Bentley’s Bandstand July 2025
Chris Berardo, WILDER ALL THE TIME. This Connecticut-based rocker puts the burning swagger and soulful heartbeats into his songs in a way that shows just how valuable he is. Chris Berardo is clearly a long-termer, and his new album sounds like it came right out of the history books of the all-timers. Berardo is so assured that he sails to the top of the artists in 2025 that are headed for the history books. His sound is of the instant-variety, that a verse or two and an inescapable chorus lets the listener know that there will be no missing the bullseye on finding a place on the list of present-day competitors. The man’s voice punches straight through into the realm of rockersville, no questions asked. Bringing that fact home is the ability to sing for the rafters or rather zero in on the true believers in the front row. It’s the sign of the true greats. One listen to his latest album and it feels like Chris Berardo has been here awhile, and is on his way to carving out his spot for a lasting future. The future awaits.
Hayes Carll, WE’RE ONLY HUMAN. In the past 30 years there has been a wondrous batch of Texans to invade the strongest singer-songwriter ranks. Or maybe it’s been happening for the past near-100 years and not enough listeners are still alive to remind everyone now. But no matter what the parameters of that reality are, it’s a known fact that Hayes Carll would be in their number. There is something so imaginative and permanent about him that it can give chills to listeners ready to fall under the Houstonian’s powers. The wide-open emotionality in songs like “High,” “One Day,” “What I Will Be,” “May I Never” and, hell, every other track here puts Carll in any Songwriter Hall of Fame in the country. These are originals that are capable of handing out chills at will, and tap right into the deepest parts of listeners with a surety that cannot be missed. And there’s a powerful feeling that WE’RE ONLY HUMAN is the release to bring the man’s sure-born greatness to a place to be fully noticed. Bluebonnets for everywhere.
Dane Clark and the Backroom Boys, GURU, HITMEN AND HEAVEN. This is the man that has spent 26 years behind a drum kit with John Mellencamp and is still at it, and walked away all the better for it. Clark’s new album is a wild round of head-knocking rockers, mid-tempo killers and everything else that a rock and roller can do. And before things really take off the airstrip, the inside-killer “Blame It on Kerouac” slips in to take the glory on the album. Which just happens to fit in with a Jack Kerouac reference that just happened to anonymously steal the show today: “Heaven’s time-worm eats at Brew’s vitals as mine, as yours; it’s hard enough to live in a world where you grow old and die. Why be disharmonious?” If that doesn’t turn on the Klieg lights, what does? Clark has a way of bringing the rough and the ready elements of rock & roll together in a way that stretches his past and future into one wonderful whole. His history of taking the A-ride in rock & roll with Mellencamp has prepared him for believing in himself, and everything he writes and sings on GURU, HITMEN AND HEAVEN feels like a 2025 essay on where we are today, after all the miles on the rock & roll highway. The future is up for grabs right now, and those that bring the honor they’ve earned in the past are the ones to listen to. That’s Dane Clark.
Eliza Gilkyson, DARK AGES. It’s a joyous time when one of the finest artists in the country even tops themselves on a new release. Eliza Gilkyson has been recording collections that are able to take the high and lows of modern life, and craft those parts together in ways that haven’t really been heard before. They are songs that go to the very deepest parts of life and love, and come back with an unforgettable feeling that something new has been learned about the ever-changing paths of the planet. And this woman has always added fresh new knowledge of how such things work. It’s almost like the singer-songwriter has discovered a new sense of understanding. DARK AGES goes even farther in that ability. It doesn’t seem possible, but Eliza Gilkyson’s vocals have done it, taking music directly into the heart. These times of instability demand it. Her ten original songs here verge on the transcendental, with such examples as “Holy,” “Times Like These,” “Man in the Moon” and, really, all the other six instant-classics are ones for the ages. Credit should also go to producer Don Richmond and all the musicians, because the sound of DARK AGES is so alive and thrilling that it feels like the musicians are in the room playing right there with the listener. This is an album that understands the vagaries of the modern world, and also gives powerful hope that, yes, there will be better times. There has to.
