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Music
Paul Johnson
The Hepcats Live at the Ajax Novelty Company
This isn’t live, there may not be an Ajax Novelty Company, and the three felines known as the Hepcats are actually the brainchild of Paul Johnson, whose Belairs were early-’60s pioneers of surf music. Suspend reality and dig how the “trio” expertly articulates layers of acoustic guitar. Across decades, Johnson has embraced folk-rock, psychedelia, and…
Black Country Communion
Afterglow is the third album by Black Country Communion, which features bassist Glenn Hughes, drummer Jason Bonham, keyboard player Derek Sherinian, and Joe Bonamassa on guitar. Their sound continues to fill the void…
Electric Prunes – Release of an Oath
The ’60s produced some mighty weird bands, perhaps none odder than the Electric Prunes. The group is primarily known for its 1967 hit “I Had Too Much to Dream (Last Night)” and the…
Pete Anderson
The Burbank Moose Lodge doesn’t seem a likely place for electrifying guitar performances, but Pete Anderson and band spent three days in December 2014 dazzling the crowds that showed up there to see…
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Yes
Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition
Are you a high-fidelity audio geek? If the answer is, well, yes, this Rhino release brings together an HD experience of Close to the Edge in no fewer than four versions, plus rarities and a ’72 concert. For starters, the 2025 remaster sounds as close to the analog 1972 mix as you’re going to get…
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Pink Floyd
Have You Got It Yet? – The Story of Syd Barrett and Pink Floyd
It’s understandable that fans warily approach the flood of pseudo-documentaries and biopics. Add the fact that the late Syd Barrett, Floyd’s original guitarist/leader, suffered from mental illness, and exploitation alarms are sure to go off. But this documentary handles the subject with dignity instead of sensationalism. Interviews by longtime Floyd cover artist Storm Thorgerson with…
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The Wildhearts
In the raging ’90s, The Wildhearts blasted out of Newcastle upon Tyne like some unholy melding of Guns ’N Roses, Cheap Trick, and The Replacements. Hard rock, power pop, and punk still make up their secret sauce, heard on this latest effort with original singer/guitarist Ginger Wildheart. Ben Marsden plays lead, while Kavus Torabi adds…
Little Milton – Greatest Hits
I love Little Milton. I have since I first heard “Feel So Bad.” Any song that starts with the lines “Feel so bad..like a ball game on a rainy day” is alright with…
J.W. Jones – Bluelisted
On his latest album, Jones proves a master of several styles of American music, and is joined by other impressive guitarists to purvey it. Jones goes toe-to-toe with Little Charlie Baty and Junior…
Albert King, Little Milton, and more
This 10-disc set covers the final three years of Stax singles, a period when the iconic Memphis-based label was under new management and trying to broaden and expand too many directions at once,…
The Morells – The Morells
Now this is what I’m talkin’ about. These guys have been around for awhile in various forms, including as The Morells years ago. Some of you may know them as the Skeletons, who…
Brad Paisley – Play
Brad Paisley’s albums have been admirably consistent, emphasizing vocals, of course, but usually spiced by a couple great Telecaster workouts. In the case of Play, five of the 16 tracks are vocals, the…
Creed Bratton – Bounce Back
Kindred Music
Bounce Back is Creed Bratton’s third solo album, and the former singer/ composer/ guitarist for the Grass Roots has come up with a winner. Bratton’s music has a Southwestern/semi-country flavor that brings…
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Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band
Honeysuckle
Resonator-slide specialist Reverend Peyton returns to his primary influences – early 20th-century African-American music – compelling him to shout from the hollers and the hills. Rootsy, acoustic, inter-war blues is the specific genre, and Peyton doesn’t hold back. With top-tier tutelage from the likes of David “Honeyboy” Edwards, T-Model Ford, and Robert Belfour, he masterfully…
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Mike Campbell with Ari Surdoval
Heartbreaker: A Memoir
In his autobiography, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers guitarist Campbell admits he’s quiet and shy. Self-doubt plagued him his entire life, and when problems arose in the Heartbreakers, a lack of confidence had him blaming himself first, even when he wasn’t responsible. Perhaps his attitude was psychologically rooted in his impoverished childhood and coming from…
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Alan Gogoll
Lioness Lullabies
Venture online and watch a few videos by Tasmanian guitarist Alan Gogoll and you’ll see he’s nothing short of a phenomenon. On acoustic, he conjures artificial harmonics in a manner that almost defies gravity. Better still, he never shows off these chops – everything on Lioness Lullabies is in the service of the song and…
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Jimmy Vivino
Gonna Be 2 of Those Days
A veteran vocalist/guitarist/keyboardist and purveyor of blues, R&B, and rock’, Jimmy Vivino has an incredible résumé. A longtime fixture in Conan O’Brien’s house band, he has played on movie, radio, and Broadway projects and worked with Levon Helm, Hubert Sumlin, Al Kooper, Jimmie Vaughan, Donald Fagen, Warren Haynes, Laura Nyro, along with innumerable others. He’s…
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Thin Lizzy
The Acoustic Sessions
