Bentley’s Bandstand: August 2025
by Bill Bentley
Marshall Crenshaw, FROM THE “HELLHOLE.” Here’s the prime example of a rock & roll expert who knows how to juggle originals and cover songs in a way that everything comes out his own in the end. It’s not an easy attribute to perfect, but Marshall Crenshaw sure did. Going from the Carpenters to Rare Earth is a move for only the courageous, but that’s nothing new to this man. He hit the scene in the 1970s and was able to move upward almost immediately, carving out a music career not to be forgotten. This collection of Marshall Crenshaw surprises is one of the better sets of the year, and shows the dedication the man had to his first love: rock & roll. It’s not as easy as it sounds to pull off something so prevalent and still come off as your own boss. Right in the middle of the set, Jeff Lynne’s “No Time” during his days in The Move pops out, and soon after John Sebastian’s Lovin’ Spoonful jewel “Didn’t Want to Have to Do It” comes around to solidly certify this release as a home run. And there are still more surprises. It’s no wonder Crenshaw was such a zippy new presence in those holy early years of New Wave/whatever: he had such irrepressible roots. Still coming on this set are songs by both Todd Rudgren and the Bobby Fuller Four, and more perfect originals by Crenshaw. “I tried to run but the blues came and found me” pops out, a Crenshaw line for the ages, whether it’s music or just plain living it’s being applied to. And the way Fuller’s contribution, “Never to Be Forgotten” closes the collection is just perfect. But then again, Marshall’s music of that era always had an essence of perfection to it. No space was wasted and nothing went unnoticed. That’s rock forever.
Rodney Crowell, AIRLINE HIGHWAY. It’s pretty easy to see that even from a distance Rodney Crowell has been one of the very best singer-songwriters for several decades. In or out of Nashville or any other corner or America the Texan works on a level of his own. AIRLINE HIGHWAY is yet another evidence of just how good Crowell is. And on this new album, there are several duets that raise everything up to a level of excitement. Lukas Nelson joins in on vocals on album opener “Rainy Days In California” for the perfect kick-off, and Crowell doesn’t look back on the next nine songs. He takes off for a place that his voice is righteously right for, and ends up making one of the shining releases of his storied career. When he sings with guests Larkin Poe there is such a wide-open generosity of feeling that there can be no doubt he’s going for the clouds. One of Crowell’s long-time strengths is just how real his songs are. He isn’t afraid of putting exactly what he thinks right out on the line, and going from there. As the album unfolds it’s clear the man has dipped down deep to create one of the highlights of an already-illustrious career. That that is a high-flying event isn’t a surprise, but it sure is a joy. Recorded in Louisiana and Alabama along with Tennessee and Texas, and employing the very best Southern musicians, gives a righteous sheen to all the sessions, and makes sure Rodney Crowell’s musical loyalties are given full tilt. It’s amazing in all the right ways just how strong the man’s songs and delivery have always been. Raised in some decidedly raw areas in the Houston sprawl, it feels like Rodney Crowell has always been destined for music greatness. He just carries that confidence with him, never forgetting where he came from. This is his album for the ages, but then again, all of them seem that way. Do not miss.
Jeff Falconer, MANY MILES TO GO. Sometimes a singer-songwriter finds themselves in exactly the right place: good studio, fine producer, willing record label, the right stars in the sky. That’s Jeff Falconer’s story. He was open to all those needs, and there they appeared. Naturally in and around Northern California. Falconer is a songwriter of fine feeling, and the ability to make that become real. He’s been writing for a half-century, and continually makes an ever-present imagination come through with songs that are never kept in one style. “Alone with You,” “The Hidden Parts” and “Many Miles to Go” are the kind of sounds that travel in different directions, always the one they need, to find their right homes. Falconer’s agile voice can shift and swerve just right and the able players in the studio find exactly where to go. Co-producer with Falconer, David Kessner knows exactly the songs’ direction and helps take them there. MANY MILES TO GO is like a life-story that doesn’t always go exactly as planned, but in the end finds the way. Even when there are many miles to go. A road ahead.