Terry Hanck, GREASE TO GRAVY. When it’s time to find an album that can absolutely put it in the alley with the best of them, it’s time to look up tenor saxophone and vocals terror Terry Hanck. From the Windy City itself, he’s been out there riding the back roads, getting on major stages and just generally making sure that someone for sure is taking care of business for all those that love rhythm & blues played right. He’s got a history as long as anyone still walking, and a feel for the blues that doesn’t come from college courses. This is someone who knows how to lay it all the way down when necessary and makes sure every time he picks up his saxophone that everyone he’s involved with knows what needs to be done. And when he brings in songs to record that he didn’t write–and he wrote a lot of these–he turns to Ray Charles, Chris Kenner, St. Louis Jimmy Oden and other real-deal heroes to cover. Terry Hanck is a man to believe and follow. The years have allowed him to open his soul when he’s ready, and he doesn’t have to look around for tips. Because this soul man has seen it all, and can take it to the limit whenever he wants to. Producer-guitarist Chris Kid Andersen has his action straight too, and doesn’t call his San Jose studio Greaseland for nothing. And whether Hanck is singing or blowing horn, it’s a true fact that he’s got the goods and he brought them with him. Funk it up.
Mike Henderson, LAST NITE AT THE BLUEBIRD LIVE. There have been a handful of guitar players in Nashville in the semi-present who really rose to the top of the ranks for flat-out burning live string kings, and generated their own fan troops to keep the bandstands smoking. None were hotter than Mike Henderson. In the few decades he came to be one of those people who the big-timers called, and also showed just how to play an electric guitar. The man always delivered. But he also did his share of live performances, and for a while moved into Nashville’s legendary music smokehouse the Bluebird for a weekly getdown. Needless to say, Henderson and band took care of business. Their set-lists included blues, primal rock, and even some country gems. It’s not every band in Music City who ended their sets with “Gimme Back My Wig” and more. The important thing, though, it just how hot the players could burn, and the way Hendersosn himself could come through on vocals. Check both those questions off the list immediately, because this was one of the great live bands to ever call the city home. When Mike Henderson left the world for good couple of years ago, there was a deep hush on bandstands around their town knowing the Bluebird nights that they often called home would be quieter, and the band’s staple “Weepin’ & Moanin’ would have a whole new meaning. Mike Henderson lives.
Phil Madeira, FALCON. Sometimes a musician can seem like a bit of a gunslinger, considering the number of other plays they’ve worked and all to 100% fulfilment. Madeira hails from Rhode Island, where he got the idea that he wanted to see the world through the view from the bandstand. And he made his way to the top, with many years playing in Emmylou Harris’ crackerjack band the Red Dirt Boys. Now it’s time for Madeira to step to the front of the class and show listeners how he’s found his own place in the front line. Madeira’s guitar abilities go without saying. He can play any style of music, and play it well. What really jumps out on FALCON is the songs himself, written by the man holding the guitar. There is a deep-seated sense of soul on every track, like there’s been a man no stranger to loneliness that has been storing daybreaks and heartaches side by side for decades. And now it’s his turn to step into the spotlight and show what he’s learned. Phil Madeira, on the sound of these soultugging songs, has learned it all. His voice has millions of road miles on it, but the sound always hits right in the bullseye. When listeners talk about Americana music, this is the man to put on the label. The last song, “Lesson of Love,” is the kind of heartbreaker that doesn’t get heard much in 2025. But when it takes centerstage, it’s clear that this man is someone who belongs on the biggest stage in the world, where those artists who tell the truth still thrive. Live and learn.
Rumer, IN SESSION. There are a handful of singers alive that when they open their mouths to sing, whether it’s in a recording studio or concert hall, make the world turn into a more beautiful place. The feeling in their sound does that without effort. Soon the days and nights have more promise, the heavy feelings that have been making the world feel like more of a problem than a joy take center stage. But listening to Rumer, the darkness goes away and no matter what the song lyrics are dealing with, promise enters the room and it’s time for warmth to take over. Rumer’s 2025 release IN SESSION for some reason seems to have disappeared. It’s rarely in record stores, and isn’t listed on her own WIKIPEDIA discography. Maybe the gremlins of the world don’t want this liberating sound to be heard. Do not be fooled. There is a recent Rumer album that promises freedom. Produced in England by herself and Stefan Redtenbacher, this could actually be something that was released in the 1960s straight out of Burt Bacharach’s hands. It’s that good. There is a supernatural vibration to her voice and these songs seem like the music is coming from a different cosmos, and Rumer is the Queen. Both English and Pakistani, clearly there is a dash of originality in her DNA which allows her to sing in all her own manner. Tip: the song “Aretha,” near the end of the album, is a two-hanky original that is sure to take a willing listener to their own world to weep. And then come out smiling because that’s what Aretha Franklin does to listeners. And then, just for an extra measure, the last song “Take Me As I Am” is the knockout punch to assure we are all here because we’re meant to be. Who we are.
