Monthly Archives: September 2002

Anyone who thinks bluegrass music is just about doing songs performed by dead guys – but doing ‘em faster, hasn’t heard the Del McCoury band. Their latest album on Ricky Skaggs’ Celli Music leads off with a rollicking rendition of the Richard Thompson song “’52 Vincent.” This is not a tune that lends itself to [...]

When you think about it, Johnny Winter has had quite a career. And here, from Alligator Records, just to let you know it continues strong, is a set of cuts from his stint with Alligator. There’s raucous blues, blistering rock and roll, and even some nice acoustic blues with Johnny shining on dobro. There are [...]

Alligator has started a “best of” line that features cuts from various artists. Here’s one of the first, and if future releases are this nice, it’ll be a definite plus for the great blues label. Plain and simple, Charlie Baty is one helluva guitar player. I’ve loved him ever since I heard the first Little [...]

New Orleans artist/guitarist Tony Green has crafted a masterpiece of swinging gypsy jazz with this CD. He covers three Django Reinhardt tunes, as well as songs by Sidney Bechet, a variety of traditional waltzes and lullabies, and one original piece. The songs come to life through Green’s beautiful guitar style, emphasizing melody and emotion over [...]

Norm Stephens isn’t a household name, even to country music fans who have no doubt heard his guitar playing. But to Merle Haggard, Stephens – the original guitarist behind Hag’s biggest influence, Lefty Frizzell – is a hero. When Stephens decided to come out of retirement, he placed a classified ad in the local newspaper. [...]

This material came from the first Tone Poems sessions at David Grisman’s studios, and its title came from the fact the master was allegedly stolen from Jerry Garcia’s kitchen table by a pizza delivery guy. In the liner notes David Grisman writes, “After several years of being pissed off (about their illegal release), I decided [...]