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 […]
Continue Reading
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 […]
Continue Reading
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 […]
Continue Reading
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 […]
Continue Reading
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 […]
Continue Reading
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 […]
Continue Reading
Bentley’s Bandstand: October 2023By Bill Bentley The Americans, Strays. It takes a lot of belief to name a band The Americans. And that’s exactly what Patrick Ferris, Zac Sokolow, Jake Faulkner and Tim Carr prove without doubt on STRAYS, their latest collection of songs. The band has been together since 2010, releasing a handful of […]
Continue Reading
Bentley’s Bandstand: September 2023 By Bill Bentley Gregg Hill, Bayou St. John. There is sometimes a singer-songwriter who has eluded the spotlight. They write and sing moving songs of beauty and depth, but don’t get recognized as much as they should. Gregg Hill’s new album BAYOU ST. JOHN should be a collection of songs that […]
Continue Reading
Bentley’s Bandstand: August 2023 Jake Andrews, Train Back Home. There are times in a musician’s life when all the circles come together and they can take off on what really does sound like a magic carpet ride. Guitarist Jake Andrews, who started performing while he was still in grade school and sat in with Albert […]
Continue Reading
Bentley’s Bandstand: July 2023 By Bill Bentley Paul Carrack & The SWR Big Band, Don’t Wait Too Long. There have been years when swinging singer and keyboard monster Paul Carrack had the go-to knack to be where the hits happened. After his early years in British band Ace, followed by tenures at the microphone with […]
Continue Reading