newport featured

Newport Folk Festival Goes Roots-y (But Hasn’t It Always Been So?)

A surprise set by JAMES TAYLOR was the highlight of highlights at this year's NEWPORT FOLK FESTIVAL. Our man on the scene, IRA MAYER, a festival veteran, reflects on the lineup's not-so-folky flavor.
by David McGee
 

 
 
Ragged Heart

Glorious Simplicity

Hailing from Portland, Oregon, SILVER LAKE 66 offers an interesting take on folk-country in its new album, RAGGED HEART. Attention must be paid, says our JOSEPH MCSPADDEN.
by David McGee
 

 

 
hsoc johnpaul cover

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
 

 
 
lowland hum glyphonic

A Gift of Transcendence

LOWLAND HUM returns with its fifth album, GLYPHONIC, and our JOSEPH MCSPADDEN finds it to be ;a song cycle that challenges the artist and listener alike to resist the gravitational pull of the material world and to choose to li...
by David McGee
 

 

 
leonardo i fagiolini

The Visible Invisible

Honoring LEONARDO DA VINCI on the 500th anniversary of his death, British music ensemble I FAGLIONI offers an eclectic recital evoking not so much the music of Leonardo's world but the emotional response to his work
by David McGee
 

 
 
bianca rossini vento

Fique Quieto Meu Coração (or, Be Still My Heart)

On her second full album, VENTO DO NORTE, Rio native (now L.A. resident) BIANCA ROSSINI offers Bossa Nova and fresh takes on the mystery and glory of love.
by David McGee
 

 

 
jennie wade2

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
 

 
 
lrb chronology

(Much) More To Come…

One of the finest contemporary bluegrass bands around is cementing its reputation as same during this, its 30th anniversary year, with the second of three overviews of each decade of its productive existence. Like Volume One, V...
by David McGee
 

 

 
mike scott home

Musical Echoes of Days Long Past

Musical echoes of days long past abound in THE BEAUTIFUL OLD and MIKE SCOTT & FRIENDS' HOME SWEET HOME: CIVIL WAR ERA SONGS. Plus: a James Cagney VIDEO MOMENT OF THE WEEK.
by David McGee
 

 
 
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The Lost Gospel

Describing themselves as 'battered veterans of punk-rock-art damage,' the trio known as THE BOOK OF AMY retreat to the early 20th Century Appalachian and Blue Ridge Mountain ranges.
by David McGee
 

 

 
jeff healey vintage

Like the Music, He Lives On

JEFF HEALEY, a remarkable artist by any measure, exercised his passion for vintage jazz and swing in his latter years and made memorable music. A new retrospective offers a stirring overview of some peak moments.
by David McGee
 

 
 
chris lord chunkabilly11

Those Mean Woman Blues

A stomping groove, a steely, slice-and-dice guitar attack and a growling vocal greet listeners to CHRIS LORD & CHEATIN' RIVER's CHUNKABILLY BLUES, and this Seattle-based power trio never lets up from there.
by David McGee