• 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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Chris Thile – Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

Not All Those Who Wander Are Lost

Even young prodigies eventually grow up. Mandolin whiz Chris Thile has reached the ripe old age of 20, and shows no signs of narrowing his ever-expanding musical horizons. His latest, Not All Those…

Drive By Truckers – The Dirty South

I confess, these good ol’ boys have become one of my favorite rock and roll bands. There double-disc opus, Southern Rock Opera , was one of my favorite records from the past couple…

Joe Negri

Noteworthy Jazz

A regional star, local TV luminary and jazz virtuoso even before beginning his 32-year tenure as Mister Rogers’ favorite handyman, Joe Negri (see feature in the September ’10 issue) was woefully under-recorded until…

Kim Lenz – It’s All True

Describing Kim Lenz as a “female Elvis” is narrow-sighted, as there are few musical similarities between the two, particularly in the fact Lenz writes a good chunk of her own material and, more…

Marillion

Misplaced Childhood

Progressive rock suffered an ignominious death in the ’80s, perhaps deservedly. That didn’t stop a few British bands from pushing onward, notably Marillion, which found a sweet spot on its third album, 1985’s…

Robben Ford – The Art of Blues Rhythm

Robben Ford has been a prolific artist since the early ’70s and is as much a teacher as a recording artist. His impeccable soloing techniques, phrasing, and tone have been the subject of…

Jimmy Hall

Ready Now

During the ’70s heyday of Southern rock, Jimmy Hall was frontman with Wet Willie. In subsequent years, the Alabama native provided vocals on Jeff Beck’s 1985 Flash album and played sax and harmonica…

Elizabeth Moen

Wherever You Aren’t

Moen is a Chicago-based singer/songwriter who does much of her own guitar work on songs that are often deeply personal. This, however, is no pompous, acoustic-driven collection of bland Americana fare; the sound…

Ty Tabor

Shades

King’s X guitarist Ty Tabor’s 11th solo album is the follow-up to 2018’s Alien Beans. Ten tracks and three bonus songs tell the sonic saga of life, death, and the loss of a…

Rick McRae- Guitarland

The retitled version of Johnny Gimble’s “Fiddlin’ Around” (“Pickin’ Around”) is a clue, but just going by the repertoire here – encompassing Jobim, Bonfa, Villa Lobos, Cole Porter, and Charlie Parker – one…

Blue Lunch

Bob Frank’s Band Blue Lunch prowls the musical alleys haunted by the spirits of Bill Doggett, Dave Bartholomew, and the Five Royals, whose “Monkey Hips and Rice” makes for some of the finest…

Humble Pie

The A&M CD Box Set (1970-1975)

Arena-rock pioneers Humble Pie launched some of the grittiest heavy rock of the ’70s, courtesy of vocalist/guitarist Steve Marriott, bassist Greg Ridley, and successive lead men Peter Frampton and David “Clem” Clempson. This…

Jimmy LaFave – Cimaron Manifesto

Jimmy La Fave joins other Texas singer/songwriters such as Guy Clark, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and Townes Van Zandt in his ability to evoke the feelings and images of America hidden behind superhighways and…

Neil Young

In more ways than one, Journey Through The Past – the title of Neil Young’s 1972 directorial film debut – would have been a better title for A Letter Home, the latest from…

Jo’ Buddy & Down Home King III

Finnish singer/ guitarist/ composer Jussi “Jo’ Buddy” Raulamo has played with just about every bluesman to pass through Finland and more on his pilgrimages to the States. Howard Armstrong, Eddy Clearwater, Maceo Parker,…

Duke Robillard Band

They Called it Rhythm & Blues

Robillard, his guitar, and band preside over a celebration of classic R&B and blues made up of 18 familiar and obscure numbers aided by heavy-hitting guests. Instrumentally, he remains a model of brevity…

Sacred Steel Convention – Train Don’t Leave Me

Train Don't Leave Me

When Arhoolie Records’ Chris Strachwitz stumbled onto Mance Lipscomb, the amazing 65-year-old Texas bluesman and songster who had never recorded, in 1960, it was a bit like an anthropologist coming across a saber-toothed…

Tony Furtado

Funzalo Records

If you had picked up Golden without hearing one of Tony Furtado’s previous 14 albums, you’d never guess he was once a banjo prodigy. After winning the National Bluegrass Banjo competition at 19,…

Foghat

Road Fever: The Complete Bearsville Recordings 1972-1975

By the time British blues-and-boogie quartet Foghat struck gold in 1975, it already had a solid catalog under its belt. This box explores its first five studio albums. While many early-’70s LPs lacked…

Steve Hackett

Former Genesis guitarist Steve Hackett’s new album brings together musicians from all over the world in the spirit of unity, multiculturalism, and diversity. The project joins singers from Palestine and Israel, along with…

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…

Check This Action: My Kind of Blues

The notion of blurring the boundaries of jazz is almost laughable, since the umbrella already covers so many variations. From the Dixieland of King Oliver to the swing of big-bands like Tommy Dorsey’s,…

John Pizzarelli – Knowing You

Pizzarelli is on a roll. His past few albums have been stone-cold killers, and his most recent, Knowing You, is a collection of songs by writers he loves, with guest musicians augmenting his…

Robben Ford – In Concert Revisited

The premise of the Autour Du Blues DVD was to stage a transatlantic blues summit for the 25th anniversary of Paris’ New Morning club in December ’06, teaming the group of France’s studio…

Kenny Burrell/Gil Evans – Guitar Forms

If I’ve said it once, I’ve said it a million times. One of the great things about CDs is great albums have become available at a cost you can afford. Here is an…

Acoustic Alchemy

Heads Up

The knock against Acoustic Alchemy has always been that it’s background music, but the band has always created music that’s atmospheric in the best sense of the word. Granted, it’s not for guitarists…

Chris Antonik

Self-distributed

Blues guitarist Chris Antonik seems determined to prove the adage that every note counts. While his song structures are familiar, his playing keeps them from being cliche. The opener, “More To Give,” is…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Hans Theessink & Terry Evans with Ry Cooder

Despite the title’s implication of down-and-dirty blues, this is closer to what we think of as folk music. Of course, the blues is exactly that, but Theessink and Evans’ blues is more the…

George Van Eps and Marty Grosz Meets the Fat Babies

Great Acoustic Jazz

Marty Grosz is surely one of the last of a breed – a jazz guitarist who plays strictly rhythm and chord-style solos and strictly acoustic. He’s also a fine singer and scholar of…

Lawson Rollins – Infinita

Fusions of classical and flamenco guitar with rock and jazz have yielded interesting permutations for years – from Strunz & Farah to Ottmar Liebert to Rodrigo y Gabriela. Lawson Rollins’ first solo effort,…