FAVORITE ALBUMS 2024 (FIRST HALF) By Bill Bentley T Bone Burnett, THE OTHER SIDE. It’s best to keep the eyes on anyone who ever called Texas home. They can slip and slide all over the place, and when least expecting bust through with a big surprise. T Bone Burnett has surely done that this year. […]
Bentley’s Bandstand: June 2024By Bill Bentley Lisa “Little Baby” Andersen, SOUL and Kid Andersen, SPIRITS. Here’s a cool “two albums in one” idea that works perfectly. Kid Andersen is a blues guru who can play just about anything. His guitar blazes the way on all these songs, but with the style the man mixes up […]
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Bentley’s Bandstand: May 2024 BY BILL BENTLEY Eric Bibb, LIVE AT THE SCALA THEATRE. There are some blues singers that are so unique that it’s hard to really connect them with what blues is often heard as. Eric Bibb has always walked his own side of the street, and the sheer fact thar he’s still […]
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Bentley’s Bandstand: April 2024 By Bill Bentley T Bone Burnett, The Other Side. For an album that opens the door on the next side of life hoping there is one, T Bone Burnett’s new and truly classic release offers an understanding of what could be. There is such a seductive permanence on songs like “He […]
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Bentley’s Bandstand: March 2024 By Bill Bentley Gary Clark Jr, JPEG Raw. The mothership has landed. Gary Clark Jr. is an artist who has been heading for the outer limits for over 20 years. Starting as a wonder in Austin while still a teenager, he first had to move past the Blues Dude tag and […]
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Bentley’s Bandstand: February 2024 Britti, Hello, I’m Britti. Not many young singers walk out of the shadows right into the spotlight. It often is a round-and-round path from youth to finding the front of the class. Brittany Guerin didn’t take any shortcuts in the dues department, but it does seem like she has sung her […]
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BENTLEY’S BANDSTAND: JANUARY 2024By Bill Bentley Lance Cowan, So Far, So Good. Spend any time writing about great American music the past 40 years, and there’s a good chance Lance Cowan will have appeared in that world. Cowan has been one of the most inspired publicists in the middle of all that music for so […]
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Bentley’s Bandstand: December 2023By Bill Bentley Anohni and the Johnsons, My Back Has a Bridge for You to Cross. There is no one like Anohni singing right now. Once known as Antony, Anohnii is an indescribable artist who has invented their own style. It is one full of beauty, spirit, originality and even a certain […]
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Bentley’s Bandstand: Favorite Albums of 2023 (Second Half)By Bill Bentley Jon Dee Graham, Only Dead for a Little While. Magic tricks are still the most compelling component of what gets heard in the world, and no one has pulled a better one out of his sleeve this year than certified Texan Jon Dee Graham. It […]
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Bentley’s Bandstand: November 2023 By Bill Bentley Luther Dickinson, Magic Music for Family Folk. It’s widely known in modern music circles, especially the crowd that zeroes in on the roots persuasion of the music, that Luther Dickinson is a High Priest of so many styles in that crowd. Being the son of Memphis maven Jim […]
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