CD Reviews on projects by Americana Artists
Michelle Malone 1977 SBS Previous efforts from singer-songwriter/guitarist Michelle Malone have been searing, no-holds barred blasters, as gutsy blues as any contemporary blues artist has delivered. 1977 is a whole different side of Malone though. This is acoustic driven Americana that mixes nuance with nostalgia, autobiographical tales and introspection. Her character studies are particularly interesting. […]
Old Crow Medicine Show Paint This Town ATO While they started as a bluegrass band, Old Crow Medicine Show (OCMS) in recent years have won two Grammys and are considered one of our best roots bands, meshing Americana, old-timey music, folk, and rock & roll into an appealing sound that consistently sells out venues wherever […]
Just a Season Leave to Come Home Northern Electric Hailing from Vancouver, the Americana band Just a Season delivers their third album, Leave to Come Home. Like the theme of so many albums recorded during the pandemic, the band reassures us not to sink too deeply into introspection, to put the darker times behind us […]
Martin Harley, Daniel Kimbro & Sam Lewis Harley Kimbro Lewis Midnight Mango This is the debut for this singer-songwriter trio. Harley Kimbro Lewis is a straight-forward acoustic album with a laid-back, back porch feel – three guys singing, picking, and strumming. As they say, they did it the old-fashioned way, writing songs in the morning […]
John Evans Heart of Reason John Evans, singer/songwriter and producer, based in North Wales, just released his new album “Heart of Reason” in February 2022. John started with a debut album after finishing school and art college together with two of his school friends Alan and Linda Thompson. “Magic Man EP” was released in 2010. […]
Sarah Borges Together Alone Blue Corn Music Apart from the usually bold, strong effort from singer-songwriter Sarah Borges, Together Alone may be well be the definitive, or least the best explained example of recording resourcefulness during the pandemic. Producer Eric “Roscoe” Ambel deserves most of the credit and explains his process at length in the […]
W ED Harris Cares Of Tomorrow Can Wait Ed. Harris from North Carolina just released his album number ten and once again I’m delighted to be able to write about it. Ed has been into music from a young age and first picked up the guitar when he was just five years old. He started with […]
Massy Ferguson Joe’s Meat & Grocery North & Left Joe’s Meat & Grocery is the sixth album for the Seattle-based alt-country rockers Massy Ferguson (MF), known for their jangling, no-holds barred guitar driven attack and their invigorated fusing of country-rock and amped-up Americana. You would expect a heavy, driving sound. After all, they take their […]
Emily Glazener Finding Irene Today I have the great pleasure to write about Emily Glazener’s brand new album. Emily, based in Houston Texas has been making music since she was a teenager, playing in cover bands and performing solo acoustic shows. She is also the frontwoman of the very successful band Red Iris as well […]
Bruce Cockburn Greatest Hits (1970 – 2020) True North This may be the first time this writer has ever given ink to a greatest hits album, but my guess is that there are not many of us thinking of Bruce Cockburn, one of the most indelible voices of early non-commercial FM radio in the ‘80s, […]
Various Artists Highway Butterfly – The Songs of Neal Casal (3 CDs, 5 LPs) Royal Potato Family Neal Casal never got his due as a complete artist and certainly as a songwriter until now. Spread across 5 LPs and 3 CDs from a stunning list of artists are 41 of the late Casal’s songs in […]
Hayes Carll You Get It All DualTone Hayes Carll has built his career mostly on singer-songwriter roots-rock records but he claims that You Get It All is a country singer-songwriter record. He turns to his wife, Allison Moorer, and her favorite producer, guitar great Kenny Greenberg as co-producers of this, his eighth album. The many […]
Rodeo FM All the things you asked for Rodeo FM is Pat – lead vocals and acoustic guitar, Masataka – bass, Dominik – drums and backing vocals, Desmond – guitars and backing vocals, Gigi (guitar & banjo) Rodeo FM is a band based in Berlin, Germany, making music for 15 years. They have really played everywhere, at weddings and funerals, […]
