• Popa Chubby

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    Popa Chubby

    I Love Freddie King

    The latest from blues dynamo Popa Chubby is a star-studded tribute to the late great Freddie King. Produced by Mr. Chubby and Mike Zito, I Love Freddie King is a blues guitar love-fest covering some of King’s most potent and popular songs. With Popa fronting the band on guitar and vocals, guests include Eric Gales,

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Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs

External Combustion

Former Tom Petty guitarist Mike Campbell’s second release displays his group in tip-top shape as they push the boundaries of swampy L.A. rock and roll. Co-produced by Campbell and George Drakoulias (Black Crowes),…

The Allman Brothers Band

Rocking The Fox

What an embarrassment of riches this boxed set offers. Recorded on three nights in September 2004 at the Fox Theatre in Atlanta, it showcases a band that surely will be remembered as one…

Chris Duarte Group – Vantage Point

It’ll surprise few familiar with Duarte to learn that this disc is full of hardcore Strat tones, killer blues chops, and lyrics that get to the point. Cynics might say “What’s the point?”…

BoDeans – Resolution

Resolution

It has been awhile since the BoDeans have released a studio album – eight years. In that time, rock and roll has seen bands come and go, most of them not very good.…

Willie Nelson

That’s Life

My Way, Willie’s 2018 Grammy-winning Frank Sinatra homage, clearly didn’t satiate his desire to explore songs by the vocalist whose style profoundly influenced his own. With the same co-producers (Buddy Cannon and keyboardist…

Sasha Dobson

Self-distributed

Sasha Dobson is the daughter of a pair of jazz players and has worked as a jazz singer herself. She has also been a staple on the indie-folk music scene in and around…

Various Artists – Concerts for a Landmine-Free World

Ever since the first Farm Aid concert, musical extravaganzas for worthy causes have become standard fare. Concerts for a Landmine-Free World is different from the usual star-studded gangbang because it features roots-oriented artists.…

Black Joe Lewis

Fuzzy guitars, Stax horn arrangements, and a raw garage sound permeate Black Joe Lewis’ third studio album, serving up a provocative juxtaposition of garage-punk, along with the ’60s R&B and blues that brought…

Jay McShann – Goin’ to Kansas City

The story of Jay “Hootie” McShann is legend. Born in 1916, he got his start as a youth tickling the ivories in the infamous wide-open Kansas City barrooms and ballrooms. His Jay McShann…

Big Star

Supernova

Big Star’s Third was alternately hailed as one of the darkest albums ever made, a shambling wreck, and an LP that simply should never have been released. Now, four-plus decades after its 1974…

Jools Holland & his Rhythm & Blues Orchestra – Jools Holland’s Big Band Rhythm & Blues

If the term “big band,” especially tied to a pop star, conjures the dreaded image of one of those zoot-suited groups with the word “Daddy” in its name, fear not. Ex-Squeeze keyboardist Holland’s…

Kim Simmonds – Blues Like Midnight

Blues Like Midnight

While the press release promotes this CD as a departure for Kim Simmonds, to this writer it would seem one more facet of this veteran guitarist’s musical personality. On Blues Like Midnight, Simmonds…

The Infamous Stringdusters

A band’s sophomore release usually has a snappier title than the name of the band. But in some ways this second album is a first album. Guitarist Chris Eldridge left to join the…

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.…

Steve Vai

Steve Vai is the greatest rock guitarist of his generation. He’s the teenager who transcribed ridiculously complicated Frank Zappa tunes, and later toured as “The Little Italian Virtuoso.” Getting the Papal Blessing from…

Happy Traum

There’s a Bright Side Somewhere

Traum is known to some as founder of the expansive Homespun Tapes instructional series, but there’s nothing academic about this baker’s dozen. From the powerful intricacies of “Santa Cruz Blues,” an improvisation named…

Danny Garcia

Often dismissed by cognoscenti as a morbidly nihilistic knuckle dragger, John Gazale, Jr. – a.k.a. Johnny Thunders – tends to be remembered more for the trampled track of junky business he left in…

SRV – Box Set

With every boxed retrospective that hits the changer, I’m reminded of the words of my old friend, Cub Koda. Quote: “All compilations suck except the ones you compile yourself” (an image of Roger…

Bill Hullett – Two-Lane Blacktop

Okay, by now you’re all saying, “Does this guy listen to anything besides jazz?” Well, here’s a killer instrumental album featuring a veteran Nashville studio picker. Not only does Hullett put on a…

Tom Feldmann

Modern Master

No question, Tom Feldmann is a jewel of American guitarmanship, and his new album confirms the notion. As a player, he’s deeply rooted in the “interwar” Delta blues and gospel guitar of the…

Charles Lloyd and the Marvels

It doesn’t take a genius to realize that adding Bill Frisell to a project will yield great results. But teaming him with jazz saxophonist Charles Lloyd was a master stroke, in large part…

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio- Close But No Cigar

No disrespect to bassists but there’s just something about a funked-up organ trio that sticks to your backbone. Made popular in the cool music joints of the ’50s and ’60s, organists Jimmy McGriff,…

Robert Mugge

Capturing the Blues

In 1991, Robert Mugge made the documentary Deep Blues, with the help of journalist Robert Palmer, who wrote the book of the same name, and David Stewart of the Eurythmics. After its release,…

Wes Montgomery – Live in ’65

Jazz guitar was forever split into two schools early in its development, each defined by a stylistic genius – the bop-anticipating, electric lines of Charlie Christian and the acoustic swing of Gypsy Django…

Mavis Staples – We’ll Never Turn Back

Billed as her most personal statement, this may well be Mavis Staples’ finest solo effort to date. In 2004, the powerhouse lead singer of the famed Staple Singers released the rootsy Have A…

Simon Phillips

Protocol 4

Simon Phillips is a tremendous drummer who has paid his dues with Frank Zappa, The Who, Jeff Beck, Toto, and even Judas Priest. He’s also a talented engineer, producer, and composer who’s been…

Nat King Cole

Live at the Blue Note Chicago

Many Nat Cole fans, even diehards, are unaware that, in addition to his beautiful singing voice, he was among the greatest jazz pianists. Fewer still are aware of the world-class guitarists who played…

Red Fang

Throughout 10 pummeling tracks, the Portland, Oregon-based Red Fang demonstrates everything that is right with heavy metal today, displaying an excellent array of influences, from Black Sabbath to Alice In Chains to Metallica.…

Dr. Feelgood

Finally available in America, Julien Temple’s superb documentary follows the brief career of England’s late, great Dr. Feelgood, Temple employing his trademark technique of mashing up new interviews with archival and fictive footage,…

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.…