Ventilator – Reseda Spleen This release is part of the 40th Anniversary of the Hoboken, NJ-based indie label Bar/None Records – why is that important? Because there was a time when Hoboken was as pivotal as the music coming out of Athens, GA. Bands & artists that actually penetrated the charts or clubs in one […]
CattSue — Heartstrings and Highways There are records that document where an artist has been, and there are records that seem to carry the people who traveled there with them. CattSue’s Heartstrings and Highways belongs firmly in the latter category. Across 11 songs, the singer-songwriter turns family history, grief, motherhood, romantic devotion, survival and hard-earned […]
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Like the similarly styled Cliff Richard, Liverpool, England native Billy Fury was mostly just a home-country phenomenon. The singer, who died in 1983, played no part in the British Invasion and never placed a song on Billboard’s Hot 100 chart. In the UK, the story was different. Though not as big a star as Richard, […]
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Just like his life, Todd Snider’s posthumous album, My Second Rodeo, is unfinished. Snider died last November, at 59, amid a bewildering and troubling series of events, while working on an album he believed would break new musical ground. He had recorded his vocals and guitar, leaving longtime collaborators Joe Bisirri and Robbie Crowell to […]
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Margo Cilker Little White Cross “You could definitely call it a concept record, if that concept is that I got really sad and went to Texas.” That’s Margo Cilker’s elevator pitch for her latest album, Little White Cross, and if you know me at all, you’ll understand it’s the kind of concept that will draw […]
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Slack Key ‘Ohana The ‘Ohana Sessions Slack Key ‘Ohana’s latest album, The ‘Ohana Sessions, which is up for Grammy consideration, was just moved by the Recording Academy from Best Regional Roots to Best Americana Album. The album centers only on the family trio. Brian Witkin, Carol Witkin, and Joe Witkin performed all vocals and instruments, […]
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Rachael Sage & the Sequins – Under My Canopy I noticed the independent artist Ms. Sage on her first albums years ago. I sarcastically & erroneously said to myself “attractive, talented female singer-songwriter but doesn’t have a prayer in this business.” I was wrong. I only said it since I’d seen & heard so many […]
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Kevin Ball & The Busters – Buster’s Tunes Recorded remotely at Howard’s Apartment Studio, Nashville indie artist Kevin William Ball dug back into his catalog to unearth music he still needed to unwrap. It’s a final document since Kevin was diagnosed with a terminal illness & feels this could be his last official statement. The […]
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Ethan Setiawan & The Fine Ground – Little Storms Another debut set with that features a banjo, fiddle & mandolin anchored less in tradition as much as a more mainstream bluegrass unit via the pop music highway. It may be a good idea. Portland, Maine’s Ethan Setiawan has a cool voice that isn’t too sweet, […]
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Christopher Wyze & The Tellers – Naptown Blues Some albums arrive in clever packaging; this is one. It appears as an old 78 rpm record & packaged in the late ‘20s. Appropriate for the music on the ambitious Naptown Blues (Dropped Oct 2/Big Radio Records/40:06) recorded in Indianapolis & produced by Jim Reilley. Conjured up […]
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