Joe Tullos Vessels Big Sun New Orleans musician Joe Tullos left us just shy of a year ago, but he was determined to leave a parting gift, his posthumous release Vessels. Tullos was a legendary character of several pursuits that included writing music for Jimmy Buffet, cooking for John Grisham, and touring with Carl Perkins. […]
The Delevantes A Thousand Turns Moon River A Thousand Turns is the third album from Americana band The Delevantes, helmed by New Jersey brothers Bob (the main writer) and Mike (lead guitarist). They are a band that first appeared in the mid-‘90s in the early gestation of Americana but many thought they disappeared as their […]
Kris Gruen Welcome Farewell Mother West When we use the term country & western, we do not often think of a place like Vermont. That’s not to say Kris Gruen’s Welcome Farewell falls into the country & western camp but the predominant presence of the pedal steel guitar and rootsy accompaniment deliver a similar refreshing, […]
Elly Wininger The Blues Never End Earwig New York Hall of Fame Inductee (2014) Elly Wininger is socially conscious, highly skilled acoustic guitarist and songwriter based in the Woodstock area. She’s been at her craft for decades now but The Blues Never End is only her fifth album since the end of the ‘90s, the […]
Dale Webb Take a Little Chance Today I want to introduce you to Dale Webb, singer / songwriter who was born in Wales and raised in Ireland. Dale didn’t have an easy life and started playing guitar after a stroke he suffered as a child when he was just 12 years old. He knew that […]
Seth James Different Hat Tiny Ass Seth James has all the trappings of a West Texas cowboy and looks the part attired in his white Stetson. He is a life-long working rancher. Somehow, though James picked up the same kind of roadhouse blues bug as that mostly retired singer from Ft. Worth, Delbert McClinton. Yes, […]
The Furious Seasons Home All Day, Home All Night Stonegarden Home All Day, Home All Night, the pandemically named and recorded eighth album and fourth as an acoustic trio for The Furious Seasons, finds them stretching out more into a full band mode. Bandleader/ guitarist/songwriter and vocalist David Steinhart sees this as a more eclectic effort […]
Joe Troop Borrowed Time Free Dirt If the name is not familiar, perhaps the group is. Joe Troop is the bandleader for the Grammy-nominated Che Apalache. He’s a bilingual bluegrass multi-instrumentalist who brings the kind of activism we associate with Pete Seeger, early Bob Dylan, and the ‘60s era folkies. Much of this doesn’t sit […]
Andy Peake Mood Swings Big Little Mood Swings is the debut for singer/songwriter/drummer/percussionist Andy Peake who invites a wide cast of mostly Nashville-based musicians to join him in his eclectic mix of blues and roots tunes. Seven of the eleven are either penned or co-written by Peake with two highly recognizable cover tunes and two […]
Son Volt Electro Melodier Transmit Sound/Thirty Tigers Electro Melodier is alt country pioneering Son Volt’s tenth studio album, a year after marking, sadly without touring, the 25th anniversary of their groundbreaking 1995 debut, Trace. Son Volt has always been defined by front man Jay Farrar’s weary, soulful, and inexplicably comforting voice as well his songwriting. […]
Jackson Browne Downhill From Everywhere Inside Recordings This is Jackson Browne’s first album in six years and like many veteran musicians, he’s finding the studio conducive to songwriting. In other words, his songs often take new directions, once he begins to collaborate with bandmates, most of whom have cemented their chemistry with the iconic songwriter […]
Cassie and Mallory Life of a Ghost “Cassie and Mallory” are the two artists Cassie Spires and Mallory Tober who got together in 2019 to make music. Cassie takes on the part of the vocals and lyrics and is accompanied instrumentally by Mallory. Both have very different life stories. Cassie was a successful wedding photographer […]
