CD Reviews on projects by Country Artists
Randy Lewis Brown Red Crow Berkalin Randy Lewis Brown is another in the gifted group of Texas singer-songwriters full of poetic flair and engaging narratives. Red Crow is collection of 13 original songs, four of which are co-written. Brown sings in a clear, eminently listenable voice with great articulation and just the right amount of […]
Jacqui Brown Love, Love, Love Woodward Avenue At first this was puzzling. The brunette with the hat on the cover and inside jacket signaled country music but the label, Woodward Avenue, for this writer is associated with smooth jazz, real jazz, and soul. Woodward Avenue has a roster of great artists including Melba Moore. Readers […]
Bill Scorzari Now I’m Free There are poets, there are songwriters, there are painters of fine art, and there’s Bill Scorzari. The new album, Now I’m Free is a bold and delicate balance of each. To say it is a thing of beauty is an understatement. The album has played continuously these last few months […]
Ward Hayden and The Outliers release their newest album Can’t Judge A Book on September 6, 2019.
HOME PAGE Making a Scene Presents an interview with Bryan Haraway! Bryan Haraway blurs the lines between Americana and melodic rock & roll on his self-titled solo debut. It’s a celebratory record, stacked with layers of electric guitar, horns, pedal steel, and the observations of a sharp songwriter who’s learned to appreciate the little things […]
Chuck Mead Close To Home Plowboy Records In 1993 Kansas native Chuck Mead was one of the founding members and front men for the Alternative Country band BR549. Their self-titled 1996 album, the first of seven recordings, produced three charting singles, three Grammy nominations and a Country Music Association Award. The Americana roots music artist […]
Rising Appalachia Ley Lines Blends cultures and harmonies into pure bliss Patrick O’Heffernan The word “ley lines” was coined in 1921 by the amateur English archaeologist Alfred Watkins, describing the apparent alignments among historical and geological spaces, hypothesizing that they had persisted over millennia to facilitate travel, trade and community. Later, others theorized that global ley lines […]
Rebecca Loebe Give Up Your Ghosts Blue Corn Music Give Up Your Ghosts is exactly that. Written within a creative span of a few months, these are songs that Rebecca Loebe needed to hear, they are songs about empowerment. The eleven songs, written by Rebecca, are poppy and current and appeal to young and old […]
Elles Bailey Road I Call Home Independent Elles Bailey is a British singer who, in 2017 released her debut album, Wildfire. It met with success and therefore she hit the road touring in support of it. That touring inspired this second album Road I Call Home, although love and matters of the heart figure greatly […]
Arlen Roth Tele Masters Aquinnah Records Arlen Roth released his first album “Guitarist” in 1978 and it won the Montreux Critics’ Award for “Best Instrumental Album”. He recorded “Foolin’ Around” in 1993 with Danny Gatton and Duke Robillard, and a documentary commemorating the event. In 2008 he recorded the sequel “Foolin’ Around Woodstock”, with Levon […]
Emily Scott Robinson Traveling Mercies Self-released If you’ve heard Emily Scott Robinson’s song “The Dress” or the accompanying stories in other publications, you may just want to scroll down. However, for those who have not, there’s not a more important place to start. Without her harrowing trauma endured after being raped in her early twenties, […]
Jason Ringenberg Stand Tall Courageous Chicken Music Punk-country icon Jason Ringenberg is back with his first solo album in 15 years. He is still touring with Jason & the Scorchers, but this is a special project inspired by nature and trees, in the biggest way possible. That’s because Ringenberg was commissioned as the artist-in-residence at […]
Making a Scene Presents Viola Krouse’s Top 42 Americana CD’s for 2018! Viola is one of the newest writers to come on board to the Making a Scene Family. She is highly respected in the world of Americana artists. He CD reviews are insightful and has the ability to find great music that is on […]
Shawn Mullins Soul’s Core Revival Soul Carnival Records Shawn Mullins hails from Atlanta, Georgia. In the early 1990’s Mullins was a young troubadour on the folk circuit traveling the country in a minivan with his dog Roadie and a guitar. His debut recording was released in 1992 but it was his 1998 “Soul’s Core” album, […]
Roy Schneider& Kim Mayfield Reckless Saints Shiny Gnu Thanks to roots artist Gurf Morlix for describing Roy Schneider and Kim Mayfield’s sound better than this writer can. His term “blue twangled folk n’ roll” is perfect. This husband and wife team runs the gamut from engaging acoustic folk to driving bluesy tunes, with hints of […]
Jim Wyly The Artisan Texas Fanfair Publishing & Gaylord Music Jim Wyly must have had releasing a solo album on his bucket list. After playing in bands for forty years in and around Austin, the 72-year-old Texan is releasing The Artisan. His acoustic album sometimes features just Wyly alone while other tracks feature harmonicist Ray […]
