BENTLEY’S BANDSTAND: February 2026
By Bill Bentley
Chris Ahlman, SANTA BARBARA SONGS. It’s pretty obvious from note one on this singer-songwriter’s new album that he has a very special relationship with Santa Barbara. The seven songs on his new release capture the peace and beauty of the California coastline of the town on the California coast, in both its peace fulness and its excitement. Ahlman is the kind of songwriter who can impart the kind of life that somewhere like Santa Barbara resonates. The Pacific Ocean, the mountains and, yes, the nature of relationships a place like that can create. There is such a constant feeling of the coming and going of relationships that threads through songs like “The Perfect Fit,” “Six Strings of Freedom” and ‘Slide Into Eternity” that the album should be offered at the Chamber of Commerce office. California has always had an individualistic feeling, and no other state can get close. Chris Ahlman is clearly someone who has spent his years there living in all kinds of different scenarios, and he’s walked away with a deep feeling of what California dreaming does to the psyche, and the day to day opportunities of the ups and downs. Ahlman’s voice is a study of only itself. It’s got the kind of strong power of some of the state’s strongest singers, and also is able to take off into its own spirit. He just doesn’t sound like anyone else. And though the release was recorded in Nashville there really isn’t an overall country music feel. Rather, it takes off into California beauty, and never looks back. The Golden State strikes again, and adds a singer-songwriter to the list of those who should be listened to. California strikes again.
Paula Boggs Band, SUMATRA. Some of the most exciting figures in modern music are those that head off into the wild to conceive a new style. Paula Boggs is one of those people. She approaches all kinds of different styles as things that she can mold to be all her own. So many different sounds are crossed with the different levels of activism that the woman has explored, that what is conceived is a new sound. She is a former member of the President’s Committee on the Arts & Humanities. On SUMATRA Boggs really develops a new style, whether it’s with James Falzone, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Valerie June or any other number of artists who place originality at the top of their list. Based in Seattle now, Boggs says the band wants to stay there because they believe the city is a place “where they can draw outside the lines.” The sound of the Paula Boggs Band is absolutely an aggregation of musicians who look at their sound as one which approaches songs as new styles with historic beginnings. There are no limits on what influences find their ways into everything on the album, whether it’s “Bard of Vietnam,” “Route 66,” “The Snow It Melts the Soonest” or the traditional “Ain’t Gonna Let Nobody Turn Me Round,” featuring guests Blind Boys of Alabama and Valerie June. This is a woman who sees all music as sounds for her adventures. There isn’t another release that gets close to their creations, and isn’t likely to be. Paula Boggs has been through a myriad of adventures in her life so far, and it’s clear she’s just getting started. The kind of music she is exploring is one of no boundaries, and with infinite discovery. That’s the gig.
Marc Broussard, S.O.S V: SONGS OF THE ’50s. There can be no doubt on Planet Earth that Marc Broussard is one of the greatest soul singers in the world. There is something in Broussard’s voice that clicks on the Reality Chamber whenever he gets ahold of a great song and lets it take him to that special place in the galaxy where these treasures become alive again. If anyone needs a treatment of vocal greatness in an emergency situation just dial in “Unchained Melody” on this new collection of magic and let it roll. Really. These are some of the greatest compositions in history, and given some of their finest interpretations. And add on the fact that they are contributing to the Save Our Souls outfit that Marc Broussard is an integral part of and immediately the sun starts shining a little brighter and peoples’ smiles become filled with goodness. There is a way that songs first recorded by Ray Charles, Little Richard, Aaron Neville, Fats Domino and Sam Cooke, along with other soul giants come to such an immediate and heart-filling life is nothing short of transcendental. Do not miss this chance to enter a reality where incredible soulness comes to such a gorgeous life in the voice of one of modern life’s most stunning singers, Mr. Marc Broussard himself. Such a wonder.
Laura Chavez, MY VOICE. For all those ready for guitars that not only sound more powerful, but also deliver something somewhat different it’s time to tune in Laura Chavez. As the woman says so succinctly in her self-description, “The guitar is her voice.” Not many other female musicians can say that. Chavez is really something of her own wonder. She can move with adept power from her musical Mexican heritage to the greatest blues figures of all-time and then head for John Fogerty rock & roll territory with album-opener “Born on the Bayou,” word-free, and to show she really knows what she’s doing, and include an instrumental-only send-up of the Blasters’ “So Long Baby, Goodbye.” This player remains something of her very own, no matter where she’s headed. And just to be sure she spreads the originality deep, Laura Chavez includes songs like “El Cascabel, “Mamba Negra” and “La Llorona” that light a whole new kind of fire to the bandstand in a time when diversity is golden. There is a feeling of originality to MY VOICE, like no one else has crossed all these sonic bridges quite like this before. If there are any doubts left, have a fling with Booker T. & the MG’s classic “Chinese Checkers” and all beliefs will be fulfilled. And there is a strong chance that any life concert this woman is at is sure to be filled with firecrackers, because her guitar can really sing and sting at the same time. Turn it up.