Steve Dawson at the bottom of a canyon in the branches of a tree Pravda Besides having one of the longest and strangest album titles seen in some time, Chicago-based singer- songwriter Steve Dawson brings us a powerful album of loss and rebirth. Dawson is vastly underrecognized and underrated but has long been one of […]
Gary Vogensen Shot of Hope Little Village Here’s an unfamiliar name to most but you’d likely perk up when you learn that Gary Vogensen played with Mike Bloomfield, Barry Melton, Norton Buffalo, Maria Muldaur, Etta James, Commander Cody, John “Marmaduke” Dawson of the New Riders of the Purple Sage (for years), and more. Bay Area […]
Autumn Dawn Leader I, Autumnus Autumn Dawn Leader (and that’s her real name!), singer/songwriter and multi instrumentalist was born in the USA and moved to the East Midlands of the UK in 2004. She took her first musical steps at the age of four when she performed in concerts with her mother. At 16 she […]
Various Artists A Sweet Relief Tribute to Joey Spampinato True North This is an amazing group of artists all generously donating their proceeds from these recordings to the Sweet Relief Musicians Fund to support NRBQ founding member/bassist/songwriter Joey Spampinato with his current health issues. Joey’s wife Kami Lyle and producer Sheldon Gomberg rallied a group […]
Eric Selby Where You Born At Eric Selby, based in Washington DC is an artist, producer and multi instrumentalist and single father of four wonderful daughters, a dog and a cat (who he himself thinks is a dog). He published in 2020 his first solo original music as well as the EP “Do, Baby ” […]
Mark Remmington 12 Weeks After a break of more than ten years, Mark Remmington presents us his first solo album “12 Weeks”. Mark is based in the UK and has played and performed on numerous commercial releases before. During the lockdown that hit us all, he had the idea to write a song every week […]
Mary Hott with The Carpenter Ants Devil in the Hills – Coal Country Reckoning Self-released You may be thinking that The Carpenter Ants may not be the most inviting band name, but this is as an important concept album as you’ll find. Singer-songwriter Mary Hott is a seventh generation West Virginian who has devotedly researched […]
Dara Tucker Dreams of Waking Green Hill Productions The blues readers of these pages probably know the name Dara Tucker, ostensibly a jazz vocalist on this outing – Dreams of Waking – Music for a Better World. She co-wrote and sang on the title track for ‘Keb Mo’s Grammy winning Oklahoma. Tucker indeed hails from […]
Oliver Wood Always Smilin’ Honey Jar/Thirty Tigers Okay, before anyone gets too worried and jumps off the next cliff, the Wood Brothers remain intact as an ongoing band. That said, Always Smilin’ is the first solo outing for one of the three members, Oliver Wood. As you likely know, brother Chris has long had side […]
Declan O’Rourke Arrivals Miesta Music/Warner UK Arrivals is the seventh album for Irish singer-songwriter Declan O’Rourke and represents his first new material in two years, and importantly, a new raw, intimate sound encouraged and realized by producer Paul Weller of Jam fame. Weller is also a multi-instrumentalist who chips in now and then along with […]
Maia Sharp Mercy Rising Self-Released Maia Sharp just did two years ago what many singer-songwriters do. She moved to Nashville to be in the company of kindred spirits, hoping her change in scenery from L.A. would inspire her musically and give her personal life a necessary reboot. This is not to say she hadn’t enjoyed […]
Jesse Terry When We Wander Wander Recordings When We Wander marks a series of first for New England-raised, Nashville-based singer-songwriter Jesse Terry. It’s the first album of his seven, that he wrote since becoming a parent, the first he ever recorded live in the studio, and likely the first that was delayed for a year. […]
Tony Joe White Smoke from the Chimney Easy Eye Sound Smoke from the Chimney, a nine-song album of never-before-heard Tony Joe White tunes, is the posthumous album that most thought never existed. Produced by Dan Auerbach and rounded out by Nashville’s most seasoned studio musicians, Smoke from the Chimney started as several unadorned voice and guitar demos […]
