By Bill Bentley Marshall Chapman, Songs I Can’t Live Without. When it’s time to throw some black cat bones and light the voodoo candles. this new Marshall Chapman album would be a good listening companion. The woman whose voice often sounds like it’s coming from the other side of the spirit world rounds up some favorite songs […]
Photo by YouTube screenshot https://youtu.be/sBs2IpPnuR0 I once passed a southbound patrol car on U.S. 281 in central Texas. The lettering on the door said,“Johnson City Street Gang Unit.” I almost ran off the road laughing. Johnson City doesn’t have but maybe fifteen streets, how many gangs could it have? Imagine the city council meeting, “We […]
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I’ve been enamored by Ratso’s Stubborn Heart (Lucky Number) since I first heard it. By year’s end, I called it my favorite album of 2019. Flash forward to the present, I am delighted that Ratso is the subject of a short film documentary. The film, I Want Everything, now playing at the virtual Brooklyn Film […]
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By Jeff Burger If you’re surprised to see a blues album from Dion, you haven’t been paying attention. Yes, he is primarily known for his wonderful early-rock-era records with and without the Belmonts, but even in those days he delivered a smattering of blues tracks. And since then, Dion has periodically dipped into a blues […]
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“Never has the mundane seemed so longingly attractive.” So declared Bruce Springsteen on his own E Street Radio radio show and series From His House To Yours. Springsteen has occasionally called into the radio station built upon him by SiriusXM. But In recent weeks, Springsteen has taken to the mic of E Street Nation playing […]
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Teddy Thompson, Heartbreaker Please. Teddy Thompson appears to have spent much of the past few years producing other artists (including the auspicious young country singer/songwriter Dori Freeman). Now, however, he’s back to making albums of his own, which is welcome news indeed. This sixth solo record, his first since 2016, features 10 tunes, all of […]
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“No, I didn’t travel with any snakes or candelabras,” Scarlet Rivera was telling me. I had brought up the film Rolling Thunder Revue: A Bob Dylan Story by Martin Scorcese in which she plays a starring support role. When I asked her about her reaction to the film, the first words out of her mouth […]
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By Jeff Burger Steve Forbert, Early Morning Rain. This is Steve Forbert’s first album of covers since Any Old Time, his 2002 tribute to Jimmy Rodgers. Here, he casts a wider net, featuring 11 of his favorite folk and rock compositions by a motley assortment of writers. The uniformly excellent program—which mostly spotlights well-known material […]
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The cover is positively West 4th Street. Willie Nile, in shades, standing underneath the iconic sign of the subway station that runs through the heart of New York City and his Greenwich Village neighborhood. He’s been a fixture here and has had the same apartment approaching fifty years. Nile’s new album and it’s cinematic title […]
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Before traveling to Arizona this past Tuesday, the President said he wasn’t concerned about the health risks of traveling because everyone in his entourage had been tested for Covid-19 within the past hour. “We have great testing,” he said. He and his, no doubt do have great testing. They can, and do, get tested whether […]
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