Buddy Guy, AIN’T DONE WITH THE BLUES. This is a blues man who was born badass. From Louisiana and dirt poor, Buddy Guy didn’t ask for favors, and sure didn’t receive any. What he did do that was an idea of genius was to move to Chicago, practice his guitar as much as he could and find his way to the clubs and record labels that were growing like cotton in the South. Guy’s ace in the hole is that he is fearless, which came in quite handy on the joints on the South Side of the Windy City starting in the early ’50s. The man’s voice has always carried an undercoating of sweetness, but at the same time it was obvious the bluesman was ready for action, no matter what it was. His early single for Chess Records, “First Time I Met the Blues,” is an all-time blues keeper. He has the sound of someone who is likely armed in case there is a problem, but also wants to make as many friends as possible. In 1968, on CBS-TV there was a news special that interrupted a program about urban blues. Nothing like that had ever been featured on network television, but it was cut into by announcements about the action blowing up around the Vietnam war. It was heartbreaking for a program of such wonder moved him into the fast lane the past 50 years, especially just as a filmed performance by Buddy Guy at the rough-and-tumble Chicago club Pepper’s had just begun. It’s likely nothing that straight-up urban blues had ever been aired on a network special. But Buddy Guy didn’t drop a beat, and a series of stellar albums on Vanguard Records moved into the fast lane of the blues. Guy’s new album feels like a personal history of his unbelievable life in urban blues, and all he’s done. The albums came and went that past 50 years, many of them among the very best of that era, and even now at a highly mature age Buddy Guy is still busting through. This is a man who doesn’t ask for favors, but is ready to pounce whenever the gate is opened. Buddy Guy ain’t done with the blues, that’s for sure, and the blues ain’t done with him. Yeah you right.
Candice Ivory, NEW SOUTHERN VINTAGE. When it comes to true blue down-in-the-alley female soul singers, there isn’t anyone quite like Candice Ivory today. This is someone who realizes just how global her music is, and isn’t adverse to casting a wide net to bring in listeners far and wide. She can move to hard-core boogie beats to put-it-the-alley blues ballads in the beat of a snare drum. Candice Ivory has been singing all styles of the music so long, it’s now really become her own. She knows that to truly get over, she needs to try all kinds of styles and tempos, and not worry what anyone says but her and her band. After her last album of Memphis Minnie music, Candice Ivory has really ripped the lid off and gone for the gusto. This is seriously serious music that looks at life as a long proposition, and to walk fearlessly into the future. Her burning band is with her all the way, and doesn’t think twice about cranking up the tempo and going for broke. That’s what the gig is. With a voice that can keep up with anything, Candice Ivory is ready for any audience or location. The blues became universal music in the past 75 years, and there is no stopping it now. Watch this woman take it forward. Blues or lose.
Durand Jones & the Indications, FLOWERS. There aren’t enough true soul groups these days. Not many would contest that, but when one does appear that has all the good qualities, it’s time for a hallelujah. Durand Jones & the Indications sure fit the bill. Formed in Indiana and ready to roll right from their start, this is a group with high initiative. Their vocal abilities are through the roof, and from the beginning the group learned songwriting is a huge part of the gig. So they worked hard and now reign as a band with an unlimited catalogue of moving originals. On the vocal front they have everything covered. Durand Jones is a true star, with an incredible lead voice and plenty of help from the rest of the group in the singing department. Their most recent album, FLOWERS, shows that they are quick learners and do not slow down for anything. They can range from the background voices in the Miracles’ realm, while Jones himself knows exactly where he is going. On songs like “I Need the Answer” and “Been So Long,” the future of rhythm & blues music is right there. And fortunately the Indications have studied the history of their music deeply, and can deliver an irresistible series of vocal abilities and forward movements that is rarely equaled in 2025. This is the real deal, in a time when that is truly a rare achievement. Peace, love, soul.
Maia Sharp, TOMBOY. It’s obvious when an original steps on the stage. They bring a whole new presence to the world, and stick to their guns in where they’re going. That has been Maia Sharp’s power since she started. Recording albums and writing songs for others have gone hand-and-hand for her, and luckily that’s still one of her ways forward. TOMBOY is an album that doesn’t sound like anyone else, not really, and it’s obvious Sharp is one of the strongest of modern songwriters, with a voice that can cut right through any arrangement and express the kind of feelings only the finest artists are able to deliver. There is clearly an appreciation for the best recordings that first appeared in the early 1970s among singer-songwriters, but she isn’t over-influenced by any others. Songs like “Only Lucky,” “Asking for a Friend,” “Fool In Love Again,” and “Any Other Way” make Maia Sharp at the top of the list of anyone else. And as evidence of the woman’s aim, the last track is a totally stunning version of U2’s “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For.” Not a song to take on unless the confidence is there to deliver it at full strength. Not something to miss. Another mission accomplished.
Chris Stamey, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE. Talk about a music spelunker. Chris Stamey has gone near and far to find rock & roll gold. Starting in North Carolina and then venturing all over the country, including helping form the band The dB’s and making some truly cool rock & roll connections with the likes of Alex Chilton and others, there’s not much Stamey hasn’t done. That’s because he has endless ideas and a great sonic gyroscope to keep him going in the right direction. There are not many who would take on the Brian Wilson song “Don’t Talk (Put Your Head on My Shoulder)” from his PET SOUNDS opus with clear eyes and sound mind. There is something so fulfilling about Chris Stamey’s songs and recordings that he’s found his own trail in the woods of rock music, and never sounds like he’s lost. Add to that an effervescent vibration to the man’s ability to pull off so many styles and it starts to feel like the album’s title, ANYTHING IS POSSIBLE, isn’t kidding. Stamey is an explorer, clearly, who takes his producer task seriously, and always comes through. This is a musical connoisseur who loves the task ahead whenever he begins an album, and doesn’t have all the answers to get to the end. It’s the joy of getting there that rings his bells. Everything on this album has a place, and the sum total is paramount. And Stamey even includes A Listener’s Guide to make sure the ride is more enjoyable. Take the trip.
