• 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

    Read more >>

Motorhead – Hammered

In these uncertain times, thank goodness for reassuring constants: mom’s home-cooked meals warming the belly, the Red Sox not winning a World Series… and Motorhead frying eardrums. Like the Ramones, Motorhead does one…

Tinsley Ellis

Devil May Care

The pandemic largely torpedoed Tinsley Ellis’ tour dates in support of the excellent Ice Cream in Hell, so the veteran bluesman retreated to his Atlanta base and began tinkering with guitars, amplifiers, tones,…

Rob Ickes & Trey Hensley

Living in a Song

Resonator-guitar whiz Ickes and singer/guitarist Hensley blend traditional and outside elements, sometimes on bare-bones acoustic. On others, they create an amalgam of bluegrass and the classic country of the ’80s and ’90s enhanced…

Courtney Barnett

Courtney Barnett’s sleepy slacker persona might be a put-on, but what this young Aussie may (or may not) lack in what the older folks call “gumption,” she compensates for with droll, witty lyrics…

Monster Mike Welch

Nothing But Time

George Harrison’s “I Me Mine” in the middle of a blues album may seem left-field, but Mike Welch’s tone-to-spare guitar and impassioned vocal make you wonder why nobody did it before. It sits…

Electric Willie

Yellowbird

Avant-garde guitarists Elliott Sharp, Henry Kaiser, and Glenn Phillips share a love for the blues, so when a threeway collaboration was suggested, it morphed into a tribute to Willie Dixon. To differentiate it…

Jim Suhler and Monkey Beat – Tijuana Bible

Full of Skill and Soul

On his latest effort, Jim Suhler and his band serve up 16 cuts of boogie, blues, and other nasty forms of roadhouse music, and do it with skill and soul. Suhler’s a man…

Dylan – Pop’s 15 Greatest Minutes

Pop quiz: What was the most important and influential live set in the history of pop music? Your choices are Elvis on Ed Sullivan, The Beatles at Shea Stadium, Jimi Hendrix at Monterey,…

Furry Lewis, Sleepy John Estes, Mud Boy and the Neutrons, and more

These days, Memphis’ Beale Street is a blues-lover’s Disneyland in all the worst ways. It’s been sanitized and sanctified, then thoroughly commercialized. Once upon a time, however, it was the “home of the…

Leon Ware – Moon Ride

This album has an instant familiarity, and Leon Ware’s background makes it easy to see why – he has written and produced music for the likes of Quincy Jones, Maxwell, the Average White…

Claudia Thompson with Barney Kessel

Goodbye To Love

In 1956, Julie London’s “Cry Me A River” was the unlikeliest of hits, yet her breathy reading of a minor-key ballad, written by a schoolmate, reached the Top 10. With austere backing of…

Larkin Poe

Blood Harmony

The latest from the Nashville-based multi-instrumentalist Lovell sisters continues to fashion elements of Southern rock, blues, and wicked slide guitar into a creative juggernaut. Megan wields enviable feel and sensuous perfect pitch and…

Mark Cook – An Evening With The Blues

An Evening With The Blues

It’s obvious this Terre Haute-based guitarist is a talented individual. He’s got the chops and did all the writing and arranging on this disc. Not only the instrumental portions, but the vocal melodies,…

Jimi

Janie Hendrix and John McDermott

Jimi Hendrix would now be 80 years old and remains at the top of the “What if they’d lived?” list of musicians. This lavish book by Jimi’s stepsister, Janie, and McDermott (who oversee…

Kentucky Headhunters – Songs From the Grass String Ranch

I’ve always loved the Headhunters. Yeah, they had some country hits, but to me they’ve always fit into the rock idiom as much as the country one. And this album doesn’t fight that…

Chicago

It’s simplistic to say, but as these two box-sets of 10 discs apiece show, Chicago’s history really consists of two bands: one with Terry Kath as lead guitarist, one of the vocalists, a…

John Fogerty – The Long Road Home

Since Creedence Clearwater Revival disbanded 33 years ago, its catalog has been anthologized in every conceivable way, culminating with a six-disc boxed set of every track the band ever laid down, including its…

David Michael Miller

This makes it two in a row for David Michael Miller. His Poisons Sipped was one of last year’s surprise albums, introducing us to a songwriter, guitarist, and singer who is the whole…

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…

Wes Montgomery/Wynton Kelly Trio

Maximum Swing: The Unissued 1965 Half Note Recordings

Historically, there’ve been two camps of jazz guitar: acoustic Gypsy Django Reinhardt and electric pioneer Charlie Christian. But the swing and hard bop of Wes Montgomery required a third path, and 55 years…

Rick Holmstrom

Get It!

The veteran blues and gospel guitarist wanted to make an album “for good times; barbecues, car rides, pajama parties.” In doing so, he reinforces that good-time music and serious musicianship are not mutually…

Cheap Trick

The Epic Archive, Vol. 1 (1975-79)

Most successful bands have an early period when members labor to figure out their special sound. This fun disc captures that moment, combining early tracks with live material. The 1975 Memphis demos show…

Bearfoot

The teenagers who began the Bearfoot Bluegrass Band in 2006 have matured into young adults. As they’ve matured, so has their music. Even their name has changed slightly; it’s been shortened to Bearfoot.…

Top Of The World Tour – Live

One thing that should not be forgotten in the midst of all the controversy surrounding the Dixie Chicks’ 2003 tour is that not only was it the biggest-grossing country tour of the year…

Shakti

This Moment

Now a half-century since their earliest adventures, Shakti is back with age-defying guitarist John McLaughlin (who’s now 81) and tabla master Zakir Hussain, plus a new violinist and vocalist. The results are brimming…

Richie Kotzen

Recapping the fabulous career of Richie Kotzen, the Winery Dogs were hailed as an overwhelming success. Fender finally issued the Richie Kotzen Signature Telecaster in America, and The Essential Richie Kotzen was released…

Delirium Blues Project – Server or Suffer

This live CD begins by asking the musical question, “What Is Hip?” Singer Roseanna Vitro and her octet transform Tower Of Power’s dexterous funk anthem into a cool, would-be jazz standard – thus,…

  • Yes

    Yes

    Close to the Edge: Super Deluxe Edition

Jimi Hendrix Experience

Hollywood Bowl: August 18, 1967

 Imagine a Jimi Hendrix Experience concert where the audience actually disliked the band. That’s the scenario here, a secretly recorded gig opening for The Mamas & the Papas, a week before the U.S.…

Tom Principato – Raising the Roof!

Powerhouse Records

Principato has long been known as a fine guitar player, but here production and vocals take him to a new level. There’s plenty of the stuff you expect from Principato, including funky New…

Check This Action: The Sound Of The Surf

Before acts like the Beach Boys and Jan & Dean sang about surfing, guitar bands in Southern California started playing a style of instrumental rock that fans dubbed “surf music.” Inspired by the…