• 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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Don Rich and the Buckeroos – Country Pickin’: The Don Rich Anthology

The Don Rich collection is a 24-song retrospective featuring songs recorded when the late guitarist/fiddler was the instrumental hero of Buck Owens’ band. There’s lots of stuff here you’d expect. Killer instrumentals like…

Nick Russo +11 – Ro

Nick Russo’s Ro is not an easy listen, but it sure is rewarding once you’re able to digest it. It’s somewhat indescribable; one could point out how it’s got hard-swinging post-bop, some free…

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…

Kenny Burrell – The Best Of Kenny Burrell

Kenny Burrell – The Best Of Kenny Burrell The good thing about compiling a Kenny Burrell “best of” is, since his 1956 solo debut, it’s hard to find any clinkers; the hard part…

Rory Block – The Guitar of Robert Johnson

Rory Block has been involved with the music of Robert Johnson most of her life. At a young age, she apprenticed directly with Son House, Skip James, Reverend Gary Davis and other seminal…

Tommy Castro and the Painkillers

Stompin’ Ground

Veteran Tommy Castro feels right at home here as he takes his band and some pretty special guests through songs that, for the most part, harken back to his days growing up in…

Mike Campbell & The Dirty Knobs

Vagabonds, Virgins & Misfits

It’s no shock the late Tom Petty’s right-hand man and MVP on Don Henley hits like “The Boys of Summer” and “The Heart of the Matter” would continue his superlative work. His latest…

Carl Verheyen – Solo Guitar Improvisations

I guess Carl is mostly known for his soaring electric work that shows off terrific chops and great compositional skills. Here, things are a bit different. It’s mostly just him and an acoustic…

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…

Graham Dechter

It’s always a treat when a young player arrives on the scene with an understanding of what came before him. Dechter is a traditional jazz player who lets us know right off the…

Burton Garr – Home of the Blues

I’ve been chomping at the bit to get the word out on this articulate, contemporary Louisiana blues man. There must be something in the water that runs between Memphis and Baton Rouge, ‘cuz…

Bryan Sutton – Not Too Far From The Tree

Imagine creating an album where you play duets with all of your guitar heroes. On Not Too Far From The Tree, Bryan Sutton does exactly that. Now, if you or I tried this…

Elizabeth Cook

31 Tigers Records

Elizabeth Cook’s songwriting jumps to the forefront on this disc, whether the song is steeped in rock, carried by a funny lyric, or is a serious countrytinged ballad. On first listen, the lyrically…

Steve Howe Trio

HoweSound Records

The idea of a straight jazz album from Steve Howe might bring out the skeptic in proggers and beboppers alike, but Travelling is a pleasant surprise. Certainly, Howe’s jazzflavored leads were prominent in…

Old Crow Medicine Show

The Show is back!After a hiatus starting in August 2011, with old band members leaving and new ones joining, this album was much anticipated by fans. Never fear. It’s every bit worth the…

Judas Priest

Heavy Metal Validation

In the early ’80s, heavy metal was mainstream fare and competition was fierce. Thanks to MTV, the genre received tremendous exposure. The New Wave of British Heavy Metal was in full swing, but…

Florence Joelle

Zoltan Records

Florence Joelle sings rock and roll like Billie Holiday might, croons a torch ballad as Wanda Jackson may, and spices it all with a bit of Patti Smith attitude. Add to that Joelle’s…

Delvon Lamarr Organ Trio

I Told You So

The funky organ group’s follow-up to 2016’s Close But No Cigar finds the band comfortably nestled in a bed of soul-jazz backbeats, Silvertone hollowbody goodness, and intoxicating Hammond B3. Rising from the smoldering…

The Sadies

Yep Roc Records

The Sadies are on a creative roll, following 2007’s New Seasons with an eclectic country-rock album one dares call a “modern classic.” Benefiting again from the production of former Jayhawk Gary Louris, Darker…

John Gorka – Gypsy Life

It was good news, hearing that audiophile record label AIX was releasing a deluxe John Gorka performance DVD/CD. But this disc is surprisingly somber given that Gorka is normally an animated, highly amusing…

Brian Setzer

Sparking Another Rockabilly Riot

Three decades, umpteen records, and several stellar bands into his career, and Brian Setzer still makes rockabilly sound fresh and exciting. This album has much of the verve of his debut, 1981’s Stray…

Rik Emmett

Ten Telecaster Tales

At the risk of starting a brawl, Rik Emmett’s guitar work was arguably too good for Triumph. As evidence, his latest project centers on a custom-built Loucin that inspired both a book and…

John5 – Requiem

Adrenaline Records

His resume includes names like Marilyn Manson and Rob Zombie, but John 5 is not your typical shock-metal guitarist. In fact, much of his new DVD shows him running down country licks… in…

Mike Barfield – Living Stereo

Living Stereo

This might come as a surprise to those familiar with the singer from his days with the countrified Hollisters. Barfield downplays the country and plays up the southern soul vein, with great originals…

Eric Gales Trio

Eric Gales is arguably the most underrated guitarist of his generation. Emerging in the early ’90s with a post-Hendrix blueprint that combined a fusion of blues, rock, and gospel, he never sustained the…

David Bromberg

Swearing On The Blues

David Bromberg likes to quote the great fiddler Johnny Gimble, who once famously said, “There’s only two kinds of music – ‘The Star-Spangled Banner’ and the blues.” Suitably, Bromberg has devoted much of…

Megan Slankard

(Self-distributed)

Megan Slankard is difficult to pigeonhole. Equal parts country soul, folk, pop, and alt rock, though still in her early 20s, Token of the Wreckage is her third disc, and amply demonstrates why…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Black Valley Moon

Songs from the Black Valley

If you think you know surf music, the monster-movie themes of Black Valley Moon will surprise and thrill you. Using Reverend planks, guitarist Sam Williams delivers garage-rock goods on “Proxima Centauri Calling,” which…

Foghat

Foghat Records

Foghat guitarists “Lonesome” Dave Peverett and Rod Price have both passed on, but the band’s blues-boogie legacy is being carried forward by drummer (and co-founder) Roger Earl and singer/ guitarist Charlie Huhn, who…

David Lindley w/Wally Ingram – Live In Europe

The logical followup to the Lindley/Ingram Twango Bango studio CDs, this live counterpart features even better sound quality – with more definition, hotter drums, and fuller bass without sounding muddy. As for the…