• 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

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North Mississippi Allstars

If anybody is keeping the raw spirit of the blues alive, it’s the North Mississippi Allstars. And this new album is guitarist Luther Dickinson’s reaffirmation to honor his elders and keep the traditional…

Robert Plant and 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 by guitarists Liam “Skin” Tyson and the…

The Magpie Salute

The Magpie Salute

This debut album from a 10-piece band is woven together from the smoldering embers of the Black Crowes. Vocalist Rich Robinson, guitarist Marc Ford, bassist Sven Pipien, and the late keyboardist Eddie Harsch…

American Masters – Atlantic Records: The House That Ahmet Built

Considering the uncanny accuracy of Jamie Foxx’s Oscar-winning portrayal of Ray Charles in the movie Ray, it’s criminal that writer/director Taylor Hackford chose to depict Ahmet Ertegun, Jerry Wexler, and Tom Dowd (three…

Joseph Spence

Encore

Imagine you’re a zoologist who discovers a new animal species never known to exist. There have been rare musical discoveries that rivaled that. John Hurt played nothing like a Delta bluesman, even though…

Moondi & Gaudreau – 2:10 Train

Jimmy Gaudreau and Moondi Klein have been playing together for more than 10 years. They first met when T. Michael Coleman, Mike Auldridge, and Klein asked Gaudreau to join them in Chesapeake. When…

Paul Gilbert

The Dio Album

It’s been almost 13 years since the passing of vocalist and metal visionary Ronnie James Dio, yet his essence looms large in the minds of fans and bands around the world, many of…

Little Charlie and the Organ Grinder Swing

Any fan of the original Little Charlie and the Nightcats knows Charlie Baty can swing; he always had one foot in the jazz world while playing the band’s brand of blues. Here, on…

Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs

Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits

It’s no shock the late Tom Petty’s right-hand man and MVP on Don Henley hits like “The Boys of Summer” and “The Heart of the Matter” would continue his superlative work. His latest…

Walter Trout

Ride

Blues-rock survivor Walter Trout’s 30th album conjures the ghosts from his troubled past. Ride is a rockin’ record with a hard-charging rhythm section saturated with emotion and a buffet of guitar fireworks. The…

Crazy – The Demo Sessions

There once was a time when Willie Nelson was just another starving songwriter trying to make it in music city. Stories abound of songs he tried to sell for $50. During the early…

Lissa Schneckenburger – Song

Lissa Schneckenburger plays “progressive” New England/Celtic music that combines equal parts traditional harmonic textures with a modern acoustic sensibility. Her voice has a pristine directness that perfectly suits these traditional tunes. Song is…

Byther Smith – Hold That Train

Byther Smith is bad in the best sense of the word. Nicknamed “The Mississippi Kid,” Smith is a former boxer and manual laborer who later learned to wield an axe. As a guitar…

Pete Anderson – Dogs in Heaven

Pete Anderson is no stranger to these pages, having been featured in an interview, performance review, and record review for his first release on Little Dog. This time around, Pete has come up…

Antiseen

Antiseen celebrates 30 years of raw, southern punk-and-roll with their latest CD. It’s an impressive milestone for any band, much less a rag-tag group of fringe-dwellers. Is that part of the reason New…

Brian Setzer – ’68 Comeback Special – Ignition

Okay, I confess. Somehow this one slid in under the radar. Released in late summer, it features Setzer back in a trio setting, basically just cutting loose, guitar-wise and vocally. And let’s face…

Dave Edmunds

Dave Edmunds isn’t always thought of as a guitarist first and foremost, yet his latest record is a tour de force of playing not just the six-string, but plenty of other instruments. Edmunds…

Jimi Hendrix

Power Soul

Jimi Hendrix learned the hard way that signing contracts for fast money can come back to haunt you. Hendrix’ naiveté forced him to settle a breach-of-contract dispute with Ed Chalpin of PPX Industries…

Big Joe Williams

Southside Blues

Big Joe Williams’ headstone is undoubtedly the only one on the planet that reads “King Of The Nine-String Guitar.” Because it’s true – as is the rest of the epitaph: “Big Joe sustained…

Wanda Jackson

Encore

The girl with a big guitar, big hair, a short dress, and a rockabilly howl, she first shook up the music world in 1954, pre-Elvis. Wanda Jackson went on to score rock and…

Heavy Trash

Heavy Trash is an on-again-off-again band headed by Jon Spencer and Matt Verta-Ray. They’ve released three superlative albums of their own trademark brand of rockabilly, all led by Verta-Ray’s incisive guitarwork – usually…

Check This Action: Where’s Eric?

Eric Clapton and London’s Royal Albert Hall are virtually synonymous. In various contexts he has played the storied venue more than 200 times – first with the Yardbirds in 1964, but mainly as…

Diana Krall

Fans familiar with Krall’s records featuring swinging tunes and gentle ballads might be more than a little surprised when they hear Glad Rag Doll. It wouldn’t be fair to say she’s left the…

Larry Carlton – Deep Into It

I first listened to this disc in my car and thought it was nice, but nothing special. Well, the next listen was in the house, with my full attention, and while it’s what…

Carol King – Tapestry

Epic/Ode/Legacy

Tapestry is one of those albums that pushes everyone’s nostalgia button. Released in 1971, it became such a monster hit (six million copies sold, four Grammys, and six years on the Billboard Pop…

California Guitar Trio

The CGT has been making music for 25 years and is celebrating with this wonderful, back-to-basics recording. Guitarists Paul Richards, Bert Lams, and Hideyo Moriya cut the record au natural with no effects…

Joe Goldmark

Blue Steel

Along with his work with Jim Campilongo and others, San Francisco-based pedal steel guitarist Joe Goldmark has produced eight solo CDs (and three earlier vinyl albums) covering broad swaths of popular music, among…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Toronzo Cannon

Mo' Better Blues

You can’t take anything away from Toronzo Cannon. He’s toiled non-stop on the super-competitive Chicago blues circuit, sharing the stage with some of the greatest musicians in the genre. He’s taken his lumps,…

Undone: A MusicFest Tribute to Robert Earl Keen

Texas-born singer/songwriter Robert Earl Keen has influenced a passel of younger performers during his 30-year career. On Undone, we have an opportunity to hear how these young’uns interpret his material. Recorded live, the…

Phil Lee

There’s something special about a songwriter who can break your heart and make you come back for more. Phil Lee does it in style with “Cold Ground,” a song about unimaginable grief. Lines…