• 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…

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The Kinks – BBC Sessions, 1964-1977

Dave Davies is a great rock and roll guitar player. There, I’ve said it. And it’s high time he got the long-overdue recognition his talents deserve. I mean, put yourself in Dave’s place.…

Gene Clark – Silverado ’75

In a band that at various times included Roger McGuinn, Clarence White, Gram Parsons, Chris Hillman and David Crosby, Gene Clark wasn’t overshadowed. He wrote some of the group’s most recognized songs, including…

The Who

The Who with Orchestra, Live at Wembley

The raw power The Who displayed from their humble beginnings, nearly six decades ago, showed they didn’t need enhancements. But this 2019 show at London’s Wembley Stadium – their first there in four…

Ralph Stanley, II – This One is II

The expression “born into the business” applies to Ralph Stanley II. The son of Ralph Stanley and a nephew of Carter Stanley, “Two” as he’s often called when in his father’s presence, is…

Mark Knopfler

When it comes to inspired songwriting and guitar playing, Mark Knopfler’s not in dire straights. On his new solo album, he had so much material, he chose not to leave good songs on…

John Scofield and Eddie Henderson

Inakustik

These two new releases showcase guitarist John Scofield in far different ways. The DVD finds Scofield in a quartet setting and is the perfect vehicle for his skills, displaying chops on cuts like…

Poco

Collector’s Choice Music

Part of a new series that gathers unreleased live stuff, we find the first-generation country-rock band in transition. Even amidst many personnel changes, Poco’s focus was on harmony vocals and the pedal steel…

Jeff Golub – Do It Again

I can hear the naysayers already. They’ll call this album a boring, derivative, smooth jazz standerbearer. That’s fine. Listen closely, though, and you’ll hear a soulful guitarist doing heartfelt covers of some of…

Allman Brothers Band – Live at the Atlanta International Pop Festival Jul

I’ve had the argument many times that the original version of the Allman Brothers Band was the best blues-rock band in the history of rock. Many insist it’s Led Zeppelin. Others have their…

Delta Generators

If you like honky-tonk, rock and roll, roots, and blues, this new outing from the Delta Generators is one-stop shopping. Hellacious slide guitar and ballsy harmonica bump and grind against earthy American rock…

Derek and the Dominos

Polydor

Many supergroups lack true superpowers, but Derek and the Dominos was the real deal. Burned out on the supergroup phenom after his troubled times in Cream and Blind Faith, Eric Clapton sought anonymity…

Buck Owens and The Buckaroos – Carnegie Hall Concert

It almost seems silly to have to tell anyone about the Carnegie Hall disc. Widely regarded as a document of one of the best country bands performing live at its peak, it’s guaranteed…

Eric Clapton

Crossroads Festival 2019

Eric Clapton’s Crossroads Festival has become the guitar event since its inception in 1999. With a diverse cast of the greatest pickers in the world, the event is a fundraiser for Clapton’s drug…

Drive-By Truckers

ATO Records and Self-Distributed

It’s been less than a year since the Drive-By Truckers released The Big To-Do, but the songs on Go-Go Boots don’t suffer from the quick turnaround. An album considerably quieter than other DBT…

Bryan Sutton – Secrets for Flatpickers

Grab any top-selling country CD produced in the last five years that has acoustic instruments on it and chances are you’ll find Bryan Sutton credited with playing acoustic guitar. On Homespun Video’s latest…

Port City Prophets

The Prophets are a blues-rock bar band that brings around a lot of people to music they might not otherwise have heard. The PCPs will remind you of both Grand Funk and ZZ…

Jake Shimabukuro – Live

In his introduction to “While My Guitar Gently Weeps,” Shimabukuro explains how a video of him playing the George Harrison classic in Central Park, for New York’s Midnight Ukulele Disco, “changed my life.”…

Various Artists – The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers: A Tribute

The likes of Dylan, Mellencamp, Van Morrison, Dwight Yoakam, and many more cover the songs of one of country music’s pioneers. The covers mostly work. There are a few clinkers, but cuts like…

Warren Haynes

Million Voices Whisper

Warren Haynes’ first solo album since 2011 is an uplifting set that reflects am optimistic spirit of change and hope. With Haynes at the height of his superpowers on guitar and vocals, he…

Swervedriver

The shoegaze revival is peaking, so what better time for one of its leading lights to hop on the wagon while the hopping is hot, right? Not so fast. Swervedriver reunited seven years…

Kiss

Off the Soundboard: Poughkeepsie, NY

This 1984 concert is the only known soundboard recording with guitarist Mark St. John, whose tenure is one of the briefest chapters in Kisstory. St. John played on Animalize then developed a sudden…

Red Simpson – Truckers’ Christmas

Truckers' Christmas

It’s the time of year when you may be looking to make a few additions to your collection of Christmas records. The theme this year is “Eclectic.” For oddball fun, check out Red…

Dave Van Ronk and Oscar Isaac, Bob Dylan, Punch Brothers, and others

The 2013 Coen Brothers film, Inside Llewyn Davis, chronicled a week in the life of a Greenwich Village folksinger during 1961, a character loosely based on the late Dave Van Ronk. T-Bone Burnett…

Chet Atkins and Mel Cochran – Chet Atkins: Me and My Guitars

Chet Atkins: Me and My Guitars

Chet Atkins has a deserved reputation as a great guitar player and all-around nice guy. So it’s a pleasure to see a book that is part biography and part history of his personal…

The Black Crowes

1972

No surprise, the Crowes are a good – at times great – cover band, proven by this EP. Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson decamped to Sunset Sound in L.A., laying down heavy tracks…

The Spencer Davis Group – I’m A Man & Gimme Some Lovin’

I'm A Man & Gimme Some Lovin'

In its original incarnation, the Spencer Davis Group was one of the best R&B or pop bands of the British Invasion. Unfortunately, that incarnation only stayed together long enough to record two albums.…

Kelly Mulhollan

Divine Inspiration

Arkansas farmer Ed Stilley was plowing his fields in 1979 when he was struck down by a heart attack; lying in the dirt, he had a vision that God wanted him to build…

Willie Nelson – The Complete Atlantic Sessions

It’s ironic that one of the terms coined to describe the music various singer/songwriters were making in Austin in the early 1970s was “progressive country” (others being “redneck rock” and the more marketable…

The Ford Brothers – Center Stage

Center Stage

The Ford Brothers are Robben on guitar and vocals, Patrick on drums, and Mark on harp and vocals. Robben, of course, has a solo career, but on occasion gets together with his brothers…

Lucky Peterson

Plain and simple, this is a monster album. Lucky Peterson sings, plays great guitar, a lot of keyboards, and covers a lot of great songs. The rockin’ wah-drenched cover of Ernie Isley’s “Deal…