Thin Lizzy’s first studio release in decades, this album reimagines tracks recorded 50+ years ago by the trio of vocalist/bassist Phil Lynott, guitarist Eric Bell, and drummer Brian Downey. The songs are from Lizzy’s first three albums – 1971’s Thin Lizzy, ’72’s Shades of a Blue Orphanage, and ’73’s Vagabonds of the Western World. Recently,…
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Eve Monsees and Mike Buck
& Their Groovy Orbit
This is not a solo album as much as an anthology of Austin artists and styles – from blues to country to ’60s garage and psych, demonstrating the versatility of singer/guitarist Monsees (Eve & the Exiles, Blue Bonnets) and her husband, drummer Buck (LeRoi Brothers), as producers/organizers. The tracks span three years, but the names…
North Mississippi Allstars
Prayer For Peace
If you’re a fan of heart-stopping slide guitar, you’re likely familiar with Luther Dickinson and his wicked blend of gospel-saturated blues and fat rural elegance. The North Mississippi Allstars have been at it…
U2 – How To Dismantle an Atomic Bomb
U2 has hit another home run. Try and think of another major rock and roll band this far into it and still making consistently good albums. Hell, at this point in their career,…
Ken Will Morton – Devil in Me Kickin’ Out the Rungs
It’s hard for any artist to squeeze out one good album, much less two at once. It’s significant that Ken Will Morton hits more than he misses on these simultaneously released, but separately…
Peter Rowan Bluegrass Band
Peter Rowan has been the front man for bluegrass icons including Bill Monroe and Tony Rice. On Legacy, he’s still a front man, but shares the spotlight with Jody Stecher, who’s better known…
Anders Osborne
Alligator Records
Anders Osborne’s first effort for Alligator has a “tougher” feel. In the past, one may have mistaken him for a white soul singer, but here he looks (with beard and long hair) and…
Della Mae
Self-distributed
The women of Della Mae kick off their latest with a version of the traditional “Bowling Green” followed by Lester Flatt’s “Head Over Heels,” firmly establishing their commitment to bluegrass and eliminating any…
The Highwaymen
Country’s first supergroup emerged from a 1984 Johnny Cash Christmas special taped in Switzerland. Along with Marty Stuart, the guests were longtime Cash pals friends Kris Kristofferson, Waylon Jennings, and Willie Nelson. The…
Hillbilly Idol
I love this record. You don’t really think of great country music as coming out of Cleveland, but this would be the exception to that rule. Whether it’s honky-tonk, country swing, pop-like country,…
2025 May Issue on Spotify
This month, we feature The Dobbie Brothers, Popa Chubby, Joey Molland, Carlos Alomar, Cream, David Bowie, Rush, Norman Harris, Greg Koch, Rik Emmett, Chris Walz, Elmore James, and more! Spotify is free or…
Lightnin’ Willie
No Black No White Just Blues
Guitar-based blues can become a blustery music that’s played too loud, too fast, and with little soul. That’s not a problem with a practitioner like William Hermes, a.k.a. Lightnin’ Willie. Every note is…
Tony Joe White – The Heroines
For his latest album, the “Swamp Fox” came up with a cool concept: half solo vocals, half duets with five of his favorite female singers, on a collection of new originals and collaborations,…
Tweedy
Where does time go? In 1996, the liner notes to Being There, Wilco’s masterful two-disc paean to American music, included a dedication from ringleader Jeff Tweedy to his wife and their newly born…
Steve Smith, George Brooks, Prasanna
Abstract Logix
Before joining Journey in 1978, Steve Smith drummed on jazz violinist Jean-Luc Ponty’s Enigmatic Ocean, and before he left the band in ’83, he had already formed the fusion group Vital Information. The…
Gary Burton and Friends – Departure
Departure
Geez, I’m not really sure what to say about this CD. It’s a wonderful batch of music played by the likes of Peter Erskine on drums, Fred Hersch on piano, John Patitucci on…
Emmylou Harris – Red Dirt Girl
Emmylou Harris seems to have finally found her freedom. It’s rare to follow an artist who, after almost three decades of recording, still has something new and fresh to say – and who…
Corey Christiansen – Essential Jazz Lines: The Style of Charlie Parker
Looking for a key to unlock your jazz solos or comping? Essential Jazz Lines: The Style of Charlie Parker offers fine entries to the playing of a great jazzer. Essential Jazz Lines: The…
Sly and the Family Stone
Groovalicious Glory
Long before short attention spans and the need to record an experience on your iPhone became more important than the experience itself, there was Sly and the Family Stone. It was a time…
Ronnie Earl & the Broadcasters
Stony Plain Records
Starting like a number of instrumental albums Ronnie Earl has produced over the past 15 years, this one opens with a mid-tempo (Albert Collinspenned) track, then slows for some blues and a cool…
Cage the Elephant – Ain’t No Rest for the Wicked
Brothers Brad and Matt Schultz had a rough youth in small-town Kentucky, where music, money and hope were hard to find. Growing up in an eventually broken home with six people squeezed into…
Roy Orbison
Unequivocally Essential
When Roy Orbison walked onstage, the black Gibson ES-335 around his neck wasn’t just for show. Orbison was a pretty good picker, and he holds down a good portion of the guitar on…
John McTigue III
It’s About Time
Drummer/composer McTigue has a long history as a roots-music sideman. Yet on this solo effort co-produced with Kenny Vaughan, he takes unexpected turns as he pairs his percussion with other top roots musicians.…
Frank Zappa – The Freak-Out List
Sexy Intellectual/MVD
Mark Cook – An Evening With The Blues
An Evening With The Blues