• Paul Johnson

    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…

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Stacie Collins

Rev Records

The list of people who call themselves “professional harmonica players” certainly is not all that long. And the number of female harmonica players… well, beyond Stacie Collins, I can’t think of one. On…

Johnny Hiland – Johnny Hiland

Johnny Hiland

A friend of mine asked what I knew about Johnny Hiland. I repeated things I’d read about Hiland. You know, the blind guitarist from Nashville who looks like he plays in your hometown…

Pat Metheny – Imaginary Day Live

Eagle Eye Media

A lot can transpire with Pat Metheny in 10 years, but it’s nice to be able to look back at this 1998 concert, filmed with multiple cameras and excellent sound at the gorgeous…

Buffalo Stack

Buffalo Stack is an easy band to like. The ensemble’s debut record is a mix of various styles, including rock, soul, country, and blues. Saying that, though, gives the music short shrift because…

Johnny Adams – There Is Always One More Time

From the “there really can’t be a better singer around” catagory comes this set from the latter part of Adams career. It encompasses his work with Rounder from 1982 until his death in…

Beck, Bogert & Appice

Live In Japan 1973, Live In London 1974

After one underwhelming studio album, Beck, Bogert & Appice – a power trio with bassist Tim Bogert and drummer Carmine Appice – became a footnote in Jeff Beck’s career. While the band’s ham-fisted…

Vassar Clements – Livin’ With The Blues

For the last 40 years whenever a band leader uttered the phrase “Take it Vassar…” you could be assured the next sounds would be amazing. Clements’ reputation for playing innovative fiddle began with…

Ruby Rendrag – Wartime Favorites

Ruby Rendrag has definitely learned a lot from Chrissie Hynde, and it’s a good thing. She handles most of her own guitar work on this album (with a little harmonica thrown in) and…

Greta Van Fleet

The Battle at Garden’s Gate

Surviving the slings and arrows of Led Zeppelin comparisons, a world tour, and Grammy win, Greta Van Fleet’s second LP delivers some of the most-beloved tropes from ’70s rock. Bassist Sam Kiszka, guitarist…

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen

On July 11, 1971, Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, a pioneer of country rock light years from either Gram Parsons or the Eagles, appeared on KSAN-FM in San Francisco, a performance…

John Prine

Oh Boy

John Prine almost single-handedly defined the term “Americana,” but he’s really a country-music artist – a bastard son of Merle Haggard in a genre so often wrongfully and automatically dismissed as simplistic that…

Pierre Bensusan – Intuite

There are guitarists, and then there are guitarists’ guitarists. Pierre Benusan is the sort of musician who inspires awe among even other musical luminaries. Leo Kotke admits that, “Pierre’s music gives me the…

Dale Watson

Dale Watson is a country-music traditionalist, and while he mines familiar veins on Carryin’ On, he also throws in a dash of the pop/country style that dominated both charts in the late ’60s…

The Pinecaster: Early Electric Guitars 1920-1955

Nacho Baños and Lynn Wheelwright

Four volumes, 960 pages, more than 1,000 photos and historical documents – The Pinecaster is heavier than the heaviest 1958 ’burst. Plus, an accompanying app has more of everything, including guitar demos from…

Bruce Cockburn

True North

In more ways than one, American audiences are still catching up with this Canadian singer/songwriter. In fact, that tag illustrates how those of us south of the border are largely familiar with only…

Howard Alden – Take Your Pick

Here’s a good-old-fashioned jazz guitar album from one of Concord’s young lions. Alden’s work always sounds great, whether he’s swinging with single-note runs (“The Gig”), playing chord solos (“I Concentrate on You”), or…

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…

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…

Barrence Whitfield and the Savages

There are rock reunions, and then there are rock reunions. Some shine (the Zombies, the Rascals), others tarnish (Police, the post-Morrison, Densmore-less Doors). But blink and you might have missed one of the…

Check This Action: Remembering David Lindley

Much has been written about David Lindley since the 78-year-old passed away on March 3 of complications from long Covid. The ultimate sideman, proficient on seemingly any instrument with strings, he was best…

Doc Watson – At Gerdes Folk City

Imagine young Athel “Doc” Watson taking his first long bus ride up from Tennessee, stepping off a Greyhound into the teeming clamor of NYC’s Port Authority terminal. Well, that’s how it happened when…

Robin Trower featuring Sari Schorr

Joyful Sky

Trower, a legendary guitarist who has occasionally sung lead on his own albums, has more-often worked with stellar vocalists to bring extra power to his combustible blues-rock. Collaborators have included the late, great…

Danny Garcia

Often dismissed by cognoscenti as a morbidly nihilistic knuckle dragger, John Gazale, Jr. – a.k.a. Johnny Thunders – tends to be remembered more for the trampled track of junky business he left in…

Beastie Boys

This groundbreaking album needs little introduction – except maybe to guitarheads. Yes, it’s rap, but the Beastie Boys showed the world what composing with sound samples can create. Here’s a primal fusion of…

Domenic Priore

There’s A Riot Goin’ On

The mid ’60s will forever represent social change and upheaval, synonymous with civil rights, women’s liberation, the war in Vietnam, and the sexual revolution. But the biggest shift was the youth movement, boasting…

Marshall Crenshaw – Jaggedland

All of the hats Crenshaw wears so well – singer, guitarist, composer, producer – come together in full force on “Right On Time,” his latest CD’s opening track. His vocal is equal parts…

Dolly Parton – My Tennessee Mountain Home

If the first songs that come to mind when you think of Dolly Parton are “Two Doors Down” and “9 to 5,” you need to pick up these albums – all three of…

Scott Lindsey

Grey Trailer Music

From the first raucous notes of “You Only Call Me (When You’re Drunk)” it’s obvious Scott Lindsey is invoking the spirit (and spirits!) of the late Gary Stewart. There are certainly worse musical…

R.L. Burnside – Mr. Wizard & Acoustic Stories

R.L. Burnside plays guitar like the world is coming to an end. His electric sounds follow in the boogie-drone style of John Lee Hooker and Fred McDowell, but take the blues over the…

Raul Malo

Say Less

Raul Malo’s passionate, searing vocals helped define the Mavericks from the early ’90s on. Malo blended his Cuban-American roots into the band’s rich, varied sound, as they embraced rockabilly, classic country, pop ballads,…