Chris Vincent, & the Raw Deals, GOOD CROOK. There is something instantly grabbing about Chris Vincent’s new album. Maybe it’s the rawness of the recordings. They are all out front and stripped-down so that the music’s emotion is totally direct. There are no tricky moves or big words. This is an album that is meant to hit like a lead pipe. Chris Vincent hasn’t had an easy ride. And he doesn’t hide from it. He walks right into his mistakes, and owns up to what might have been a wrong move. But like all life, it’s possible to change the ways that were wrong and find a new way to move. It’s really not that far from the inside of a house of worship, where a new day is sought and the way there is from standing up to the truth;. There’s a lot of truth on GOOD CROOK, that’s for sure. The unrelenting feeling of saints and sinners is right there in all the words and music here, like life in New Orleans’ French Quarter where Chris Vincent lives. There is something so true in that neighborhood that the challenge can be overwhelming, and that’s where these songs ride to the rescue. “Bloody Mary Monday Morning,” “Skinned Knees,” “Half Block Cadillac,” “Snakes,” “Cows,” “Catherine the Great”—it’s all a piece of life in the Big Easy. With Crescent City’s unbeatable drummer supreme Johnny Vidacovich handling the skins and Dean Zucchero on bass, Vincent has the rhythm section covered. Adding his vocals and guitar brings the sounds to life, even when it’s skinned down to the core. It’s almost possible to see the scenes on Bourbon Street slinking by, heading straight for Wanda’s bar on Iberville where reality is an ever-changing event. There won’t be an album like this anytime soon, so now is the time to make a move. Yeah you’re right.
Emma Wilson, A SPOONFUL OF WILLIE DIXON. It takes a lot of bravado to take on an album of some of Willie Dixon’s most iconic blues songs, and then take them all into the end zone for an incredible example of American blues done right in 2025. And even if there are only six songs on this mini-album, each and every track is the kind of song that isn’t ever forgotten. Dixon himself wrote some of the greatest songs of the past 100 years, and in many ways won’t ever be bested in his realm. He just had a touch and power that doesn’t happen much anymore. Wilson clearly fell in love with these songs, and decided to go for it. And while she didn’t outdo the originals of songs like “Spoonful” and “I Can’t Quit You Baby,” she was able to make the new recordings her own. Which is saying something. And leave it to a savvy blueswoman to save the knockout punch to the end on her redoing of “It Don’t Make Sense (If You Can’t Make Peace).” It’s a Dixon original that will shake an open listener to their socks, really laying out the incredible mess the world is in right now, and how it seems absurd that it feels like there isn’t much chance it will work itself out of it. But then again: that’s the blues. Always looking for miracles out of nightmare realities, and shooting for a secret right around the bend. Emma Wilson is likely a dreamer, and hopefully the world will embrace her and send more power to her. Clear the way.
Book of the Month
Barry Mazor, BLOOD HARMONY, The Everly Brothers Story
After Elvis Presley’ massive success in the mid-1950s and before The Beatles took the stage in 1963, the Everly Brothers were the biggest hit among popular music fans in America. Phil and Don Everly really did rule the roost. And being at a time when there wasn’t any real reporting on music acts, no one knew what these stars and their lives were like. Of course there were problems galore in Club Everly behind the closed doors, and leave it now to writer Barry Mazor to find out the ups and downs of that family. This incredibly well-researched and written book goes a long way in letting readers in. Of course, it’s not the complete story, one that the family still keeps their hands on, but it’s likely as close as readers will ever get. Of course, it wasn’t all happy days but in many ways it was as good as massively successful stars got. In the end, once finished with BLOOD HARMONY the records will sound even better from knowing about the hard work and tough times Don and Phil Everly, along with their parents, went through, and the long odds their climb to the top had. Once again, be careful what you wish for in show business, and don’t overstay the welcome. Dream, dream, dream.
Song of the Month:
Bevan Manson featuring Suzanne Pittson, “Out of the Hub”
A wonderful arrangement for jazz orchestra and vocal of the Freddie Hubbard song “One of Another Kind.” A totally original mix of strings, horns and everything else you’d expect of such a powerful synthesis of styles. Arranged and conducted by Bevan Manson with 42 musicians and featuring an endlessly intriguing vocal by Suzanne Pittson, this is the kind of recording that skirts the border of avant garde but never loses its true jazz and even classical roots. Hopefully this is just the first track of a full album. Grammy time 2026?
Bentley’s Bandstand: August 2025
