Seth Walker Live at Mauch Chunk Opera House Royal Potato Family These words have previously appeared in my reviews of Seth Walker, but they bear repeating. Walker is a bluesman dressed up as an Americana artist. Since I first saw him perform at the Americana Music Conference over ten years ago, suffice it say that […]
Sue Foley The Ice Queen Stony Plain Canadian guitarist/singer Sue Foley returned to Austin, TX where she got her start as blues woman and laid down these sessions with special guests Jimmie Vaughan, Billy F. Gibbons, and Charlie Sexton. This, her 15th album, marks Foley’s debut for Stony Plains and her return as a solo […]
GoGo Penguin A Humdrum Star Blue Note GoGo Penguin is a trio based in Manchester, England with a penchant for atmospheric music that merges acoustic and electronic techniques, touching mostly on jazz while bringing in classical elements and more than a few nods to Brian Eno. While that description may give the notion that their […]
David K. Mathews The Fantasy Vocal Sessions – Vol. 1 Standards Effendi Records If you’re not from the San Francisco Bay Area or an ardent fan of Santana, you’re probably not familiar with keyboardist David K. Mathews. Yet, considering this, his first as a leader in fifteen years, could lead to five or six projects […]
Big Shoes Step On It! Biglittle This is a can’t miss project. We’re seeing a resurgence of the Muscle Shoals sound these days. Even The Swampers just released an album of lost tracks last month. The sound of Big Shoes has plenty of that river city’s sound but stretches beyond into New Orleans, Memphis, and […]
Hypnotic Wheels Trio and Various Artists Muddy Gurdy VizzTone This is one of the most interesting collaborations of blues we have heard in some time. A trio of French musicians – Tia Goutteble (guitar, voice), Gilles Chabenat (Hurdy-Gurdy – a traditional French instrument), and Marc Glomeau (percussion) call themselves the Hypnotic Wheels Trio. Their music […]
Ghalia & Mama’s Boys Let the Demons Out Ruf Ghalia Vauthier, the Belgian singer-songwriter/guitarist, is the newest signing for Ruf. This emerging artist from Brussels splits her time between her native country and New Orleans where she recorded this album with acclaimed harmonica band Johnny Mastro & Mama’s Boys. Ghalia has steadily built a fan […]
Curtis Salgado and Alan Hager Rough Cut Alligator We’ve come to know Curtis Salgado mostly as a blues singer leaning heavily toward soul, with his horn-drenched bands. Now we see another side of Salgado – the deep blues done raw and unadorned with his band’s lead guitarist, Alan Hager, showing impeccable talent here too. Rough […]
Lyn Stanley The Moonlight Sessions, Volumes 1 and 2 A.T. Music Jazz vocalist Lyn Stanley has the kind of self-made story that makes us admire her even before we hear her sultry, refined, signature delivery. Six years ago, she was a retired marketing executive wondering if she had enough musical talent for her church choir. […]
Rockin’ Johnny Burgin Neoprene Fedora West Tone Rockin’ Johnny Burgin graced many of the great Delmark records, especially as the guitarist for Tail Dragger. After a storied stint in the Windy City, his move to California finds him once again working with Kid Andersen in Kid’s San Jose Greaseland Studios, rapidly becoming the place of […]
Corey Dennison Band Night After Night Delmark This band screams SOUL. Delmark is perhaps the most authentic Chicago blues label and has been for fifty years now but this band could just as easily be from Memphis as Chicago. From the opening notes and Dennison’s vocal, you get a huge does of soul. My words […]
Likho Duo Blues and the World Beyond Likho Before we tell you a little about these two guys, we need to provide some explanation about the name, which is a story unto itself. Noé Socha, (guitar and harmonica) is legally blind but has limited vision in one eye. Cliff Schmitt (bassist) has a vision issue in […]
Jane Ira Bloom Wild Lines: Improvising Emily Dickinson Out-Line It seems only appropriate that the artist dubbed “the poet of the soprano saxophone” by acclaimed jazz critic Brian Priestly would honor one of America’s iconic poets. Jane Ira Bloom reimagines the poetry of 19th-century visionary Emily Dickinson in two different settings. Her double CD showcases […]
Casey Hensley Live Featuring Laura Chavez VizzTone Hensley’s name is the prominent one on the jacket but also note “Featuring Laura Chavez.” Chavez is a world- renowned guitarist who played with the late Candye Kane and has been hailed by folks like Ronnie Earl as one our best. This is a showcase for her dazzling, […]
Peter Parcek Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven Lightnin’ This is the hard blues. It’s not that Peter Parcek plays hard constantly but it’s the feeling he evokes. He alternates dynamics but leaves vapors of Hendrix and The Cream in his wake. He can play cleanly like Peter Green but prefers to shroud both his guitar […]
