And A Proud Mama She Would Be

AUTUMN IN AUGUSTA, the blues-jazz-folk combo led by the wondrous LUCY SMITH, has a winner in SONGS MY MAMA WOULD LIKE. It's Ms. Smith's tribute to the music her mother loved. Mama, Ms. Smith writes, 'had awesome taste.' We agree.
by David McGee
 

 
 

A Final Flowering

ANONYMOUS 4 is closing out its near-30-year career with one of its finest albums, 1865--SONGS OF HOPE AND HOME FROM THE AMERICAN CIVIL WAR, the final installment of its Americana Trilogy.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Soothing Music in a Troubled Time

Self-released and Kickstarter funded, Hawaii's PACIFIC HARP PROJECT quartet has reimagined works by revered composers such as RAVEL and DEBUSSY, and added scintillating originals to the mix.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Undaunted

On WE RISE UP, RAVEN AND RED confront all manner of romantic debacle and emerge undaunted. Attention must be paid to these young artists.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Dispatches From Solitude

Forced into isolation by the pandemic, JOHN McCUTCHEON began writing songs, and more songs, came up with a moving tribute to front line workers and to his friend John Prine, found some humor in his plight, and voila! CABIN FEVE...
by David McGee
 

 
 

Burnishing the Legacy

KEVIN BURT will having you hearing the great songs of BILL WITHERS with new ears.
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
 

 
 

Funk-tion At the Junction

At age 77, BOBBY RUSH is reinvigorated, as he proves in the potent performances he musters on his latest album, DOWN IN LOUISIANA, found at the junction where funk, soul and blues meet.
by David McGee
 

 

 

They Only Come Out at Night

NOCTAMBULE (MARLA FIBISH and BRUCE VICTOR) have fashioned a number of poems by ROBERT SERVICE and others into an intriguing journey through the wee small hours
by David McGee
 

 
 

Those Mean Woman Blues

A stomping groove, a steely, slice-and-dice guitar attack and a growling vocal greet listeners to CHRIS LORD & CHEATIN' RIVER's CHUNKABILLY BLUES, and this Seattle-based power trio never lets up from there.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Just Like Old Times

JIM ED BROWN makes a stirring comeback with IN STYLE AGAIN; ROB ICKES & TREY HENSLEY deliver one for old times' sake in BEFORE THE SUN GOES DOWN.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Summoning Bukka

RORY BLOCK continues her Mentor Series with a scintillating tribute to a perennially underrated Delta blues man in KEEPIN' OUTTA TROUBLE: A TRIBUTE TO BUKKA WHITE
by David McGee