The Game of Love

BEFORE THE WORLD WAS MADE Brennen Leigh & Noel McKay B&N In a world festering with male-female duos, Austin’s Brennen Leigh & Noel McKay have some clear advantages over the competition. For starters, their dress i...
by David McGee
 

 
 

A Beautiful Day in Ms. Rogers’ Neighborhood

It's a beautiful day in the neighborhood when KIMM ROGERS dives into her songs on WHERE THE PAVEMENT GROWS and asks: 'Would you be mine? Could you be mine?'
by David McGee
 

 

 

Channeling Beatles, In Rarified Air

In their first new CD since 2012, the HOT CLUB OF SAN FRANCISCO reimagines tunes by Lennon-McCartney and George Harrison in the gypsy jazz style of DJANGO REINHARDT.
by David McGee
 

 
 

A Paean to Living, Remembering, Carrying On, Moving Forward

The pieces on this expertly produced Open G Records disc ask the listener not only to absorb the complexities of the sonic layers but also to consider their meaning.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Thirst No More

The world-weariness welling from deep within the Nashville-based singer-songwriter SUSAN McCRACKEN's soul expresses not helplessness but hopefulness on PATIENT KINGDOM, as if giving testimony to the cyclicality and potentiality...
by David McGee
 

 
 

Right On Time, Indeed

Daring to change, CHATHAM COUNTY LINE is renewed and reinvigorated to the nth degree on HIYO
by David McGee
 

 

 

Informal, Intimate and Memorable: Edie Adams Celebrates the Season

Pieced together from audio clips Edie Adams paid a transcription service to record so she could tweak her performances on The Ernie Kovacs Show, The Edie Adams Christmas Album is informal, intimate and memorable--a raft of char...
by David McGee
 

 
 

A Final Communiqué, Tough and Tender

The late Cesaria Evora, the 'barefoot diva' who put Cape Verde's morna music on the global map, is fully present on Mãe Carinhosa, a newly released collection of her final recordings.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Essential Sondheim

STEPHEN SONDHEIM's life and music, inextricably linked, are explored in captivating fashion in the new HBO documentary, SIX BY SONDHEIM, airing through December. Review herein.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Do You Believe in Magic?

A recently unveiled 45-year-old tape recorded in a tiny Milwaukee club in 1968 gives us a powerhouse live performance by MAGIC SAM in prime-time mode, both in voice and with his guitar, on LIVE AT THE AVANT GARDE.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Soul Stirring Joy

Gospel editor BOB MAROVICH weighs in on a new Soul Stirrers retrospective from the group's SAR Records years. Recommending this double-CD set: four previously unreleased Stirrers sides.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Right Where You Need To Be

On TURN TO JESUS, the newly minted DAVE ADKINS TRIO explains what it means to be known by God, to be held in God's gaze, to be 'right where you need to be.'
by David McGee