Tom Clarke’s Top 10 Roots and Blues Albums of 2023 In No Particular Order Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway City of Gold Nonesuch A guitar prodigy, rousing songwriter, and vivacious singer, Molly Tuttle is the real deal wrapped up loosely and attractively in the whole package. Tuttle won the 2022 Best Bluegrass Album […]
Mike Zito & Albert Castiglia Blood Brothers Live in Canada Gulf Coast Records Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia’s Blood Brothers Live in Canada feaqtures ten of the eleven songs on their award-winning Blood Brothers studio album released earlier this year. But in no way is this a superfluous move. Zito and Castiglia’s sweltering blues/rock performances […]
Various Artists Warren Haynes Presents: The Benefit Concert Volume 20 (Evil Teen / Mascot Label Group) The Benefit Concert Volume 20 presents in grand style the 30th anniversary of Warren Haynes’ Christmas Jam, held over two nights in 2018 in his hometown of Asheville, North Carolina. Since 1988, Haynes has gathered friends from across an […]
Michelle Malone & The Hot Toddies Toddie Time SBS Records/BFD Snowflakes float on a chilly upstate New York Halloween morning, and this cheery and bluesy Christmas album creates a perfect soundtrack. Atlanta’s Michelle Malone & the Hot Toddies’ Toddie Time features inspired twists on the tried and true. Malone croons “Jingle Bells” clearly and with […]
Lisa Biales At Christmas Big Song Music Christmas music can unite, lift emotions, and relieve anything like a salve for the soul. At Christmas succeeds at it all. If we could all just ring some jingle bells together, right now. At Christmas, by Ohio native Lisa Biales (pronounced be-Alice), contains brand-new assorted-in-style treats, including “Christmas […]
Larkin Poe An Acoustic Companion Tricki-Woo Records When sisters Rebecca and Megan Lovell lead the roots and blues rockers Larkin Poe, they inject their Southern Gothic-bred songs with high octane-addictive, modern pop gas. But around the time of the pandemic, the sisters flooded social media with videos of themselves as an acoustic duo in […]
Joe Bonamassa Blues Deluxe Vol. 2 J&R Adventures Joe Bonamassa cannot possibly have an off switch, only one that adjusts the mode. If he’s not out promoting an album onstage somewhere in the world, he’s likely in a studio working on the next one. Blues Deluxe Vol. 2 marks his 51st in 23 years, considering […]
Jason Ricci and the Bad Kind Behind the Veil Gulf Coast Records Jason Ricci and the Bad Kind. What a suitable, vivacious name for this bunch, given all the ins and outs and ups and downs crisscrossing Ricci’s story. Ricci’s traits include being an on again off again drug abuser, and a spiritual, openly […]
The Count Basie Orchestra, Directed by Scotty Barnhart (with Guests) Basie Swings the Blues Candid Records (assisted by Alligator Records) ‘There ain’t nothin’ wrong with havin’ a good ol’ time,’ Mr. Sipp urges in “Let’s Have a Good Time,” the hip-shaking opening number to Basie Swings the Blues. Sipp, the saucy, dapper, alter ego of […]
Joyann Parker Roots Hopeless Romantics Records Too often an artist that takes on this amount of variety in style for one project ends up presenting a flat experience. Not Joyann Parker with Roots. Not by a country mile and a half. Few shift so fluidly between rock, country, blues, hard and smooth soul, and even […]
Bill Connell with John Lynskey Forward by Chuck Leavell Allman Joy: Keeping the Beat with Duane and Gregg Mercer University Press Tuscaloosa, Alabama native Bill Connell lived a fulfilled, rollercoaster ride of a life that included playing the drums for, and on bills with, several significant names in the annals of rock and roll. […]
Coco Montoya Writing on the Wall Alligator As Coco Montoya shouts ‘Baby, baby,’ at the outset of “I was Wrong,” his guttural voice rings a Warren Haynes kind of bell. But it quickly becomes clear by his molten tears of regret and exquisite stabs at his guitar that this is Montoya’s own church of soul-baring […]
Willie J. Campbell Be Cool Blue Heart Records Sadly, the celebrated blues bassist Willie J. Campbell passed away last December from ALS while making this album, ultimately titled Be Cool for the phrase the affable musician often used and lived by. Recorded at Dockside Studio in Louisiana, the recordings were completed by the core […]
Molly Tuttle & Golden Highway City of Gold Nonesuch Play the last song of this dazzling bluegrass adventure first. Throughout “The First Time I Fell in Love,” a lilting “Mr. Bojangles”-like melody carries Molly Tuttle’s soul baring recollections of being a teenager. Tuttle was diagnosed with Alopecia as a three-year-old, and it quickly advanced to […]
Alan Paul Brothers and Sisters: The Allman Brothers Band and the Story of the Album that Defined the ‘70s St. Martin’s Press Acclaimed music columnist and author Alan Paul has covered The Allman Brothers Band and its offshoots for much of his career. He previously wrote the New York Times bestseller, One Way Out: The […]
Duane Betts Wild & Precious Life Royal Potato Family “My mother she married a ramblin’ man,” Duane Betts sings in “Taking Time,” the snappy little tune that kicks off his 2018 debut EP, Sketches of American Music. The heritage that pours out of Betts in reference to his father, Dickey Betts of the original Allman […]
Monster Mike Welch Nothing But Time Gulf Coast Records With Nothing But Time, Mike Welch cements the legitimacy of the Monster moniker that comedian and “Blues Brother” Dan Aykroyd dubbed him with when Welch was a 13-year-old blues guitar prodigy. Welch had recently come off a tough year and a half of long Covid when […]
