Monthly Archives: October 2009
Experience Hendrix
Had fate and negligence not interfered, Jimi Hendrix would have turned 65 in 2008 - only five years older than Bruce Springsteen, four older...
Dave Alvin – West of the West
Dave Alvin is one of America's best songwriters, and as such runs the risk of alienating casual fans when he does an album of...
Coal Men – Beauty of the Moment
With the addition of Chris Frame (Sun Volt) on guitar and Jen Gunderman (The Jayhawks) on keyboards, the Coal Men have gone from trio...
Sloan- Parallel Play
Every song on this latest album by the Canadian quartet Sloan has a great hook; the simple "woo-oows" in "Witch's Wand" are impossible to...
Lefty Williams – Snake Oil
31-year-old Jason Williams was born with a right arm that stopped a little below his elbow. Not many in that condition would pick guitar....
New Guitar Summit – Shivers
Merely putting three great guitar players together doesn't guarantee the results will qualify as music. All too often, ego, lack of chemistry, or merely...
Canned Heat – Instrumentals, 1967-1996
A brilliant concept: 15 instrumental selections from the ever-evolving Canned Heat's catalog, spanning - or more accurately, bookending - 29 years.
The L.A.-based band was...
Elvin Bishop – The Blues Rolls On
Best known to classic radio listeners for '70s Southern rock hits like "Struttin' My Stuff" and "Fooled Around And Fell In Love," Elvin Bishop...
Big Bill Broonzy
Finding two never-released, hour-long concerts by Big Bill Broonzy from 1953 - Amsterdam Live Concerts 1953 - on Munich Records - is indeed like...
Heybale – The Last Country Album
The incomparable Redd Volkaert and "Mr. Honky-Tonk Piano" Earl Pole Ball (whose collective resume is a Who's Who of musical greats that includes Johnny...