Various Artists, LONG DISTANCE LOVE: A SWEET RELIEF TRIBUTE TO LOWELL GEORGE. There is something everlasting about tribute albums. It’s obvious the incredible amount of effort it takes to round up inspired artists to record a song by someone they respect. But the hard part is to be up for the job enough to create something that is new and exciting. This 25-song set is off the chart completely in that ability. Lowell George with Little Feat was an American band that really can’t be topped. It’s not going to happen. But all these admiring aspirants step up to the plate and all hit a home run on each and every song that can forever stand on its own. Whether or not every listener has ever heard of Little Feat or not, this really is the music of the spheres for everyone. From Joachim Cooder and Elvis Costello to Dawes’ Taylor Goldsmith and George’s daughter Inara George are breathtaking rides through the unbeatable songbook of someone who was only here on earth recording for a decade. But in those ten years lies a lifetime of inspiration and jubilation. And, wonder of wonders, every single track on LONG DISTANCE LOVE is a chillbumper. The odds are usually against that on collections like this. But there is no way this one was going to be any less. Not with a devoted soul like producer Sheldon Gomberg in the captain’s chair. Lowell George lives.
Cameron Winter, HEAVY METAL. Leave it to the last album on this list to knock down the door. Cameron Winter, also lead singer for the band Geese, made this solo album, which includes songs recorded on the floor of Guitar Centers, with a five-year-old bassist and other oddities, on the fly. But in a way, it sounds like it came together just as it was meant to be. As an original work of art, full of slippery oddities and true beauty. Sometimes the status quo needs to be put in the closet, and a new world allowed to be built at least for a time being. Winter clearly has the soul to do that, and even if things on the songs slip into the ozone a bit, that’s okay. There’s nothing wrong with the ozone. There’s no doubt the young man can sing, and there might even be a good chance he’s a follower of Captain Beefheart. And that’s intended as a major compliment. If there are times when the world of music feels like it needs a good jolt, head for Cameron Winter. And while there is not a single heavy metal song to be found here, contrary to the title of the album, but be sure there are things to retune the brain and set the chickens free. Freedom or else.
Song of the Month
David Belle
“RASPBERRY FLOW”
David Belle is a musician who can stand in the middle between the past and the future, and never lose a single listener. His songs reverberate with a definite power that has roots in the best bands of the 1970s, right through Prince and what the future visionaries are looking for now. “Raspberry Flow” is an instant punch of where we’ve been and where we’re going. Now’s the time.
Book of the Month
by Mark Brend
DOWN RIVER: IN SEARCH OF DAVID ACKLES
Sometimes the very best books about music figures, whether known or unknown, are those discovering artists who lived on the edges, never really grabbing popularity but always marching close to the land of greatness. That absolutely applies to David Ackles. During his years in the first half of the 1970s trying to enter the world of popular music, Ackles had a deep presence. He somehow got put into the Southern California music scene, the one that played at the Troubadour club and recorded for Elektra Records. And in that world Ackles was one of the most significant. His impressive songs were equal to those in the world of Elton John and others, and with a presence onstage, while somewhat muted but which always lived in a realm of its own. And while Ackles didn’t ever break into any type of true success, for those who traveled in the same profession his songs were coveted as American masterpieces. In many ways they have the feeling of a Broadway musical, and there was even talk of that happening. But in the end, David Ackles albums never broke through to any strong public profile, and while he continued to write and perform where he could, the man died a mostly unknown name. Mark Brend’s biography is an astounding work by someone who clearly thought the world of his subject, and spent the time and the effort telling the story with an incredible ability. In his book Brend brings back someone who never really had a substantial place in popular music, let alone found the success they deserved. But in a way, DOWN RIVER gives another chance to an American artist who created his own world of success just recording the albums he did, and offering the kind of accomplishments that really do live forever. A lost legend who maybe now will find his musical wonders heard. An incredible tale.
Bentley’s Bandstand July 2025