Of Secret Smiles and Unfinished Symphonies
RED RIVER DRIFTER may be MICHAEL MARTIN MURPHEY'S best yet. He's singing love songs again, but love songs of a different stripe, examining the emotion in all its complexity.
Spotlight Album
On Down the Line
After a year of personal misfortune, siblings ELAINE and LEE ROY, aka THE ROYS, have transformed their miseries into art on their new album, GYPSY RUNAWAY TRAIN, another stone-cold winner for the duo.
Under the Skin, Into the Heart
Nashville's McCrary Sisters--progeny of Fairfield Four founding member Rev. Samuel McCrary, have issued one of this year's most uplifting and stirring statements with their second album, ALL THE WAY. They'll take you there.
Offering God Beautiful Music from Hearts at Peace with Him
After topping the Classical chart last year, the Benedictines of Mary, Queen of Apostles return with more stirring messages of faith. Also: an exclusive Deep Roots Interview with Sr. Scholastica Radel.
James Cotton, Fully Present
Cancer has robbed him of his singing voice but not his spirit or his ability to play blues harp like no else around. At age 77, JAMES COTTON is going strong, as his new album attests. Review by BILL DAHL.
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
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.
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.
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.
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.