Tracy Nelson Life Don’t Miss Nobody BMG Ms. “Mother Earth” may have taken a long break, but she sure hasn’t missed a beat. Tracy Nelson celebrates her calling with Life Don’t Miss Nobody, her first new album since 2011’s Victim of the Blues. Nelson began recording acoustic blues in 1965 in her hometown Madison, […]
Jeff Beck Tribute Atco Released just in time for this week’s star-studded Royal Albert Hall concerts in honor of Jeff Beck, this Tribute EP serves as a tiny, tasty appetizer of what the late, groundbreaking guitarist was capable of. Everyone knows the name Jeff Beck for a reason. Organized by Eric Clapton, the shows […]
Fenton Robinson Somebody Loan Me a Dime Alligator Records Fenton Robinson first recorded his now-classic blues “Somebody Loan Me a Dime” in 1967, releasing it on one of the dozen or so singles he began cutting ten years earlier. Two years later, Boz Scaggs recorded the song for his self-titled debut album. Scaggs’ version […]
Lil’ Jimmy Reed with Ben Levin Back to Baton Rouge NOLA Blue Pianist Ben Levin cut his fifth album last year while still attending his hometown University of Cincinnati. Guests on Take Your Time included Chicago blues luminaries Lil’ Ed Williams, Bob Stroger, and Rockin’ Johnny Burgin. Lil’ Jimmy Reed, one of the elder statesmen […]
Tommy Emmanuel Accomplice Two CGP Sounds Billy Strings helps Tommy Emmanuel light the fuse, and together they blow the roof off Accomplice Two with a feisty porch side run through Doc Watson’s “Doc’s Guitar / Black Mountain Rag.” Molly Tuttle then folds right into that high-powered bluegrass groove picking intensely and singing charmingly on […]
The Infamous Stringdusters A Tribute to Flatt & Scruggs Americana Vibez Records Here they go again, those Infamous (and incredible) Stringdusters, demonstrating that to rock as creatively and successfully as they do in the progressive bluegrass realm, frequent trips back to the music’s Appalachian sources to really know the stuff, are an obligation. Besides enormous […]
Steve Dawson Eyes Closed, Dreaming Black Hen Music Steve Dawson’s status in his home country Canada could decorate the face of a skyscraper. Dawson has played remarkable guitar on, and/or produced, over 200 albums since emerging in the late 1990s, winning a cabinet full of trophies including seven Juno Awards for his efforts. Now in […]
Mike Zito & Albert Castiglia Blood Brothers Gulf Coast Records Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia’s dozens of individual albums all point to their first collaboration working as well as it does. Not to mention that they’re apparently good buddies. The title Blood Brothers encapsulates their bond and shared spirits ideally. Zito and Castiglia have long […]
The Cash Box Kings Oscar’s Motel Alligator Records Blues fanatics of course, but certainly the culturally minded and perhaps most crucially, regular Joe’s, all should spend at least one night in a classic Chicago blues club. Add it to the bucket list, because soaking up that vibe with a blistering band tearing it down can […]
The Band of Heathens Simple Things BOH Records The title to the 1978 Nick Lowe classic, Pure Pop for Now People, popped into my head while listening to Simple Things, The Band of Heathens’ eighth album of original material and 13th overall. If this isn’t pure popular music for everyone right now, I don’t know […]
The Shootouts Stampede Soundly Music The Shootouts never expected to engage in this level of glittering hoedown showdown, and certainly not so quickly following the success of their 2021 Top 10 Americana album, Bullseye. But they could not get out of the way of this Stampede, certainly not with Ray Benson driving it. The renowned […]
Johnny Nicholas A Tribute to Moon Mullican, Volumes 1 & 2 Valcour Records Aubrey Wilson “Moon” Mullican (1909-1967) is considered by many to have been the king of honky-tonk pianists during the 1930s and ‘40s. None other than Jerry Lee Lewis covered several of Mullican’s songs and sang his praises for the ways he bridged […]
Damon Fowler & Friends Live at the Palladium Landslide Records A very special night this turned out to be. Singer, songwriter, and guitarist Damon Fowler and his band tore it up, threw it down, stomped on it, and on occasion smoothed it over at their show in St. Petersburgh, Florida this past July. Live at […]
Making a Scene Presents Tom Clarke’s Twelve Favorite Roots and Blues Studio Albums of 2022 Tedeschi Trucks Band – I Am the Moon – Concord Records Derek Trucks may be the most brilliant and expressive guitarist of his generation, his wife Susan Tedeschi the finest rock and soul singer, and their 12-piece Tedeschi Trucks Band […]
Samantha Fish & Jesse Dayton The Stardust Sessions Rounder Records (digital) A massive front of low-pressure dustbowl country crashed head-on into high-pressure blues and rock ‘n’ roll when Austin’s Jesse Dayton and Kansas City’s Samantha Fish hit a New Orleans studio together. Their hellacious storm of a debut album dubbed Death Wish Blues drops this […]
Bywater Call Remain Gypsy Soul Records Maple Blues Award winners Bywater Call have drawn a fair share of parallels to Tedeschi Trucks Band since emerging in Toronto in 2017. Remain will likely bolster those comparisons, but also cement the distinctive character of this seven-member group through their gripping performances of eleven original songs. This […]
