Ben Brandt Solid Ground (Katalex Records) While it might be a stretch to include this release with our Americana designation, it’s nonetheless an excellent record from a relatively unknown entity out of Pennsylvania. Brandt, who originally hails from a Harrisburg-born band known as the Soul Miners Union, has stepped out on his own with a […]
SP3 (Steve Payne) Almost Blue Chances are good you’ve not heard of Steve Payne or his latest musical ensemble, SP3, before now. Born Bristol, England, his home base is in Chepstow, Wales, where he prefers the reduced levels of hustle and bustle. A veteran of multiple British bands (The Payne Killers, The Parole Brothers, Crawdaddy, […]
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Tommy Talton Seven Levels (Strolling Bones Records) For those of us enamoured of the Capricorn Records era and the artists they signed, chances are good you’ll be familiar with the band Cowboy. No less that Duane Allman – who’s first release with the Brothers was in ’69 – brought Cowboy to label co-founder/tastemaker Phil Walden’s […]
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The Krickets If You Only Knew (Independent) If you’re an easy mark for the sound of a delicate blend of female vocalists, you owe yourself a stop here to drink in this third release by The Krickets. I think this writer’s first experience with falling head over heels for a woman’s voice was the first […]
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Marshall Crenshaw From ”The Hellhole” (Yep Roc Records) There are so many of us who have idolized this man and his music since the release of his self-titled debut back in ’82 – the love reinvigorated with each subsequent release (there have been 12 since, not counting compilations). Quite a feat given his awkward beginnings […]
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David Wilcox The Way I Tell The Story (Freshly Baked Records) North Carolina-based David Wilcox should be, by now, a household name based solely on his delicious catalogue of crisply-delivered, singer-songwriter folk with a twist. The twist is, you can’t decide what to fall in love with first – his skills as an acoustic guitarist, […]
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Brandon Santini Which Way Do We Go? (MoMojo Records) If you’re a blues fan, we tend to lament the early days of traditional blues – and the loss of the giants who birthed them. With the passing of each and every musical hero from our past, we grow even more sensitized to all that we’ve […]
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John Cowan & Andrea Zonn – The HercuLeons (True Lonesome Records) The names you likely know. John Cowan first made his name as a singer and as a bassist with the New Grass Revival, despite not having been schooled in a bluegrass background. This didn’t stop him from helping bring huge crossover success to the […]
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The Seldom Scene – Remains To Be Scene (Smithsonian Folkways) Much more an institution than a band, the original Seldom Scene came together in 1971, as dobro player Mike Auldridge, bassist Tom Gray, mandolinist John Duffey, banjo player Ben Eldridge and guitarist John Starling descended upon the Washington, D.C. area and immediately started something new […]
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Kris Delmhorst – Ghosts In The Garden (Big Bean Music) If you knew nothing of New England-based Kris Delmhorst, your first take on Ghosts In The Garden might conclude that she pays rent to live on the more dreary side of the singer-songwriter spectrum. From the overcast, somewhat colorless cover art to the slow creep […]
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