• Smith/Kotzen

    Music

    Smith/Kotzen

    Black Light/White Noise

    This is the third album from rock veterans Adrian Smith (Iron Maiden) and Richie Kotzen (The Winery Dogs). The busy axeslingers – especially Kotzen, who is always involved in solo and band projects – released their full-length debut and an EP in 2021. Smith-Kotzen has happily blossomed into a going concern. What’s interesting about Smith/Kotzen’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…

California Breed

Big rock crooner/bassist Glenn Hughes has seen it all. From Trapeze and Deep Purple to Black Sabbath, his life is a compelling rock escapade filled with good drugs, great music, and over-the-top excesses.…

Grayson Capps – Wail and Ride

Down South, it seems, songwriters like Grayson Capps just fall from the trees. Born in Alabama, he spent the last 20 years in New Orleans before Hurricane Katrina kicked him out, and with…

Various Artists – The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers: A Tribute

The likes of Dylan, Mellencamp, Van Morrison, Dwight Yoakam, and many more cover the songs of one of country music’s pioneers. The covers mostly work. There are a few clinkers, but cuts like…

Koerner, Ray & Glover – Blues, Rags & Hollers: The Koerner, Ray & Glover Story

The fact that this folk-blues trio existed at all is noteworthy. By the time KR&G hit the national scene, first at the 1963 Philadelphia Folk Festival and then Newport a year later, you…

Kim Wilson – Smokin’ Joint

Smokin' Joint

This CD, recorded over a two-year period, spotlights the world class work of the legendary T-Birds frontman, but of interest to the readers of this publication would be the four – count ’em,…

Mavis Staples

Faced with the formidable task of following her own recent successes, the queen of gospel music teamed with Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy and scored another artistic bull’s eye. Producer Tweedy wisely used the trio…

Richie Hart – Blues In the Alley

It’s become obvious to me that a certain style of jazz guitar will never go out of style. Blues-based jazz nuts who can really swing like Wes Montgomery and Grant Green will be…

Johnny Cash – Personal File and American V: A Hundred Highways

Johnny Cash – Personal File and American V: A Hundred Highways It’s deliciously ironic that, in promoting the newly discovered archives of Johnny Cash’s solo acoustic recordings, logged in tape boxes as Personal…

Eric Gales

Eric Gales is a disciple of Jimi Hendrix, Frank Marino, Robin Trower, Stevie Ray Vaughan, and Eric Johnson. Yet this new CD is a soul album, filled with hot licks. Finally breaking away…

Keith Cameron

The Year (or so) of Mudhoney rolls on. The long-running Seattle foursome has experienced a resurgence of interest lately. The latest example: this well-researched and crisply written biography from rock journalist Keith Cameron,…

J.J. Cale

Just One

Sixteen. That’s how many albums J.J. Cale has released in 38 years, counting one live collection and his Grammy-winning collaboration with Eric Clapton, The Road To Escondido. Not exactly a fast clip, but,…

Shadowy Men On A Shadowy Planet, Mike Neer

All You Can Eat Instro Buffet

When the Kids In The Hall, an irreverent sketch comedy troupe from Toronto, got their own TV show in ’89, they chose “Having An Average Weekend,” an instrumental by a local trio, Shadowy…

Owens and Yoakam

Live From Austin, TX

On October 23, 1988, Buck Owens and his biggest fan, superstar Dwight Yoakam were taping separate “Austin City Limits” performances. A year earlier, they’d met in Bakersfield when Yoakam invited his hero to…

Snarky Puppy

Empire Central

The latest from the Texas-based 19-piece jazz-funk orchestra pays homage to the city of Dallas. Recorded live in front of a studio audience, Empire Central was captured over eight days and delivers 16…

Deke Dickerson and the Eco-Fonics – Number One Hit Record

Number One Hit Record

Walk the dog, son…walk the dog! I love this CD. Deke covers the roots bases, from rockabilly to country swing to surf and everything in between. And he looks the part with his…

Anthony Gomes – Live

At 38, blues rocker Anthony Gomes makes music like a man in his prime, getting the best from himself while being neither too tired nor jaded to truly enjoy his life’s work. He’s…

Johnny Cash – Personal File and American V: A Hundred Highways

Johnny Cash – Personal File and American V: A Hundred Highways It’s deliciously ironic that, in promoting the newly discovered archives of Johnny Cash’s solo acoustic recordings, logged in tape boxes as Personal…

David Clayton and Todd K. Smith – Free: Heavy Load

Free: Heavy Load

This epic chronicles the story of the seminal British blues/rock band Free. Leaving no stone unturned, and with the help of more than 400 photos, authors David Clayton and Todd K. Smith have…

John Hiatt – The Tiki Bar Is Open

In 1987, first-time producer John Chelew had the brilliant idea of teaming John Hiatt, a songwriter of some note with a handful of less than successful albums to his credit, with slide guru…

Was (Not Was) – Boo

The brothers Was (okay, they’re not really brothers) are back after a layoff of almost 20 years. Not much has changed, and that’s a good thing. The 10 cuts here all “reek” of…

Bruce Pavitt

Before Sub Pop the label there was Sub Pop the music ’zine and later the column in Seattle weekly The Rocket. This expansive anthology compiled by Sub Pop founder Pavitt is a fantastic…

Marty Robbins – The Essential Mary Robbins

With a repertoire so extensive and wide-ranging, it would be impossible to track down, let alone list, all the session players backing this country icon on this two-disc retrospective. The Mottola/Caiola crew played…

Peter Parcek 3

Redstar/Vizztone

The first wide release from Connecticut-born bluesman Peter Parcek appeal to fans of Savoy Brown and/or Peter Green. He should also draw an audience from beyond just blues or Brit-blues. Good is good…

Buddy and Julie Miller

The family that sings together swings together. If that family is the Millers, they do more than just swing; they rock, shimmy, shake, frug, gyrate, and quiver. For readers unfamiliar with this dynamic…

Joan Osborne

Songs Of Bob Dylan

Osborne could sing a dictionary and make it sound good, and though she’s written much of her best material, she’s proven to be a stellar interpreter – be it Motown, blues, Americana, or…

Shane Theriot

Still Motion

Theriot’s day job is being the guitarist and musical director for Hall and Oates and Daryl Hall’s “Live From Daryl’s House.” With this new disc, he’s carving a spot in the instrumental jazz…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Neil Young

Chrome Dreams

After being shelved for more than 45 years, Neil Young’s long-lost 1977 album finally sees daylight. Nestled between an impressive run of comeback albums such as Comes a Time, Rust Never Sleeps, and…

Yes

Yes fans have long been waiting for the legendary prog band to deliver a comeback album. Rest assured, this is not it. Even with platinum producer Roy Thomas Baker and a Jon Anderson…

Pete Anderson

Little Dog Records

Pete Anderson needs little introduction as a guitar slinger and producer with sublime guitar taste. For his production work on albums with Dwight Yoakam from 1986 to 2003, he has taken home a…