John Hollier & the Reverie, RAINMAKER. This could very well be the artist and band to hit the biggest breakthrough in America this year. To start with, John Hollier is a downhome true-blue Louisiana man, who writes from way deep in the heart and then sings with a voice that cannot be missed. It’s all there. Not unlike some of the greatest rock reality musicians who have pushed through the ground in the past 50 years. There are no tricks to this. Songs like “Gonna Love You” and “Somewhere Down The Road” are ones that get etched on the heart, and aren’t going away. Hollier’s voice is much too original and strong for that. He’s one of those rockers who immediately announce they are making up a new life for themselves. It’s not immediately clear where they’re running away from something or straight into something, but there can be no doubt that nothing is going to stop them. Not unlike Graham Parker in 1975: it was deep and getting deeper on every song. Hollier is someone who sounds like he’ll walk through a backyard full of rattlesnakes to get to the other side. There’s just something in their being that has come to stay. It’s now time to go outside and holler the name Hollier to the sky, and sign up for the long ride. This is going to be something else. 2026 or bust.
Freddie Steady’s Wild Country, PASS THAT JUG. Freddie Steady just might be the hardest working man in show business. In his long and amazing career it seems like he’s played in every band that ever set foot in Texas and then some, was in on some of the mightiest capers in show business and ended up with a solo career that stands up to many. His latest album is one that shines to the moon and back, and really sets up Mr. Steady in the bright lights like never before. There are several songs on PASS THAT JUG that could easily go down in the history books as some of the best of this half-done decade, and also score bright on the klieg lights as some of the most moving of any original songs so far. They wrap up a bundle of emotions into one big treasure of what life feels like in a crazy time, and offer some tidbits here and there on how to keep pushing and get to that place where freedom and love stand tall. Considering this man’s extensive career has seen all the ups and downs of show business, there is almost a self-help handbook for how to keep going with a smile in place on the face and a swizzle in the sizzle on the drum kit. There really aren’t many artists like Freddy Steady; he seems to somehow turn the clock in reverse and make his smile stretch miles and the light of love burn bright. Accept no substitutes.
Lo Steele, ONLY A DROP. This is an artist who has it all. She walks up to her songs and not only makes them her own, she also creates a sound that no one else can. It’s the kind of dedication to what she believes in that is written on everything Lo Steele can do. It feels like a dedication that comes along inside a newcomer every decade or so. In the Portland, Oregon area she has been able to peel away any roadblocks and approach what she’s doing with a freedom that still exists in music, thank goodness, and the young woman isn’t going to let anything stop her from going where she wants to go. With producers Charlie Hunter, and Marcus Finnie, no strangers to the avant-garde, ONLY A DROP is one of this young year’s breakthroughs. It’s the kind of sound that immediately sounds somewhat familiar, and at same time a feeling that could have beamed down from another planet. There are no rules being imposed on what the songs and players are doing, which in turn sets listeners off on their own ride, while Steele’s voice gets to find a way to become immediately appealing. For some reason 2026 is starting to feel like a banner year for new music, like our squeezing national dangers are sounding an alarm for audio freedoms to step in and lend some strength to pushing back against those fears. This is an album that might take a slow build to find fans, but it’s a strong bet that a word of mouth buildup could be in its future. When such originality is a huge mark in its early impact. Now the next step of the excitement of discovery is ready to be delivered. Lo Steele is singing with high possibility, and the door to loyalty is starting to build. Little Village indeed.
Reissue of the Month
RECORD TOWN PRESENTS: DALLAS BLUES SOCIETY LOST RECORDINGS It almost takes a private eye to figure out the trajectory of this album release. Recorded in 1989 at Dallas, Texas’ Sumet-Burnet Studio, the Record Town Presents DALLAS BLUES SOCIETY LOST RECORDINGS feels like a treasure finally unearthed. The band features Doyle Bramhall on drums and vocals and his son Doyle Bramhall II on suite and vocals. Other masterful players include Robi Sylar, guitar and vocals; Denny Freeman, guitar; Jim Milan, bass, Robert Haarwell, tenor saxophone; Roger Holmes, baritone sax and Steve Howard, trumpet. The release is exclusively sold for release at Record Town in Fort Worth. And it is worth seeking out. Young musicians in the past 50 years in Texas really tore into the blues when they were old enough to catch them. They’d go to areas in Houston, Dallas, Ft. Worth, Austin, San Antonio: wherever they could find the real-deal musicians playing blues without any frou-frou sprinkled on it. There were blues clubs in all those cities and more, with people like Freddie King, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Albert Collins, Bobby “Blue” Bland, Juke Boy Bonner and one-nighters with B.B. King, Albert King and all the others. Texas was crazy for blues. And when the teenagers got hip to the blues they started stalking the great in those clubs and got their learning from the originals. It was an incredible scene that was the best in America. When the youngbloods were able to spend their nights in the mid-1960s playing and learning it was only a matter of time until Doyle Bramhall, Jimmie Vaughan, Billy Gibbons, Denny Freeman, and all the others moved in and got their learning full tilt and first hand. And when they could, they started the great bands of that era and started recording albums. This set became infamous and the tapes were mislaid. Until now. It’s available for real. Available at recordtowntx.com. On vinyl, natch.
Single of the Month
Monte Warden & the Wagoneers, “Doghouse Flowers.” Mr. Warden and his gang of Wagoneers have been cutting up the stages of Austin and all points in every direction since the 1980s, and just seem to get hotter and hotter. There is no stopping his bandleading lust and the talent of all his Wagoneers. It’s an Austin band for the skies. And in many ways, “Doghouse Flowers” goes that extra step into the extraterrestrial zone to kick up the dust right to the moon. Written by Monte and Brandi Warden, it gives high power to the 1950s’ wildness of true rockabilly at the same time it keeps things on the tracks. So if you want to put some kicks in your tricks and some glide in your slide, track this track down and then turn it up. And do not forget: a full album on the way. So stay prepared.
BENTLEY’S BANDSTAND: February 2026