leslie West – Blues to Die For

Mountain had just one real hit – the two-and-a-half-minute blast of “Mississippi Queen” can still be heard on classic rock radio. And while it has a 12-bar structure, it isn’t a blues song.…

Jamey Johnson

Like earlier country outlaws, Jamey Johnson forges his own paths while never forgetting his forebears. One is singer-composer Hank Cochran, who died in 2010. A giant among Nashville writers, Cochran wrote many tunes…

Andy Brown

Chicago-based Andy Brown is 40 years old – meaning that some of the songs here were popular decades before he was born, as well as illustrating his maturity, along with the fact that…

Squirrel Nut Zippers

Beasts of Burgundy

Rare it is when a band forms, blows the doors off with their music, falls apart, regroups – and hits new highs. In fact, this first new album from the Squirrel Nut Zippers…

Brian Setzer

Sparking Another Rockabilly Riot

Three decades, umpteen records, and several stellar bands into his career, and Brian Setzer still makes rockabilly sound fresh and exciting. This album has much of the verve of his debut, 1981’s Stray…

Groovy Eyes – High Flyin’ But No Foolin’

High Flyin' But No Foolin'

What the hell’s going on in Finland? It seems like every act I hear from there is amazing, regardless of genre – from the instrumental surf of Laika & The Cosmonauts to the…

Carrie Elkin

Red House Records

How many versions of the song “If That Mocking Bird Don’t Sing” have you heard? I’ve listened to more than I can count on all my digits. So when I heard Carrie Elkin…

Vandenberg’s Moonkings

He’s had a decade away from the spotlight, but former Whitesnake guitarist Adrian Vandenberg has returned with Vandenberg’s MoonKings. After a false start with the ill-fated Manic Eden starring Rudy Sarzo and Tommy…

Neil Young

Hitchhiker

Neil Young fanatics known to obsess over a not-so-secret history of unreleased albums were agog at the announcement the mercurial Canadian would finally offer one of these scuttled LPs as an official release.…

San Francisco String Trio

May I Introduce to You

As the title may tell, here’s yet another collection of Beatles tunes – this one entirely from Sgt. Pepper – done mostly in the form of jazz instrumentals. The trio is Mimi Fox…

John Monteleone

The Chisels Are Calling

Captured in this documentary, John Monteleone’s hand-crafted fretted instruments draw inspiration from the past. His chief inspirations are legendary guitar craftsmen John D’Angelico and Jimmy D’Aquisto, and he incorporates untraditional design ideas such…

The Aristocrats

The rock-fusion trio known as the Aristocrats are back with a second album fortified with artistic maturity from gigging around the world. With a stronger, more-cohesive musical vision, bassist Bryan Beller, drummer Marco…

David Lindley w/Wally Ingram – Live In Europe

The logical followup to the Lindley/Ingram Twango Bango studio CDs, this live counterpart features even better sound quality – with more definition, hotter drums, and fuller bass without sounding muddy. As for the…

Damon Fowler

Blind Pig

Damon Fowler has a smokyMemphis-like style of soul and blues at its peak on his third album. The combination infuses his originals (“After The Rain”) with a Southern rock feel that recalls Lynyrd…

David Gilmour

Interlude

This is David Gilmour’s fourth solo album – although some argue that the last three Pink Floyd albums (recorded without Roger Waters) were ostensibly Gilmour solo sets. Floyd or not, this record captures…

Phil Keaggy – Zion

Zion

Phil Keaggy doesn’t always get his due. Those of you familiar with his work know what I mean. He’s a marvelous singer and guitarist who’s been around awhile, but because he records mostly…

Dale Watson and his Lonestars

On Sundays, when he’s not on the road, Dale Watson and his band play the Texas Big T Roadhouse and host their Chicken S#!t Bingo game. This record captures the fun. It showcases…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Geoff Muldaur – Password

Geoff Muldaur has had a long, and at times, rocky career. He began as a principal member of the influential Jim Kweskin jug band and was instrumental in creating a funky ensemble sound…

Pete Levin

As with his last record, keyboard whiz Levin concentrates on the organ and invites outstanding guitarists to join him. Among those taking part here are John Cariddi, Mike DeMicco, Jesse Gress, and the…

Danny Gatton – Redneck Jazz Explosion Volume 1 and Volume 2

The Danny Gatton files have so much great stuff that we may be hearing from the genius of the guitar for quite some time. These two amazingly cool discs are from live sets…