Carry Me Back Jeff Mamett As evident from the opening song from “Carry Me Back”, Jeff Mamett is the real deal. This album is pure country not forced country. This is heartfelt country not sit in a cold windowless room on music row working through a formula country. This isn’t about driving trucks and drinking […]
Mandy Barnett Strange Conversation Dame Productions/Thirty Tigers Mandy Barnett made quite a splash recording her self-titled debut for Asylum before she was even 21 years old. Prior to that she had already been resurrecting Patsy Cline in the stage production Always…Patsy Cline. Barnett was a child prodigy who signed her first record deal at age […]
Kristina Murray Southern Ambrosia Loud Magnolia Kristina Murray, like many, loves the South for certain things and is conflicted about the duality of its legacy. This album hits several topical issues while praising the elements she cherishes. This is only her second release and it follows 2013’s Unravelin’. Murray originally hails from Atlanta, spent six […]
Los Cuates – the latest release by singer-songwriter sometimes guitar slinger Sergio Webb paints the landscape of the American West. These are songs written from the road. Whether you’re traveling through this landscape on horseback or car listening to Los Cuates will transport you to a place somewhere on the road that’s as comfortable as […]
Jim Stanard Bucket List Self-released Even relatively late in life, it’s not too late to make a singer-songwriter record, no matter what the walk of life. Take Jim Stanard, for example. He sounds as if he’s a contemporary of this writer and the two Richards you seen so prominently on this site. Stanard grew up […]
The Nouveaux Honkies Loud In Here Independent The Nouveaux Honkies are Tim O’Donnell and Rebecca Dawkins. This is there fourth full length recording but their first album was strictly blues and is long out of print. The Americana duo has since made their mark with three albums which they prefer to call Honky Tonk Country. […]
Neko Case Hell On Anti It’s Neko’s voice that draws you in. It is an undeniably ethereally beautiful instrument as it’s been from the very beginning when in the early ‘90s she was being hailed as the second coming of Patsy Cline. Some preferred to think of Wanda Jackson instead. Yet, Case’s lyrics, demeanor and […]
There’s nothing like a great Texas storyteller. Tarrant County combines masterful songwriting and refreshingly accomplished musicianship with a voice that’s as comforting as your best childhood memory. Tarrant County is the newest album by Texas Heritage songwriter finalist Mark Currey. Tarrant County is a songwriters delight. This album is an essay in Americana. The songs […]
DADDY “Let’s Do This” What would it sound like if Mick Taylor and Keith Richards were in a juke-joint, rock-‘n’-by-god-roll band, a band that preaches the gospel according to Muddy Waters? It would sound like Let’s Do This, the newest album from the Americana supergroup “DADDY”. DADDY is Will Kimbrough and Tommy Womack at their […]
Joe Goldmark Blue Steel Lo-Ball Records Joe Goldmark grew up in Tucson, Arizona where he studied cello and guitar. He moved to San Francisco and started playing bass in soul bands. He became enamored with the San Francisco Sound and got bitten by the pedal steel bug after seeing Jerry Garcia play with The New […]
By Rhetta Akamatsu Grayson Capps is certainly the epitome of Americana, shuffling influences effortlessly. You can hear a bit of Buffet, more than a little Hank Williams. some Southern rock, a bit of gospel, all boiled down to something rare and original by Capps’; way with words. His imagery is so vivid that just a […]
Freddie Pate I Got The Blues Independent Freddie Pate grew up in Los Angeles and learned guitar while still a child. As a youngster he played with some of Country Music’s greatest including Buck Owens, Johnny Paycheck, Lefty Frizzell, and Merle Haggard. In 1974 he moved to Texas where he played both as a sideman […]
It’s been more than 25 years since Travis Tritt began his musical career, yet on his 2-disc CD set, Travis Tritt: A Man and His Guitar – Live from The Franklin Theatre, he sounds as fresh and relevant as ever. While staying true to his roots, he shows that he is capable of crossing the line […]
“All Things Must Pass” The rise and fall of Tower Records (96 minute DVD) www.MVDb2b.com – MVDvisual The death of Tower Records was a major blow for many of us who grew up purchasing vinyl LP’s, seven inch forty-fives and CD’, laser discs, and DVD’s. This triumphant and reflective DVD “All Things Must Pass,” is […]
Jesse Dayton The Revealer (Blue Elan records) There is much debate these days as to what is “Real Country music,” but there is no doubt when you hear Texas guitarist, singer/songwriter Jesse Dayton on his new album, The Revealer, released in September of 2016 that he is “The Real Deal.” Dayton won his bonafide stature […]
