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Rick Allen
Phil “Big Dez” Fernandez
Blues Is Everywhere
6’2″/300-pound Phil “Big Dez” Fernandez is an international emissary of the blues. The French-born son of a Bosnian mother and Spanish father is a favorite at European blues clubs and festivals, and Lazy Star is the latest of five CDs that have helped him build an ever-growing fan base in the United States. The U.S.…
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Rick Allen
Stan Martin: Long Nights
You’d think guitar man Kenny Vaughan had been playing with this combo for years. He has musical history with the rhythm section of drummer Dave Roe and bassist Jerry Roe. But it’s a first-time matchup for Vaughan and singer/songwriter and fellow Telecaster enthusiast Stan Martin. Nashville studio veteran Dave Roe’s idea to bring them together…
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Rick Allen
Whiskey Shivers
Some Part Of Something
Whiskey Shivers’ instrumentation, the basic construction of their songs, and lightning fast picking mean you could call this a bluegrass band. But the ensemble takes things one step beyond. “Like A Stone” ruminates love and loss but, played at the band’s usual breakneck pace, it seems to outrun its own emotions. “Red Rocking Chair” is…
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Rick Allen
Arthur Lee & Love
Complete Forever Changes Live
The fingerpicked intro to Bryan MacLean’s breathtaking “Alone Again Or” starts the heady, cinematic, night-through-day-through-night journey of Forever Changes. The 1967 album was the magnum opus of Love’s troubled visionary, Arthur Lee. MacLean, co-founder Lee, and Johnny Echols were Love’s trio of guitar players and their work continues to influence later generations of players. In…
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Rick Allen
The Subdudes
4 On The Floor
At its core, the Subdudes’ character sound is Tommy Malone’s sophisticated acoustic guitar blended with John Magnie’s keyboards, their soulful vocalizing, and Steve Amadee’s stripped-to-the-bone percussion. At times Malone’s playing is so impressive it could inspire a reverse revolution back to the early days of rock and roll when an electric guitar and a real…
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Rick Allen
Elizabeth Cotton, Doc Watson, and Various Artists
Classic Piedmont Blues From Smithsonian Folkways
It’s less improvisational than other types of blues, but East Coast (a.k.a. Piedmont) blues is no less expressive or impassioned. In addition to roots in African American folk music shared with other blues styles, it developed through a range of inputs, including ragtime, Broadway, and Tin Pan Alley stylings. Thus, deceptively lively guitar and measured…
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Rick Allen
Various Artists
Homegrown Heroes
Subtitled “1950s & 1960s Oddball Labels,” these three boxed sets collect nuggets from dozens of independent record labels that popped up across post-Elvis America then faded away as the British Invasion and the pretentious spoiler called “rock” put – ironically – a choke-hold on its own roots. Each 10-disc box covers the state’s homegrown blues, country,…
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Rick Allen
Melissa Carper and Sad Daddy
With her bass making a dependable, rhythmic anchor, Melissa Carper sings like a bird soaring “where the wind blows high above the trees,” as Bob Dylan said. It’s tricky to wear both hats, but in her hands even a ballad like her own “Bedtime In Texas” has a heartbeat of a rhythm running underneath. Supported…
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Rick Allen
Brad Paisley
Pop music, modern country – what’s the difference anymore? For both, everything is bigger and splashier. Yet, nimbly as Brad Paisley manages to walk through that world, his music feels more rooted in tradition than that of your average modern country act. He’s as much or more a musician as he is a performer –…
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Rick Allen
Croy and the Boys
There’s something about the Telecaster – as well as its forerunners and inspired imitators – that attracts musicians whose music then reflects the guitar’s straightforward character. It’s a guitar that speaks to players interested in getting right down to picking. Providing the instrumental spine to Corey “Croy” Baum’s smartly constructed, witty, often moving original songs,…
