Ed Bruce – After Hours This set from the late Ed Bruce (1939-2021) is a touching final effort from the Arkansas-born artist/actor/songwriter. A touch of rockabilly, country & outlaw country dominated his repertoire throughout his career. Some listeners may never have heard Ed, but this is the man who wrote & recorded the classic “Mamma’s […]
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The Staple Singers – Africa 80 I wasn’t an entirely fan of soul music back in the ’60s. I did have my share of hits by The Four Tops, The Temptations, Otis Redding & Aretha Franklin. So, a deeper dive wasn’t evident until 1978 while enjoying The Band’s Last Waltz concert. There were many big-name […]
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RubyJoyful – The Pie Chart of Love This 12-cut CD is Colorado’s RubyJoyful’s debut & it deals with basically what most collections have tendencies to cover: a Universal story of love. Many songs are laid back in a country & bluegrass-folk manner. What’s particularly interesting is how the songs are sung. The music is loaded […]
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MorningBird – Echoes In the Meadow This is a debut work by the trio MorningBird who provide 3 traditional songs & the balance — 8 immaculately crafted originals that populate the Ryan Dermody-produced Echoes In the Meadow (Drops May 10/Independent/40:00). They’re musicians from the Iron Range of Minnesota & right from the start their style’s […]
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John Shipe – Water This Dark This singer-songwriter John Shipe is one of the examples of why major labels are missing the mark on viable artists. In some cases, as serious as the fault-ridden as the Rock n’ Roll Hall of Fame & pop tunes masquerading as country music. There’s no reason this artist shouldn’t […]
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Anya Hinkle – Oceania This North Carolina singer-songwriter has an engagingly smooth-toned classic vocal with an album that appears to be pop tunes but isn’t. She’s the real thing, like Mimi Farina or early, early Marianne Faithful (“Wild Mountain Tyme” era) – folky, melodic with a smoky Joni Mitchell radiance & with rich traditional instincts. […]
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Grant Langston – aLAbama This is Grant’s 10th studio set & the play on words comes from Grant’s home state & his chosen town. The Alabama-born & California-rooted singer-songwriter performs in a honky-tonk country tradition with a wider appeal of his Southern-inspired musical repertoire sneaking in. Langston keeps his themes firmly in a modern contemporary […]
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Starvation Army Band Music No. 1 – Songs of the IWW and the Salvation Army This is quite a vintage-sounding performance, but it has spirit. It even has a little Beaver & Krause facility that possessed their “Walkin’ By the River,” & “A Real Slow Drag.” This effort is all brass & guts with suave […]
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Chris Smither – All About the Bones There are 10 slices of bracingly smart music on Chris’ 20th album All About the Bones produced & recorded by David Goodrich (multi-instrumentalist) in Massachusetts (Drops May 3/Signature Sounds), for those unacquainted Smither he follows a path similar to the deep late vocalists like Tony Joe White crossed […]
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Dr. John – Gris-Gris Gumbo Ya Ya – Singles 1968-1974 This is a classic collection of a unique artist who has gone to his reward but left behind an impressive catalog. Pianist Mac Rebennack entertained with the persona of Dr. John The Night Tripper & he laid out some interesting New Orleans swampy rock-oriented songs […]
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