Blues In All Flavors

British bluesman Ian Siegal returns to North Mississippi's Zebra Ranch Studio, where he is joined by Cody and Luther Dickinson and proceeds to top his 2011 gem, The Skinny, with some new, profound, gutbucket hill country blues.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Nobody Wins

Five years after his last batch of original songs saw the light of day, RADNEY FOSTER returns as strong as ever on EVERYTHING I SHOULD HAVE SAID. The moral of the story: Nobody wins.
by David McGee
 

 

 

A Christmas Story For All Seasons, And For The Ages

From its opening hosanna, 'I See the Light of the World' to its closing exaltation, 'Morning In Bethlehem,' DONNA ULISSE's song cycle All The Way to Bethlehem is not merely close to perfect, it's a work of art. An instant seaso...
by David McGee
 

 
 

The Cowboy Rides Away

It is the misfortune of Lloyd Estel Copas to be better remembered for how and with whom he died than for the wonderful music he made as Cowboy Copas, in which guise he was a dominant presence on the country charts from 1946 to ...
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Cleansing Moment(s)

MARC COHN & BLIND BOYS OF ALABAMA walk the road to salvation, and take us with them, on the JOHN LEVENTHAL-produced gem, WORK TO DO, one of 2019's finest albums
by David McGee
 

 
 
 

An Empress On the Forgotten Paths of Russian Song

Venturing down forgotten paths of Russian song on her new album, ST PETERSBURG, Empress of Song CECILIA BARTOLI offers a virtuoso performance of the long-hidden body of music composed for the Romanov court.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Christmas, Close to Home, Hearth and Heart

In his songs about home, hearth and heart, RICK LANG evokes a down-home Christmas celebration, with the help of some talented musicians who took his songs to unexpected places.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Being About The Enduring Values

One of the hottest new bluegrass releases of this young year, DARIN & BROOKE ALDRIDGE's SNAPSHOTS centers on the enduring values of faith and love.
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Elite Half Hundred of 2016, Part 1

Fifty albums that made life worth living in 2016. Part 1.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Christmas Beyond the Blue

BLUES, BLUES CHRISTMAS VOLUME 3 leads this revised and updated review of four essential blues Christmas albums, including last year's DEATH MIGHT BE YOUR SANTA CLAUS
by David McGee
 

 

 

From a Master, A Master Class in Blues

There was a missing link in Louisiana Red’s recording odyssey, and it has been revealed on a new release from Labor Records, When My Mama Was Living, recorded in the early '70s in upstate New York and now seeing the light of ...
by David McGee
 

 
 

But Beautiful

A pair of albums designed to spur reflection share ALBUM OF THE WEEK honors: NEARNESS, a classy batch of standards by TINA BRUHN and JOHNNY O'NEAL, and BEATLERIANAS by Carlos Barbosa-Lima & The Havant String Quartet
by David McGee