Stevie Van Zandt’s Unrequited Infatuations is the best biography of a rock & roller that I’ve ever read. He avoids the pitfalls of tedium and banality that typically plague similar books. That is, they spend inordinate pages on aspects of their life conveying nothing about the magic of their success as a musician. And when […]
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John Mayall – The Sun Is Shining Down John Mayall, elder statesman of the blues, still gainfully employed, may not be singing Chuck Berry’s “Sweet Little Sixteen,” anytime soon but there are great songs that fit his still expressive voice. He’s got 10 new ones ready strung as tight as guitar strings & he could […]
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Dan Weber – The Way The River Goes There are many songwriters that have come down through the decades. Some have style, creativeness, many do indeed have good voices though that isn’t always a requirement. Some artists are fairly plain, have no clue about being an original. Texas-based Dan Weber is an average singer with […]
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Katie Henry – On My Way Descendants are what matters in music. Crosby, Sinatra, Presley. Horn bands Goodman, Ellington, Count Basie, Blood, Sweat & Tears to Chicago. And then there’s an artist like Katie Henry who follows in a dual role. With some tunes her linkage follows a prevailing Bonnie Raitt line, however, with songs […]
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Grady Spencer & the Work – Wait (Self-Released) Wait is a pretty apt title for Grady Spencer & the Work’s latest LP. In 2020, Spencer finally quit his 60-hour-a-week day job in construction to focus on his music career full time and filled up the calendar with tour dates. And then the pandemic hit and […]
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Sad Daddy is a band that isn’t easy to define. The band’s catalog runs through the Americana gamut from jazz and blues to jug band music. That would be enough to set the band apart. However, this is also that rare band where every member sings lead and writes songs. For the new album Way […]
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David Jameson – Tall Dark Pines This is an interesting independent issue. It offers nothing new or innovative, but David Jameson has a strong salubrious country voice on his debut LP. His compositions are accessible with good lyrics, “the devil wears a suit and tie.” Simple, direct, expressive. The instrumentation isn’t over-powering. On “25 To […]
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There are things you can’t truly know unless you’ve lived through them. Sexual harrassment, childhood trauma, mass shootings – we read about them, but unless you’ve been there (and I haven’t), you can’t truly bridge the gap between cognizance and experience. This is where art comes in. A portrayal of traumatic events can tap into […]
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Sam Moss – Blues Approved I usually listen to work prior to learning about the artist. To keep from being swayed by miscellaneous information. But Sam Moss I instantly liked. Then I discovered he passed away (2007). It was the same bring down I felt when I first came to the music of Eva Cassidy. […]
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Davide Gideon — Lonesome Desert Strum It’s not surprising that so many songwriters have an interesting upbringing and an interesting story to tell. David Gideon is a singer-songwriter who, when he was growing up, split his time between Austin, Key West, and a Tennessee commune called The Farm. Eventually, he settled in the home of […]
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