Blues isn’t supposed to be mannered and reverent. It’s meant to be delivered from the soul, the bones, the dirt, the hands, the heart. It’s at its best when it’s dirty, raw, lowdown, at least just a little manic, unhinged. […]
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On his previous effort, 2019’s Forecast, multi-instrumentalist, composer, and producer (and a member of Bruce Hornsby’s acclaimed Noisemakers) John Mailander abandoned traditional acoustic folk and bluegrass song structures for a more exploratory, improvisational approach. The result inspired Mailander to begin […]
Over 40 years is a long time to wait for anything, much less the sequel to an album. But when that album is Markology II, the first guitar album released by fiddle virtuoso and legend Mark O’Connor since Markology in […]
Lake Street Dive has been proudly wearing the “quirky” label for the better part of a decade. Their obsession of 1970s AM radio pop — right down to covers of “Lola” and “Rich Girl” — blends perfectly with offbeat lyrics […]
At the dawn of 2021, the timing could not have been more apropos for Shall We Hope, the ambitious new album from banjo virtuoso Tony Trischka. Not even a week into the new year, the US Capitol saw rioters forcefully […]
The silver lining of 2020 is that it forced artists to flex their creative muscles in multiple ways: new approaches to writing songs, then finding adventurous avenues to record and promote them. The Steel Wheels upped the ante with an […]
Whenever times get tough, Bruce Springsteen summons the E Street Band. Turning up, tuning up, and rocking out like a celebratory army, the E Street Band has always been able to kick the daylights out of the darkness with a […]
Some might be surprised to learn that The Mavericks have never in their 30 years as a band released an all-Spanish album, but it makes some sense when you know their story. Mavericks co-founder Raul Malo is a first-generation American […]
The most striking moment on No Time for Enemies, the fifth studio album from bluegrass/hip-hop trailblazers Gangstagrass, comes toward the end, during a reimagining of the Stephen Foster standard “Hard Times Come Again No More.” After a faithful first verse […]
Ordinary Soul is the first set of songs released under Stephen Mougin’s name, and its title is apt in that it reflects the modesty that Mougin, or “Mojo,” brings to all of his pursuits. The longtime guitarist for The Sam […]
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