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By Any Other Name…

Singer-songwriter-stellar guitarist Quintus McCormick doesn't look to re-invent the wheel, but rather reminds listeners that the fraught territory of human interactions--especially the gulf between the sexes--is where his music...
by David McGee
 

 
 
sara gazarek blossom1

She Loves, But Does He Love?

BLOSSOM & BEE, Sara Gazarek: Our Album of the Week follows Connie Evingson's Sweet Happy Life in being a tour de force of classic pop-jazz vocalizing, with some original songs complementing aesthetic investigations of Great Ame...
by David McGee
 

 

 
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And Here’s To The Life

In a long overdue tribute. pop-jazz vocalist Connie Evingson does wonderful things in honoring the lyrics of Norman Gimbel on SWEET HAPPY LIFE, this week's ALBUM OF THE WEEK. Talk about killing us softly with his songs...
by David McGee
 

 
 
booker t 1

Ever Fresh: A Half-Century of ‘Green Onions’

In honor of the 50th anniversary of ‘Green Onions,’ we salute BOOKER T. & THE M.G.s’ reissued debut album of the same name, along with the group’s reissued-remastered 1970 Beatles tribute, McLemore Avenue, all-instrumen...
by David McGee
 

 

 
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The Perfect ‘Storm’

One of our great contemporary gospel singers has returned from a four-year recording hiatus with her strongest album yet. 'Til The Storm Passes By captures the versatile Lynda Randle at her testifying best on a powerhouse colle...
by David McGee
 

 
 
marty raybon southern roots

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
 

 

 
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
 

 
 
little richard here

Little Richard, Ascending

‘It’s Just Like An Unfinished Diamond’  Richard Penniman has at various times, often without prompting, referred to himself as “the originator, the instigator, the facilitator” of rock ‘n’ roll. To varying degree...
by David McGee
 

 

 
john fries us50

The Wounded Wanderer, Restored

U.S. Route 50 lives in the shadow of Route 66 in the lore of legendary American highways, but it’s no less awesome as either myth or fact. Built in 1926 as part of the original U.S. Highway system, Route 50 runs east and west...
by David McGee
 

 
 
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That Swingin’ Little Guitar Man

Carl Perkins recalled a show he played in Atlanta in 1958 at which he was visited backstage by a young fellow who came with guitar in hand and introduced himself as Jerry Hubbard. The two pickers engaged each other in a couple ...
by David McGee
 

 

 
cowboy copas complete

The Cowboy Rides Away

It is the misfortune of Lloyd Estel Copas to be better remembered for how and with whom he died than for the wonderful music he made as Cowboy Copas, in which guise he was a dominant presence on the country charts from 1946 to ...
by David McGee
 

 
 
bill evans company

A Hoot For The Age

The hootenanny lives! Banjo master/educator Bill Evans’s In Good Company has that feel of an informal gathering of musicians playing exactly what they want to play, complementing each other to a T and having a great time doin...
by David McGee