Del McCoury Band Del & Woody McCoury Music Woody Guthrie (1912 – 1967) was a singer, songwriter and musician who wrote hundreds of songs. Many are today considered traditional but included were ballads, children’s songs and political tunes. Best known is his song “This Land is Your Land”. Guthrie was a big influence on other songwriters […]
The Mavericks are a party band. They define everything there is to say about “feel-g99d” music. Aside from that, while they are usually classified as country, they are a marvelous mix of roots music, with heavy doses of Latin, rockabilly and Tex-Mex. On the new album, Mono, things get started with “All Night Long,” with […]
Angela Easterling’s voice reminds me of Emmylou Harris. It has that same range and purity. Her new album, “Common Law Wife” finds her backed by some great Nashville musicians and proving that she is, indeed, “a bright new star on the horizon,” as the legendary Roger McGuinn recently proclaimed. Eaterling lives in the area of […]
Tiffany Huggins Grant has an amazing voice, perfect for Americana with its mix of “crystal and honey” as the press release accurately describes it. Grant grew up in Smyrna, GA, thus explaining the title, Jonquil Child. Smyrna is known as the “Jonquil City” due to the springtime proliferation of the bright yellow flowers. The song […]
Tony Joe White “The Complete Warner Bros. Recordings” www.RealGoneMusic.com Tony Joe White’s late sixties signing to Monument Records took-off with a series of hits starting with “Polk Salad Annie.” The Real Gone label focuses on his subsequent early seventies output for this double disc compilation of the LP’s he made for Warner Brothers. Three albums […]
Live At BB King’s Blues Club, NYC Robert Gordon & Chris Spedding Elvis Birthday Celebration 1/7/2009 A re-print by Richard Ludmerer Actually Elvis’s birthday is 1/8 but it was celebrated last night at BB King’s Blues Club. Featured was the rockabilly great Robert Gordon. An ex-member of the New York band The Tuff Darts he […]
Cowboy “5’ll Getcha Ten” www.RealGoneMusic.com I actually saw Cowboy opening for (I don’t recall the band, but it wasn’t the Allman Brothers,) at the Fillmore East, but they were a captivating laidback country-rock band that immediately captured my attention. Cowboy is frequently remembered for their associations with the The Allman Brothers Band and Eric Clapton […]
Seven Handle Circus is extraordinary, literally. There is nothing about them that is ordinary. They use traditional acoustic bluegrass instruments but their sound is more pop than bluegrass, with amazing harmonies that recall R.E.M. more than Bill Monroe. Add to that the literary influences and references the Atlanta group, who met while attending Georgia Tech, […]
My Darling Clementine The Reconciliation ? Five Head Entertainment My Darling Clementine is a Birmingham, England based country music group lead by the husband and wife duo of Michael Weston King and Lou Dalgleish. They are inspired by the music of George Jones and Tammy Wynette; Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton; and Johnny Cash and […]
Billy Joe Shaver Long in the Tooth Lightning Rod Records This is Billy Joe Shaver’s twentieth album and his first since 2008’s “Everbody’s Brother”. Shaver has recorded albums for Monument, Capricorn, Columbia, New West, Compadre, and other labels. He is mostly known as a songwriter having penned songs for Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, and Willie […]
Willie Nelson Band of Brothers Sony Legacy Records Now an octogenarian Willie Nelson is a country music icon. A great vocalist and performer my own interest began in Nelson by listening to other artists. He is the author of manysongs which became country music standards including the megahit “Crazy” originally recorded by Patsy Cline and […]
Royal Southern Brotherhood Heart Soul Blood Ruf Records Cyril Neville, at 66, is the youngest of the four Neville Brothers. Although the “soul” of the Crescent City, they seldom still perform. Cyril however still has the passion to perform. In 2012 he formed The Royal Southern Brotherhood with Mike Zito, Devon Allman, Charlie Wooten, and […]
Waylon Jennings Goin’ Down Rockin’: The Last Recordings Sagauro Road Records In 1958 Buddy Holly hired bassist Waylon Jennings. In Clear Lake, Iowa, Holly chartered a plane to take his band to their next venue. Jennings gave up his seat to J.P. Richardson a.k.a. the Big Bopper, who had a head cold. The plane carrying […]
Rodney Crowell Tarpaper Sky New West Records This is Rodney Crowell’s fifteenth album and first for New West Records. Crowell will be 64 in August and he is quite possibly the youngest of our Country Music icons. Crowell is a fabulous songwriter and singer who has won both an ASCAP lifetime achievement award and […]
The Hag’s Blues Merle Haggard I Am What I Am Vanguard/Hag Records In 1969 when I first heard “Okie From Muskogee” I was a little put off, but when Merle Haggard followed that with “The Fightin’ Side of Me” I purchased the live album of the same name. I have since remained a big Haggard fan […]
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