• 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…

Keith Whitley – Sad Songs and Waltzes

The late Keith Whitley, who died at age 33 of acute alcohol poi-soning, was an example of why it isn’t always a good idea to try to live your lyrics if you’re country…

Jack White

These 26 recordings delve into the heart of the prolific song-smithing of Jack White, providing an eye-opening retrospective of B-sides and re-imaginings, and insight into White’s muse. It also features the previously unreleased…

Living Colour

Black-Rock Renaissance

Beating the odds with the Grammy-approved album Vivid in 1988, Living Colour ascended victoriously amidst a heaping handful of black rock bands sent packing by record companies for not playing blues, dance music,…

Led Zeppelin: Goin’ To California

How the West Was Won

The members of Led Zeppelin were of course British, but loved American culture and had a special relationship with southern California – both for epic gigs at the L.A. Forum and Long Beach…

Old Crow Medicine Show

The Show is back!After a hiatus starting in August 2011, with old band members leaving and new ones joining, this album was much anticipated by fans. Never fear. It’s every bit worth the…

Alejandro Escovedo

Fantasy Records

If straight-ahead rock with hints of punk, new wave, and ’50s rock and roll is your deal, Escovedo offers it in spades. Street Songs of Love has plenty of chugging riff-driven rock and…

Steve Lukather

I Found the Sun Again

Amid the recent turmoil of a Toto-related lawsuit and major lineup changes, “Luke” still managed to record his eighth solo album. Its eight songs cover his trademark territory – well-crafted tunes with shimmering…

Clive Carroll – Life in Colour

The Guitar Label/P3 Music

If ever there were a CD that proved you shouldn’t peg an album after listening to only a song or two, this is it. “All This Time” and “Oregon” are ballads – not…

James Luther Dickinson

I’m Just Dead, I’m Not Gone/Lazarus Edition

Let’s get it straight from the get-go; Jim Dickinson was primarily a piano player. But he was also one of the great music makers of Memphis – which is saying a lot in…

Cary Morin

Cradle To The Grave

When a heard-it-all music critic stumbles onto a “new artist,” only to discover a back catalog and lifetime achievement award, then immediately orders three prior CDs, you know something’s up. A Crow tribal…

J.J. Cale – Live

Live

J.J. Cale is one of rock’s greatest guitarists, and would probably be recognized as such if his six-string abilities weren’t so overshadowed by his songwriting. “After Midnight,” “Cocaine,” “Call Me The Breeze” and…

Steely Dan – Two Against Nature: Steeply Can’s Plush

Here’s a video that features a band recently inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Steely Dan. Two Against Nature features the current touring band doing new and olk tunes in…

New West Guitar Group

Like-minded co-founders Perry Smith and John Storie were students in the music department of U.S.C. and have been playing together since 2005. They recently added Jeff Stein, and the trio makes a kind…

Trampled Under Foot

Every now and then a band comes along that after one listen you realize they really get it. This is the case with Trampled Under Foot, made up of the Schnebelen siblings: Danielle…

Bleeding Hearts

Riches To Rags

In the pantheon of ’80s indie-rock guitar heroes, Bob Stinson has been largely forgotten, except among fans of The Replacements, the band he cofounded in 1978. It hasn’t helped that Stinson was booted…

Les Copeland

Earwig

A new wrinkle on the proverbial “overnight sensation after 20 years on the road,” Les Copeland’s “debut” comes after eight albums released on his own and sold-out bandstands over the course of 16…

Nels Cline

Lovers

Nels Cline has quite the musical resumé, and yet has always been hard to pin down. Whether doing some form of fusion, manning the lead-guitar chair in Wilco, or serving up dissonance and…

Song of the South

You’re always taking a chance with a DVD that concerns a band and yet none of the band members take part in the production. That’s the case here. While there are no Allman…

Rory Gallagher – Let’s Go To Work

Rory Gallagher’s mention brings a certain vision: denim jeans and a flannel shirt. An old Strat with very little finish left. High-spirited yet authentic blues and rock. Consummate musicianship. A CD box set…

The Best of Sessions at West 54th – Volume 1 (DVD)

Although this DVD is over two years old, I think it’s still the best live performance music DVD out there. What makes it so good? Not only are the production values top-notch, but…

Sue Foley

Live in Austin Vol. 1

 Foley is an award-winning blues veteran, yet this is her first electric live album. It includes 11 songs primarily from the Canadian-born/longtime Texan’s 14 studio albums. Of course, no live album (this one…

Pokey LaFarge

Hamfats-Styled Hot Stuff

Pokey LaFarge’s Rounder Records debut continues his rich, well-established sound. Primarily acoustic, he offers another amalgam of jazz, blues, jug band, and Western swing. At different times, LaFarge and his expanded band conjure…

Jake Shimabukuro

The Hendrix of the ukulele proves he’s worthy of his title, jamming here with a power trio made up of bassist Nolan Verner and drummer Evan Hutchings. Jake Shimabukuro says he went into…

The Creation

Biff Bang Pow!

Hard as it seems to imagine, there are U.K. bands of the ’60s who’ve remained obscure and unsung despite increasingly enthusiastic digging into that era. Case in point: the Creation. Contemporaries of the…

Little Walter – The Complete Chess Masters (1950-1967)

Hip-O Select/Geffen

Someday someone will make a great movie about rock and roll, maybe even blues. Until then, we’re stuck with crap like Cadillac Records, which takes more than “artistic license” in telling the story…

Dave Hunter

Les Paul Praises

Here is a coffeetable book and then some! It’s a 224-page hardcover, with 400-plus exquisite photographs chronicling the rise and fall – and rise again – of the Gibson Les Paul. All its…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Enrico Granafei

Miles High Records

On this truly phenomenal record, Granafei rolls through 10 cuts, most familiar, with just his voice, a nylon-string guitar, and a chromatic harmonica. There is no over-dubbing on this record, and Granafei’s performance…

Foley, Coleman, Potvin – Time Bomb

From the first notes of the title-track opener, this trio of guitarists leaves no doubt that this album is going to rock and roll. Sue Foley and Deborah Coleman need no introduction to…

Devi

True Nature Records

Devi is a rock trio led by singer/ guitarist Debra, and the band shows an affinity for good songs with strong, melodic hooks. The mix includes pop, rock, folk, psychedelica, and everything in-between.…