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
 

 

 

You Feel Them?

The last time we heard from the Grascals, in the summer of 2011, they were doing God’s work in crafting a tribute to the music of The Andy Griffith Show on an EP titled Dance Til Your Stockings Are Hot and Ravelin’, when th...
by David McGee
 

 
 

The (Eastern) Beat Goes On

Across the Middle East and North Africa, the beat goes on. This scene shines on Putumayo’s Arabic Beat, a collection that chronicles the musical creativity of Arabic musicians today. The album revels in artists rarely heard i...
by David McGee
 

 

 

By Any Other Name…

Singer-songwriter-stellar guitarist Quintus McCormick doesn't look to re-invent the wheel, but rather reminds listeners that the fraught territory of human interactions--especially the gulf between the sexes--is where his music...
by David McGee
 

 
 

She Loves, But Does He Love?

BLOSSOM & BEE, Sara Gazarek: Our Album of the Week follows Connie Evingson's Sweet Happy Life in being a tour de force of classic pop-jazz vocalizing, with some original songs complementing aesthetic investigations of Great Ame...
by David McGee