Here’s a quick look at half a dozen new EPs and full-length albums from artists you might not have heard of. They all merit a listen, and at least a few of them deserve standing ovations. Sunny War, Simple Syrup. When Los Angeles-based folk singer Sunny War’s With the Sun album appeared in 2018, I […]
Continue Reading
At this point, you might understandably be starting to suspect that Bob Dylan’s vaults are as big as an Amazon warehouse. Our first look inside came in 1985, with the release of Biograph, a three-CD set that incorporates a smattering of previously unavailable material. But the floodgates really began to open six years later, with […]
Continue Reading
GROOVES & CUTS – John Apice I’m surprised by how many interesting songs/LPs have slipped between the cracks over the years that may be of interest to the curious. The duo Aztec Two-Step (Rex Fowler & Neal Shulman) for example has been around since 1971. They released a song in 2004 on their “Days of Horses” LP. […]
Continue Reading
Hasaan Ibn Ali, Metaphysics: The Lost Atlantic Album. Reading like a chapter out of a great Raymond Chandler novel, Hasaan Ibn Ali’s new release has some serious twists and turns. In 1964, drummer Max Roach persuaded Atlantic Records to record relative newcomer Ali. That album, titled THE MAX ROACH TRIO FEATURING THE LEGENDARY HASAAN and released […]
Continue Reading
To call an album a group’s third best would usually be faint praise, but not where the Band are concerned: 1970’s Stage Fright arguably ranks slightly behind its two predecessors in their catalog, but that’s only because those earlier records are their classic Music from Big Pink debut and their even better eponymous sophomore LP. […]
Continue Reading
This year with its Folk Unlocked Virtual Festival, a first-ever worldwide 800+ hour online public festival to be held February 22nd through the 26th, Folk Alliance International kicks off its Village Fund, a fund specifically designed to help musicians and folk music workers through the Covid 19 crisis. Aengus Finnan, executive director of FAI […]
Continue Reading
Tommy James has racked up a whopping 17 Top 40 hits, including two No. 1s, and sold more than 100 million records. And his music has been covered by everyone from Bruce Springsteen and Dolly Parton to Lene Lovich, Tiffany, Billy Idol, and Joan Jett. Yet you won’t find an entry for James and the […]
Continue Reading
The New York Dolls are finally on the ballot of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Better late than never but with the passing over the years of drummer Jerry Nolan, guitarist Johnny Thunders, bassist Arthur Kane and most recently guitarist Sylvain Sylvain, only singer David Johansen is still alive to see the recognition […]
Continue Reading
When I met with Steve Van Zandt (aka Little Steven) in 2019, I asked him whether the brand of rock and soul that he’d created with Southside Johnny was the music that was closest to his heart. He said it was, adding, “I returned to that this past two years, and I’m gonna stick with […]
Continue Reading
Wynonna Judd has been a fixture of the American music scene since the early 1980s when she launched along with mother Naomi, the legendary country music duo The Judds. The iconic duo would ultimately release six studio albums, garner five Grammy awards, fourteen number-one singles, and sales in excess of 20 million records. In 1992 […]
Continue Reading
