THROUGH THE LENS: Vinyl Update & Five Other Roots Music Releases to Savor

As we begin counting down the days to AMERICANAFEST and the onslaught of new roots music releases, this week’s column offers very short takes on five new albums that should not get lost in the shuffle. We also have an update on some stellar vinyl re-issues that serve the dual purpose of making great-sounding records available to roots music lovers and exposing audiophiles to roots music. There’s a lot to cover, so let’s get at it.

Vinyl Update

Craft Recordings: As noted in the previous vinyl update, Craft recently began an audiophile blues re-issue series on the new Bluesville label. The new releases are the acoustic Lightnin’ Hopkins and Sonny Terry’s Last Night Blues (1960) and Albert King’s electric Live Wire/Blues Power (1968). Both were mastered from the original analog tapes by Matthew Lutthans, pressed at Quality Records Pressing, and sound fabulous. As there are not enough Hopkins’ records out there, this one is to be treasured. I have the original King LP, but this one makes you feel the fire of his guitar as never before. Both will be available on September 13.

Rhino High Fidelity: Also on September 13, Rhino High Fidelity (RHF) is announcing two audiophile re-issues by two of the most hallowed names in Americana. As evidenced by its Sounds of the Summer and Rocktober re-issues, Rhino is not new to the high quality re-issue world. Last year, however, they began a true audiophile series of their own. Culled from the Warner Bros. vast catalog of original analog tapes the RHF titles are mastered by the incomparable Kevin Gray (Cohearent Audio) and pressed in Germany by Optimal Media. Titles are limited to 5,000 numbered copies and are only available from RHF.

While previous titles have concentrated on classic rock and jazz, the September 13 releases embrace the roots music tradition. Almost as a segue to those re-issues, on August 2, RHF released a limited edition 5 LP box set by the original Texas blues-rock band ZZ Top. It sold out within a couple of days. If you missed it, never fear as they are now available as individual LPs. 

I was able to compare one of those LPs, Tres Hombres, to both the original 1973 London Records pressing and the 1978 Warner re-issue. The difference was astounding. The RHF version makes you want to turn the volume up and play it LOUD. It is so powerful, I can feel Frank Beard’s kick drum in my chest. It makes that otherwise excellent 1978 pressing seem polite by comparison.    

You can check out RHF’s September 13 releases, both by Americana royalty, by clicking on the the above link on September 13. Yes, I know what they are but have been sworn to secrecy. However, I can say that having heard both I promise you will not be disappointed  — even if you, like me, still have your original copies.

Rebecca Frazier — Boarding Windows in Paradise  (Sept. 13) 

If you were to judge Frazier’s new album, her first in 11 years, just on the company she keeps (Bela Fleck, Sam Bush, and Stuart Duncan), it’d rate an “A.” Add her prodigious guitar playing, plus vocals that are simultaneously effervescent and the epitome of that high lonesome bluegrass sound, and you’ll get something extra special.   

The opening track, and single, “High Country Road Trip,” gets your spirits high and toes a-tapping. The album, mostly originals, is a nourishing adventure in upending notions of what bluegrass should be, evolving it into what it can be. You will most certainly want to listen to this album on your next road trip, or tripping the light fantastic around the dance floor. A+ all the way.

Catherine Russell & Sean Mason — My Ideal  (out now) 

There are jazz singers, there are great jazz vocalists, then there is Catherine Russell. For her ninth album, she forgoes her usual backing band and performs alone with pianist Sean Mason. This kind of duo means there is no place for the vocalist to hide any shortcomings. As Russell has none, you hear her marvelous voice lovingly caressing the lyrics. Her interplay with Mason is extraordinary.

This album ranks along with Ella Fitzgerald’s great, early-1950s recordings with Ellis Larkins. Where Fitzgerald relied on highly regarded ballads, Russell swings as she unearths lesser-known gems from jazz’s rich, deep history. A beautiful record by my favorite vocalist.

Jeffrey Foucault  — The Universal Fire  (Sept. 6)

Foucault fuses the 2008 Universal Studios fire which destroyed many master tapes that are pillars of American music, alongside the loss of his best friend, bandmate, and former Morphine dummer Billy Conway to cancer in 2021. Augmented with members of Calexico and Bon Iver and captured live in a single room, the album is kind of a musical wake. Foucault is working through grief but the album is also a meditation on the nature of beauty, mortality, and meaning.

If you love 2018’s Blood Brothers as much as I do, you will want to immerse yourself in this one-of-a-kind recording.   

J.D. Simo & Luther Dickinson — Do the Rump!  (Sept. 20) 

Any album that features Dickinson immediately catches my attention, as it should yours. J.D. Simo, known for his work with Jack White, Beyoncé, and the recent Elvis movie, demonstrates he’s no slouch. Simo’s intuitiveness matches Dickinson’s guitar gusto as they trade blistering solos and vocals, turning hill country blues, spirituals, swamp rock, and some Afrobeat into high energy, thumping, stratospheric musical anthems. Triple WOW!

Michelle Malone — Southern Comfort  (Oct. 4)

I’ve caught Michelle Malone more times that I can count, in various East Nashville hangouts. Each time, I have heard a different aspect of this remarkable musician, singer, and songwriter. In more than three decades of mixing roadhouse rock & roll with blues, folk, and country-soul into amazing, highly emotional, uplifting hymns, she’s developed a cult-like following.

But I have never heard her like this, amping it up with able assistance from Buddy Miller, Will Kimbrough, and members of Blackberry Smoke.  

Click on any photo below to view the gallery as a full-size slideshow.