Bentley's Bandstand Archives • Americana Highways

Bentley’s Bandstand: March 2020

March 6, 2020March 6, 2020 Bill Bentley0

Michael Doucet, Lacher Prise. Beausoleil’s Michael Doucet is surely one of the high priests of Cajun music, and has been for a very long time. On his latest go-round of the rollicking music he loves so much, Doucet throws caution out the back door and lets the good times completely roll. His new solo album […]

Bentley’s Bandstand: February 2020

February 5, 2020February 6, 2020 Bill Bentley0

By Bill Bentley Terry Allen and the Panhandle Mystery Band, Just Like Moby Dick. If there is a renaissance person alive in the world today, better make it Terry Allen. Between his paintings, plays and music, Allen has whacked out his own swath the past 50-something years in all kinds of directions. He made most […]

Bentley’s Bandstand: January 2020

January 8, 2020January 8, 2020 Bill Bentley1

While 2020 hasn’t really turned on the musical heat yet, have no fear because there is a handful of releases from the latter months of last year to ensure no one is going asleep at the wheel anytime soon. From every style comes a boisterous ability to make sure nothing slows down. Music will always […]

Bentley’s Bandstand: Favorite Albums of 2019 (Second Half)

December 19, 2019December 20, 2019 Bill Bentley0

By Bill Bentley So many new albums released in 2019 undoubtedly prove that music is not only alive and well, but continues to make the world twirl ’round and keep listeners twangin’ at full speed. The first half of the year’s favorites included Matt Andersen/HALFWAY HOME BY MORNING, Gary Clark Jr./THIS LAND, William Harries Graham/JAKES, […]

Bentley’s Bandstand: December 2019

December 4, 2019December 5, 2019 Bill Bentley1

By Bill Bentley Will Birch, Cruel to be Kind: The Life and Music of Nick Lowe. English rock & roll always seemed to try harder than its American equivalents in trying to make its mark on history. Maybe that’s because the Brits were shooting from the other side of the ocean and had to aim […]

Bentley’s Bandstand: November 2019

November 6, 2019November 7, 2019 Bill Bentley0

Joseph Arthur, Come Back World. If there is a present day hidden missile waiting in the rock ranks ready to explode, look to Joseph Arthur. With decades-long dedication to chasing his inner muse, sometimes in the open and others in the darkness, the Akron, Ohio native has never wavered from the course. His albums […]

Bentley’s Bandstand: October 2019

October 8, 2019October 8, 2019 Bill Bentley0

Pieta Brown, Freeway. There aren’t any other singers like Pieta Brown. She has a sensuous way of blending the sound of air with music notes that result in magic. It’s as if the clock stops and life’s fascinating mysteries are frozen on the edge of a falling leaf. Her voice is evocative of a time […]

Bentley’s Bandstand: September 2019

September 4, 2019September 4, 2019 Bill Bentley0

Shane Alexander, A Life Like Ours. Is it possible to find an album that feels so right, so true, so, well, spiritual, that it feels like life has just turned the bend into the 1970s and the past fifty years of broken promises and dead ends hasn’t occurred? It’s not a retro experience either, as […]

Bentley’s Bandstand: August 2019

August 9, 2019August 16, 2019 Bill Bentley0

Tyler Childers, Country Squire. Let’s hand it to RCA Records. In signing new country music hero Tyler Childers, surely they knew they were getting into business with a rebel, and these days Nashville’s halls of wisdom aren’t really in the rebel business. They’re hard to sell, impossible to control and generally aren’t that popular on […]

BENTLEY’S BANDSTAND: JULY 2019

July 10, 2019July 10, 2019 Bill Bentley1

By Bill Bentley Dave Alvin, King of California. Downeyite Dave Alvin would be the first call if California names a new State Musician, but that would actually be short-sheeting the musician because in reality Alvin’s multi-dimensional songs cover the whole nation and then some. He may have started as a rootsy booster of all things […]