Off the Beaten Path, As Usual

Exploring America’s blue highways and coming back with songs that have and will endure, some ever-present in our collective memory, some orphaned by time but always primed for adoption by loving practitioners such as these.
by David McGee
 

 
 

With Purpose and Passion

"We were just raising some funds for this amazing junior high school on two Sunday afternoons with the student body and teachers also in attendance,” Darrell Scott writes in the liner copy. It may indeed have been as casual a...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Thanks All Around

For some 30 years Lou Pallo was the steady rhythm guitarist supporting Les Paul's incandescent leads in the Les Paul Trio. Now Pallo pays tribute to his boss with an all-star tribute featuring the likes of Keith Richards, Slash...
by David McGee
 

 
 

Hep Cats

Since making their recording debut in 1999, North Carolina’s Grass Cats have become accustomed to their albums residing in the top 10 of bluegrass charts; with their newest, The Mountains My Baby And Me, they may well find th...
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
 

 
 

The Truth of the Blues, Simple and Direct

Two veterans aging gracefully in the blues field get together with their voices, their instruments and a general aim to honor the late, great piano master Pinetop Perkins, and proceed to make a thoroughly delightful album of ea...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Cool Blues. Really Cool Blues.

In Blues in Other Colors,, blues pianist David Maxwell has hit a high note in a most distinguished career.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Life And Life Only

A little bit Montgomery Gentry, a little bit Trace Adkins, but ultimately only themselves, the fellows who comprise the hard hitting country band LiveWire come on strong in their debut album, Livin'.
by David McGee
 

 

 

It’s Been a Blue, Blue Day

Squirrel Nut Zippers founder Jimbo Mathus's six-song EP Blue Light is the perfect stage-setter for his forthcoming full-length album, slated for release in early 2013.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Loud and Proud

Janis Martin had a brief moment in the sun in the mid--'50s as a pioneering female rock ''n' roll artist billed as 'The Female Elvis.' In 2006 Rosie Flores took Martin back into the studio and produced the terrific Blanco Sessi...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Michael Bram Goes Yard

Michael Bram's new Suitcase In the Hall is a tape-measure home run of soulful singing, inspired playing, terrific songs and great vibes from first to last.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Ricky Skaggs: Honoring Faith, Family and Tradition

Only two years have passed since Ricky Skaggs blessed us with some new music, but even a cursory listen to the vibrant playing and singing on Music To My Ears may have fans thinking, It's nice to have him back. And they would b...
by David McGee