• 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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CCR

Bayou Country Green River Willy And The Poor Boys Cosmo’s Factory Pendulum It’s hard to imagine that anyone isn’t intimately familiar with Creedence’s catalog of seven albums, but that string began with their…

Allen Hinds

The Good Fight

The latest from the Lord of Legato features compositions that blur the line between prog, fusion, and Americana. From the majestic to the bucolic, Allen Hinds leaves it all in the ring with…

Justin Currie

The creative team of bassist Justin Currie and guitarist Iain Harvie led the band Del Amitri through several personnel changes over the years. The group was similar to the tough, passionate bantam British…

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…

Double Trouble – Been A Long Time

This celebratory debut release lays testament to the resilient talent of drummer Chris Layton and bassist Tommy Shannon, renowned as Stevie Ray Vaughan’s rhythm section, Double Trouble. Losing a front person of such…

Lucky Tomblin – Red Hot From Blue Rock

Another surefire batch of songs with great pickin’ by the amazing Redd Volkaert and John Reed, many of these songs fit into the honky-tonk heaven category. Mel Tillis’ “Honky Tonk Song” is prototypical.…

Eric Johnson – Austin City Limits Episode # 2614

OnEric Johnson’s forthcoming fourth headlining appearance on PBS’ “Austin City Limits” (taped in late 2000) the Texas tonemaster breaks out an original and innovative set. Show-cased are five of Johnson’s more eclectic songs,…

Calvin Keys

To some, Calvin Keys is already a legend; to far too many, he’s an unsung hero or, worse, an unknown. In addition to being honored with Pat Metheny’s tribute “Calvin’s Keys,” on the…

Santana IV

Describing Carlos Santana’s guitar playing, Greg Rolie, the Santana band’s original keyboardist, declares, “It’s real music; it’s not just a bunch of notes put together.” Truer words were never spoken. They’re just part…

Tom Walsh and John King

C.F. Martin’s ukuleles have long been the standard by which all others were judged. Though bookcases brim with books about Martin guitars, the merest mention of the company’s extraordinary ukes has been largely…

Robert Earl Keen

Happy Listeners

Robert Earl Keen is all about roots. He has mined his Texas upbringing to create a celebrated career playing Americana that’s ranged widely from folk to country and beyond. His latest foray steps…

James McMurtry – Just Us Kids

James McMurtry has always been a fine songwriter, but he has matured in many ways since the late ’80s, when John Mellencamp produced his first record. His playing, especially on electric guitar, is…

Jamie Oldaker – Mad Dogs & Okies

Jamie Oldaker – Mad Dogs & Okies Although he’s played with a host a major acts, Jamie Oldaker is best known for his lengthy stint on drums with Eric Clapton. Usually sideman resumé…

Check This Action: Back Aboard

Despite (or because of) the huge Folk Boom of the late ’50s and early ’60s, these days “folk” is almost a dirty word in some circles. It’s replaced with “singer/songwriter,” as if that’s…

Sean McGowan

On previous releases, Denver-based McGowan has interpreted tunes by such heavyweights as Oliver Nelson, Duke Ellington, Johnny Mercer, Jimmy Van Heusen, Charlie Parker, and Rodgers and Hart. He also dedicated his Sphere album…

Steve Herberman Trio – Ideals

Reach Music

Herberman is known as an educator/player, and with each release, his skills become more and more evident. He plays a seven-string guitar and mixes jazz standards with originals such that every song sounds…

Howard Glazer

Detroit’s rich musical heritage includes a blues scene that has thrived in the bars along the Detroit River and on the city’s East Side. The MC5, Iggy Pop, and Bob “Catfish” Hodge sweated…

Duke Robillard – Stretchin’ Out Live

What can you say about the Duke that hasn’t already been said? Having achieved a lofty level of constant and worthy acclaim, he probably wonders when the financial rewards of his art will…

Mark Doyle – Guitar Noir

I love this. Doyle has been in the music biz for some time. His first band, Jukin’ Bone, made a couple of obscure albums for RCA in the early ’70s and in the…

Hot Club of Hulaville

Hulaville Recordings

When they hand out the Grammys for CD packaging, the Hot Club of Hulaville should have their acceptance speech ready. The deluxe edition comes in an air-mail-styled folder with separate replica Django Reinhardt…

Roy Roberts – Deeper Shade of Blue

North Carolina bluesman Roy Roberts is an original, and there’s no other blues singer or guitarist who can equal his blend of minor-key, soul-laced shuffles. Like the great Otis Rush, much of Roberts’…

Marshall Chapman

TallGirl Records

Marshall Chapman wrote most of the songs here in tribute to friend (and former guitarist) Tim Krekel, who died of cancer in June of ’09. The result is at once beautiful and very…

Keith Cameron

The Year (or so) of Mudhoney rolls on. The long-running Seattle foursome has experienced a resurgence of interest lately. The latest example: this well-researched and crisply written biography from rock journalist Keith Cameron,…

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…

Jim Lauderdale

From the beginning, four-time Grammy winner Jim Lauderdale’s masterful body of material has reflected a gifted vocalist/writer infused with country and roots music traditions. His previous effort, Soul Searching, explored the sounds of…

Daniel de Visé

King of the Blues: The Rise and Reign of B.B. King

Sixty years, 90 countries, 15,000 concerts – and that tally doesn’t include B.B. King’s early years of juke joints, radio broadcasts, and street-corner serenades. Over the years, Riley “Blues Boy” King became the…

Mark Doyle – Guitar Noir

I love this. Doyle has been in the music biz for some time. His first band, Jukin’ Bone, made a couple of obscure albums for RCA in the early ’70s and in the…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

At The Louisiana Hayride Tonight

Hot Time Tonight

On Saturday, April 3, 1948, the “Louisiana Hayride,” America’s newest live country radio show, debuted over KWKH in Shreveport. Staged at the city’s Municipal Auditorium, it became a launching pad for artists who…

Black Sabbath

Slabs Of Molten Sab

September 18, 1970 is infamous as the day Jimi Hendrix died, but it’s also the day Black Sabbath released its sophomore album, Paranoid. That LP proved itself a molten masterpiece and, in some…

Judas Priest

After a supposed farewell tour a few years back, Judas Priest has replaced longtime guitarist K.K. Downing with young guitarman Richie Faulkner and developed a completely re-energized sound. As a result, Redeemer Of…