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Message Delivered

Chicago blues man DAVE SPECTER is back with his first album in four years, MESSAGE IN BLUE, and it's a keeper in the blues, soul and R&B categories all. Soul singer OTIS CLAY makes his Delmark label debut in spectacular fashion...
by David McGee
 

 
 
sam butler raise

Tested In the Furnace of Affliction

SAM BUTLER, former lead guitarist with the Blind Boys of Alabama, makes his solo debut with a most unusual spiritual album--with songs by Springsteen, Waits, Curtis Mayfield, Johnny Cash, et al.
by David McGee
 

 

 
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Blues, Classical & Corky Siegel Ascendant

Blues harmonica master and skilled composer CORKY SIEGEL returns with his CHAMBER BLUES string quartet for a blues-classical romp on DIFFERENT VOICES..
by David McGee
 

 
 
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In Praise of the Torch Holder

In his second solo outing, JUNIOR SISK honors Polonius's advice: "To thine own self be true." In doing so, he creates a traditional bluegrass gem in LOAD THE WAGON.
by David McGee
 

 

 
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Hope Is the Thing With Feathers

As birds go, so goes humanity. Three nominally classical albums poetically address the looming threats to the natural world.
by David McGee
 

 
 
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Going Mobile

Marty Raybon might well want to consider re-titling his album Southern Routes & Branches, given how many roads he travels in its dozen songs. To be clear, some of these roads he’s traveled before—nine of the songs are c...
by David McGee
 

 

 
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Company’s Comin’

Wagons leader Henry Wagons is back with a compelling solo EP, 'Expecting Company?' These short stories in musical form find Wagons edging into Jorge Luis Borges territory. What will he make of that?
by David McGee
 

 
 
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Really? ‘The Letter’?

FRANK SOLIVAN & DIRTY KITCHEN reassert themselves as one of bluegrass's finest young bands with their new Compass album, ON THE EDGE
by David McGee
 

 

 
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Get Thee Hence, Sinner – Christine Santelli

EPs are proliferating these days, but few can match CHRSTINE SANTELLI's new one, LIMELIGHT '69, a collection of first-rate original songs and possibly a search for spiritual redemption, all at once.
by David McGee
 

 
 
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Full-Bodied Blues

COME BACK BABY, LINSEY ALEXANER's second Delmark release, exceeds his 2012 effort in all respects--singing, playing and writing. It's an album for those who love their blues full bodied.
by David McGee
 

 

 
silver lining

The Common Language of the Heart

Tony Bennett and Bill Charlap are together again, now in a relaxed, refined, reflective and altogether classy survey of the songs of Jerome Kern, 'the angel at the top of the tree.'
by David McGee
 

 
 
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Somewhere Between Heartache and Redemption

Balancing personal misfortune with spiritual redemption, CRYSTAL SHAWANDA is making a major movie with CHURCH HOUSE BLUES, her fourth blues album.
by David McGee