Dan Farrell “Stories” Dan Farrell is a London based singer / songwriter with a great love for the music of The Beatles, Tom Petty, Rolling Stones and Genesis, to name just a few. His music is melodic rock that gets you hooked very quickly. The main focus is his guitar and he plays it left […]
Ben Cosgrove The Trouble with Wilderness Self-released Ben Cosgrove is a traveling composer, pianist, and multi-instrumentalist from New England. He travels constantly all over the country, performing a unique variety of original instrumental music that explores themes of landscape, geography, and environment while straddling a line between folk and classical music. He has delivered several […]
Abigail Dowd Beautiful Day Self-released Last year folk singer-songwriter Abigail Dowd issued one of the year’s more provocative albums, her search for identity in Not What I Seem. She now returns with A Beautiful Day, another self-reflective effort, also filled with some haunting songs and a prevailing melancholy that in enough places emerges to find […]
The Pink Stones …Introducing. Normaltown/New West There’s a tendency to use the term ‘country’ albeit sparingly with the more famous Athens, GA-based bands, The Drive-by Truckers (DBTs), and to some extent Bloodkin, yet The Pink Stones are by far the most country of the three. They fall into the camp of Cosmic American Music, whose […]
Zoe FitzGerald Carter Waterlines Self-released Author-turned-songwriter Zoe FitzGerald Carter releases her debut solo full-length, Waterlines, featuring ten original songs backed by some of the Bay Area’s best. Her background as a journalist, essayists, and author (Imperfect Endings) gives the album an autobiographical feel, partly implied by the album title, serving as a metaphor for searching clues from […]
John Smith The Fray Commoner/Thirty Tigers UK Singer-songwriter John Smith, with one of the most common names around, is not your run-of-the-mill singer-songwriter-guitarist. Those types cannot attract a cast like Smith does here for his highly emotive The Fray. Smith co-produced with long-time friend and producer Sam Lakeman at Peter Gabriel’s Real World Studio, assembling pianist […]
Brigitte DeMeyer Seeker Spinach Pitts Music Seeker is the latest album from the inspiring and poetic songwriter Brigitte DeMeyer, and releases on March 26, 2021. Her melodies are a deep fusion of jazz and blues. Vocally, Brigitte has a range that effortlessly flows from soulfully sweet with just a hint of sugar to thick and […]
David Olney and Anana Kaye Wispers and Sighs Schoolkids Records Whispers And Sighs is the latest album by David Olney and Anana Kaye and makes a much-anticipated debut on March 19, 2021. Just before the last day of winter. Just before David’s birthday. Just at the right moment. It is an album that had a […]
Claire Kelly Scenic Route Self-released Midwest born and raised, Nashville-based singer-songwriter Claire Kelly does plenty of justice to her Irish roots on her first full-length album Scenic Route. It comes after releasing four EPs. The album features her soaring soprano vocals, all but one original track, and spare arrangements that feature multi-instrumentalist Nick Stone doing […]
Steve Hill Desert Trip No Label Records After listening to Canadian guitarist Steve Hill’s Desert Trip a few times it’s been somewhat challenging trying to pinpoint just what film his amazingly cinematic music evokes. Now this writer is landing on the desolate landscapes of No Country for Old Men (on second thought, that’s true for […]
W. Ed Harris The Foggy Dew Independent Ed Harris has just released album number nine and again he managed to add another masterpiece to his vita. Based in North Carolina, Ed started making music at the tender age of 5 and then discovered his love for Celtic music, which has been his focus for over […]
Lake Street Dive Obviously Nonesuch With the kind of success enjoyed by Lake Street Dive, it would be easy to get complacent and churn out the next album in a similar groove to past records. Why mess with a proven formula? But, after being on the road for nearly eighteen months since 2018’s Free Yourself […]