• Paul Johnson

    Music

    Paul Johnson

    The Hepcats Live at the Ajax Novelty Company

    This isn’t live, there may not be an Ajax Novelty Company, and the three felines known as the Hepcats are actually the brainchild of Paul Johnson, whose Belairs were early-’60s pioneers of surf music. Suspend reality and dig how the “trio” expertly articulates layers of acoustic guitar. Across decades, Johnson has embraced folk-rock, psychedelia, and…

    Read more >>

Kenny Neal – Let Life Flow

Kenny Neal’s new release is full of blues and soul music of the highest standard. In fact, “Fly Away” alone is worth the price of admission, with its soaring soul tune with beautiful…

Kenny “Blue” Ray – Git It!

I’ve lost count! I believe this is Kenny’s sixth self-produced CD. And, as have its predecessors, Git It, his most recent effort, again illustrates Blue Ray’s dedication to the blues craft. Rumor has…

Bernard Allison – Higher Power

Writing songs about redemption, from personal experience, can be tricky. But in much the same way that Stevie Ray Vaughan exorcised his demons on In Step – in songs like “Wall Of Denial”…

Robert Gordon with Danny Gatton – Live:The Humbler

This terrific album comes from a cassette of a live show of Gordon’s in the early ’80s. The rockabilly/roots rock singer had just hired Gatton several shows earlier, and man does he cook.…

Ian Moore

Sparkle & Shine

Ian Moore and his gang make such a grand noise it’s hard to believe they’re only a trio. Moore and bass player Matt Harris wrote this disc full of high-quality pop music that…

Ron Thompson

Ron Thompson has been a fixture in the San Francisco blues scene for more than 40 years. But rather than gaining visibility and rocketing to stardom like, say, Robben Ford, he patiently paid…

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…

Tony Trischka – Double Banjo

Tony Trischka’s 35-year career has seen him play with Tony Rice, Mike Marshall, Darol Anger, Jerry Douglas, and David Grisman. He’s also Bela Fleck’s banjo teacher. And though he started as a bluegrass…

Frank Meyers

Impossibly Cool Guitars

Frank Meyers’ first axe was a ’63 Fujigen EJ2 – a cheap-o, two-pickup solidbody like so many Japanese electrics used by beginner guitarists the world over. Though unremarkable, it spurred in him a…

Joan Osborne – Pretty Little Stranger

“Versatile” doesn’t quite do justice to Joan Osborne’s uncanny range. One minute she’s guesting with the Chieftains, the next she’s touring with the Dead. Then she utterly steals the show in the Funk…

Seth Walker

Seth Walker has issued a string of fine records that come together in his latest. Walker and Dave Gross man the six-strings on a collection of strong cuts, and while the approach offers…

Pink Floyd

All The Songs

At nearly 600 pages, this massive coffee-table book will send Floydians into paroxysms of pleasure. Authors Philippe Margotin and Jean-Michel Guesdon craft encyclopedic entries on every single Pink Floyd song, including personnel, tracking…

The Marshall Tucker Band

Now and then, you hear young country and rock folks talk about the Marshall Tucker Band and how they influenced their music. And, of course, who hasn’t covered “Can’t You See”? What’s often…

Celebrating the 50th Anniversary of Sweetheart Of The Rodeo – Live!

Roger McGuinn & Chris Hillman with Marty Stuart

A premier folk-rock band morphing into psychedelia in the mid ’60s, the Byrds pioneered country-rock with 1968’s Sweetheart of the Rodeo. Personnel upheavals had seen David Crosby fired, Gene Clark going solo, and…

Led Zeppelin

Zep Deluxe

Jimmy Page has been actively promoting these fresh reissues of the Led Zeppelin catalog and, in fact, they are rather impressive. There are CD and vinyl versions, each with a remastered original album…

Robert Plant & the Strange Sensation – Soundstage

Robert Plant & the Strange Sensation, Soundstage. Robert Plant and his band, The Strange Sensation, play 11 songs; covers, old Zep songs, and newer Plant tunes. The band is the perfect complement, anchored…

The Clash – The Singles

Rarely in the history of music has so much been packaged so beautifully for so many. The Clash The Singles box is a glorious collection of the band’s original 19 singles, reissued on…

Johnny Winter – Deluxe Edition

When you think about it, Johnny Winter has had quite a career. And here, from Alligator Records, just to let you know it continues strong, is a set of cuts from his stint…

Omar & the Howlers – Big Delta

In his 22 years as a recording artist, Omar Dykes has churned out a steady stream of solid albums (more than a dozen to date), but lately seems to be on a creative…

Freddie King – Live at the Electric Ballroom, 1974

Originally released in 1996, this was recorded a couple years before Freddie’s death, and it captures him in full bloom. As you’d expect, the concert portion finds him blasting away from all angles…

James Kinds

Delmark

James Kinds is one of the overlooked maestros of the blues. In 1977, he was hailed as one of Chicago’s new generation greats – someone to keep an eye on, alongside Lurrie Bell,…

Joel Selvin

Every garage band owes Bert Berns. Without him 1960s radio would have been almost as dull as it is today. Berns shepherded the early careers of Van Morrison and Neil Diamond, and his…

George Jones – The Hits…’Till Now

Unlike some country greats, George Jones is no au courant object of fashion, and he’s not part of today’s you-can-hardly-tell-it’s-country music. From his earliest hits, when he was basically imitating Hank Williams, until…

Todd Rundgren

Todd Rundgren gets the BBC archival treatment, and the results are fantastic. This three-disc, single-DVD set of radio and TV performances is a perfect showcase for the dichotomy that is Todd – pop…

Bill Kirchen – King of Dieselbilly

Bill Kirchen – King of Dieselbilly You can smell the diesel as soon as the music starts pouring out of the speakers! Kirchen is a master guitarist who spent time with Commander Cody,…

The Mystick Krewe of Clearlight – Self Titled

Black Sabbath’s jamming with Deep Purple, but Ian Gillian and Ozzy are nowhere in sight (probably getting smashed at the bar), it’s 1972 New Orleans and swampy voodoo’s going down. Captain America and…

Envy of None

Envy of None

Let’s start with the obvious: Alex Lifeson’s new project sounds little like Rush. Billed as “dark, cinematic alt rock,” Envy of None pulls from ’90s industrial and early-2000s synth rock with electro-drums, pulsating…

Megan Slankard

(Self-distributed)

Megan Slankard is difficult to pigeonhole. Equal parts country soul, folk, pop, and alt rock, though still in her early 20s, Token of the Wreckage is her third disc, and amply demonstrates why…

Calvin Keys

To some, Calvin Keys is already a legend; to far too many, he’s an unsung hero or, worse, an unknown. In addition to being honored with Pat Metheny’s tribute “Calvin’s Keys,” on the…

Hot Club of Hulaville

Hulaville Recordings

When they hand out the Grammys for CD packaging, the Hot Club of Hulaville should have their acceptance speech ready. The deluxe edition comes in an air-mail-styled folder with separate replica Django Reinhardt…


Captain Beefheart

Ahead of His – or Anyone’s – Time

Simo

Rise and Shine