Yuri Gohen – Who Killed Cock Robin? Yuri Gohen is a folk musician singer-songwriter with a new album that’s a balance of four traditional and eight original folk songs, each of which has an equal measure of storytelling depth and integrity: Who Killed Cock Robin? Yuri hails from Pensylvania and has a distinctive style that’s […]
Dennis McNally The Last Great Dream I’m usually fairly critical about books like this because each author paints with a broad brush. Some make it look more glamorous than it truly was. I’ve read dozens of detailed & comprehensive publications. But many of those are only good for the die-hard aficionado, the dedicated reader, curiously […]
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The Heavy Hors D’Oeuvres self-titled Should Friday come and for some reason you find yourself wanting to order a round of appetizers, look no further than this self-titled release from The Heavy Hors D’Oeuvres. This acoustic trio out of Chicagoland is the latest project of singer-songwriter Andrew Robert Palmer, who is joined by Shelly Baldridge […]
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The David Mayfield Parade – Go Big and Go Home This is an upbeat collection of blue grass with the accent on vocals & exceptional banjo, guitar & mandolin picking throughout the 10 showcased tunes that are simply musical trips that Go Big and Go Home (Drops May 16/Mountain Fever Records/37:19). The set was produced […]
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Charming Disaster – The Double This band is folk music rooted, according to their press release, in a Gothic form inspired by the macabre humor of Edward Gorey & Tim Burton. The duo of Ellia Bisker (vocals/organ/piano/ ukulele/glockenspiel/percussion) & Jeff Morris (vocals/guitar/organ/piano/percussion) cruises through murder ballads in the Americana tradition with a cabaret flair. Songs […]
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Rosie Daze Band – Nobody Here But Us On first listen, I’m impressed immediately with the musical energy, enthusiasm & drive that encapsulates “Keep It Clean.” I am a little disappointed with the production quality, though. It’s a little muddy on this song & the band deserves better sonics. The vocals & instrumentation have their […]
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Album Reviews: Eric Andersen Dance of Love and Death, plus Cat Stevens and Wanda Jackson For whatever reason, folk singer/songwriter Eric Andersen is probably still best known for such self-penned classics as “Thirsty Boots,” “Close the Door Lightly When You Go,” and “Violets of Dawn,” all of which appeared on his 1966 sophomore album, ‘Bout […]
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Ron Sowell – Dance Till The Music Stops This set is a diversified showcase. Traditional to modern is featured with certain varieties of music that don’t always mesh, but Ron Sowell has a balanced approach — a mix of flavors including folk to jazz, R&B to samba & conjunto to creole. Quite a deep dip […]
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Caitlin Cannon – Love Addict This is an interesting set as Caitlin Cannon makes a viable attempt to take a vintage musical genre & not so much present it with her own pop swing but recreate it in a more unique setting. This is brave because many aficionados of Country can be fickle. However, Gram […]
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Emanuel Casablanca – Hollywood Forever Brooklyn’s Emanuel Casablanca has been described as an artist redefining blues-rock. But we’ll maintain the blues are the blues & what’s reshaped is the artist & his presentation. If you “redefine” the blues, what happens is what happened to country music. It morphed into Nashville pop music with a cowboy […]
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