Pushing the Boundaries

South Africa's FRESHLYGROUND enlisted Los Lobos's STEVE BERLIN as its producer and came up with a border crossing Afropop gem in TAKE ME TO THE DANCE
by David McGee
 

 
 

The Romantic

WILLIE NELSON returns at his best on LET'S FACE THE MUSIC AND DANCE, a torch album chronicling a bruised but not broken romantic's tumultuous journey of the heart.
by David McGee
 

 

 

For a Friend

Just over the horizon, out of sight, beyond the ear’s reach, love, like the road, goes on forever. NANCY CASSIDY celebrates life for an ailing friend on SONG OF JOY.
by David McGee
 

 
 

In the Mist of a Memory

86-year-old BOYD LEE DUNLOP survives a near-fatal heart attack to triumph on his second album, THE LAKE REFLECTIONS, a collection of solo piano improvisations.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Voices From Beyond the Glow in the Sunset Skies

An all-star cast of roots songwriters, musicians and vocalists join forces on GOD DIDN'T CHOOSE SIDES: Civil War True Stories about Real People, Volume 1. Ye shall be moved.
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
 

 

 

Roll On

DAVE ADKINS and REPUBLIK STEEL make an impression on their debut album, That's Just the Way I Roll, as a new bluegrass band to be dealt with. Secret weapon: Adkins himself, a formidable vocalist.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Long Ago, Far Away, Ever Relevant

Exploring songs associated with the great female blues and jazz vocalists of the '20s and '30s, ROBERTA DONNAY & THE PROHIBITION MOB BAND sound ever-relevant on A LITTLE SUGAR
by David McGee
 

 

 

His Own Man

DEVON ALLMAN's solo debut, 'Turquoise,' tells us the son of Gregg is his own man--more to the point, that he knows who he is as his own man. No mean feat, that.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Alive, Authentic and Profoundly Human

This week's ALBUM OF THE WEEK is 'Brothers in Bamako,' a ttansAtlantic union of souls between modern day griots Habib Koité, of Mali, and the veteran New York City-born folksinger Eric Bibb. Their song is 'alive, authentic and...
by David McGee
 

 

 

Bipartisan Consensus

Simple poetry and keen observations mark the elegant songs of Marty Atkinson and Katy Boyd, aka Blue Cactus Choir, whose first album, ...Once In a Bluegrass Moon is our new Album of the Week.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Being About a Cold, Cold World

The Giving Tree Band earns Album of the Week honors for VACILADOR, an album for a world fearful of commitment, for the hookup culture of no-strings intimacy, for a society diffuse and disconnected, even though it doesn't know it.
by David McGee