Johnny Chops is at it again and it’s another rewarding little collection of interesting tunes all sewed together into a tapestry of bluesy grit and soulful originals. Lubbock, Texas’ Johnny “Chops” Richardson has been doing music for two decades and […]
Thomas Dietzel shows remarkable comfort in his new gig Sutherlin. Straying from his rock roots to bring us his debut in country music and he makes it seem effortless. The 10 tracks are hand-crafted to a standard of perfection. The lyrics are […]
The Nashville-by-way-of-Alabama quartet known as Willie and the Giant are gearing up for their debut release on April 21, 2015. They’ve somehow managed to crowbar every style you can put in front of “rock” into one album and have it […]
Abigail Washburn has resisted categorization from the start of her relatively young career. She plays banjo with the traditionalist all-female string band Uncle Earl, but released a solo album in 2005 that included, alongside old-time chestnuts, a couple of songs […]
Jamie Dailey just finished nine years working with Doyle Lawson & Quicksilver. Darrin Vincent spent the better part of a decade with Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder. Both Skaggs and Lawson are known for putting together powerful traditional bluegrass ensembles, […]
The Redwalls were teenagers when Capitol Records plucked them from the Chicago suburbs to tour the world with heavyweights such as Oasis. They turned adults the hard way: Recent victims of Capitol’s industry-shaking merger with Virgin, the Redwalls became free […]
Forget the land of the Loch Ness Monster, this choir (which is actually more of a loose, indie-rock-style collective) calls Chicago home. Singer-guitarist-founder Elia isn’t Scottish, he’s Welsh, and there’s nothing terribly choral about his sonic creations. None of that […]
Reverend Buell Kazee (1900-1976) was no ordinary folk singer, with degrees in Greek and Latin, not to mention classical voice training and serious theological study. Raised in the mountains of eastern Kentucky (Magoffin County), he grew up with his mother’s […]
More than three decades after its original release, the Modern Lovers’ self-titled debut retains its visceral power with a disarming straightforwardness. “Roadrunner”, Jonathan Richman’s celebration of AM radio in a car, is the perfect opener as the song gets pushed […]
This trio’s Lost John Dean was one of 2006’s finest releases, a spare, wonderfully constructed collection of original numbers and one traditional tune. A friend of mine who heard the album referred to their jagged, rough-hewn primitivism as “snake music,” […]
