The Late Spring from June Star arrives in late fall to stoke our fires for the oncoming winter. Bristling with the heat of a barely contained fire, June Star’s confessional country rock invites us in to battle the blaze or find close comfort dancing to keep warm. Baltimore based June Star has been the primary […]
Sold Out to the Devil: A Collection of Gospel Cuts by the Rev. Scott H. Biram is a remastered collection of “Scott H. Biram’s unique, demented twist on gospel music” available from Bloodshot Records as part of their on-going 25th anniversary celebration via 1000 limited edition “I See the Light” white vinyl and 1000 CDs; […]
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Marty Robbins’ “El Paso” from Gunfighter Ballads and Trail Songs maintains its strength still 60 years on from its inception. A pinnacle of narrative song craft pinning the lonesome cowboy lament, “El Paso” is a touchstone on the historic trail of American music. To at once honor this legendary recording as well as expand upon […]
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For Robbie Fulks the silliness that he is known for has been replaced here with an undeniable sincerity that bristles with an intensity that vacillates between restraint and exuberance on his reinterpretation of Bob Dylan’s Street Legal. On 16, Fulks’ source material demands a new voice from him, and he delivers – at times he […]
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Out now on Foxy Lady Records, Meet Me on the Far Side of a Star, the latest release from Austin-based goth cabaret songstress Christine Smith, finds Smith mining traditional piano balladry for a set of beautifully mysterious and dark songcraft. Although embellished with appropriate accompaniment throughout the record: cello, violin, saxophone, accordion, drums, harmony vocals, […]
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Jason Hawk Harris’ debut, Love & the Dark, blends his Houston country roots with LA orchestral rock. The trials and tribulations that led to the writing and recording of his debut LP read like a check list for life in America: illness, death, familial strife, addiction. In Harris’ able hands, however, these themes move beyond […]
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Down to the Promised Land, Bloodshot Records 5th anniversary release turned me on to a whole world of music I was only peripherally aware of at the time. Twenty years later Too Late to Pray: Defiant Chicago Roots, Bloodshot’s 25th anniversary release, is full of the same spit and vinegar that brought Chicago roots music […]
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Out on Arrowhawk Records, Gabriel Birnbaum’s Not Alone casts Birnbaum in a new light with his brooding and sympathetic vocals at center stage. Buoyed by a cadre of some of his favorite musicians Not Alone embraces the on the fly process common among genius session masters of yesteryear – think The Wrecking Crew or The […]
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Man of the Road: The Early Bloodshot Years (Bloodshot Records) collects songs from Wayne “The Train” Hancock’s first decade with Bloodshot Records. Pressed to vinyl for the first time ever the songs were pulled from The Train’s Bloodshot releases: A-Town Blues (2001), South Austin Sessions EP (2001), Swing Time (2003), Hard Headed Woman: A Celebration of […]
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Thinking, “oh, another Beatles collection, hmm? (sigh).” Tired of Beatles themed everything under the sun? Think there can’t possibly be any more worthy musical gems to wring out of a half a century old pop catalogue? Think again! Joel Paterson’s Let It Be Guitar! (Bloodshot Records) breathes new life into a collection of Beatles’ classics […]
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