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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
 

 
 
james armstrong guitar

The Angels Listened In

It's been a long, hard climb back to the active list for JAMES ARMSTRONG following a 1996 home invasion that left him without the use of his left arm. But back he has come, all the way, with GUITAR ANGELS, a blues triumph throu...
by David McGee
 

 

 
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It Starts With The Heart

Another triumph for MARK O'CONNOR, but this time he's sharing the spotlight with his ferociously talented new bride, MAGGIE O'CONNOR, on DUO.
by David McGee
 

 
 
carol robbins taylor

On The Street Where She Lived

Continuing to advance the art of jazz harp and her own compositional skills, CAROL ROBBINS is joined by Billy Childs' Jazz Chamber Ensemble and others on nine cool new tunes on TAYLOR STREET.
by David McGee
 

 

 
duke robillard ear worms

On a Higher Plane

With songs by Dylan, Chuck Berry, Arthur Alexander, Goffin-King, Ronnie Self, Allen Toussaint and others, THE DUKE ROBILLARD BAND's EAR WORMS seeks, and attains, transcendence.
by David McGee
 

 
 
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The Mad Scientist Deep in Experimentation

'Good, not great,' says our DHRISTOPHER WALSH in in his deep dive into Sir Paul McCartney's McCARTNEY III, adding: '...it shows an artist still reaching, ideas still flowing.'
by David McGee
 

 

 
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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
 

 
 
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Out of Nowhere, Making a Joyful, and Most Memorable, Noise

Out of St. Louis and in the spirit of The Goat Rodeo Sessions, The Punch Brothers and Mark O'Connor, The 442s have made a joyful, and most memorable, noise on their debut album.
by David McGee
 

 

 
dancing day saint thomas

Angels We Have Heard on High

DANCING DAY: MUSIC FOR CHRISTMAS, the last recording JOHN SCOTT made with the SAINT THOMAS CHOIR OF MEN & BOYS before his tragic death this past August, is a reverent seasonal classic.
by David McGee
 

 
 
bobby osborne original

Bobby Osborne: Sui Generis

Now 85, bluegrass legend BOBBY OSBORNE, with ALISON BROWN producing and superb backing musicians, has a solo triumph in the accurately titled ORIGINAL.
by David McGee
 

 

 
rory block featured

‘I Just Can’t Let Us Forget’

Continuing her 'lifetime retrospective' project, RORY BLOCK pays glorious tribute to some outstanding female blues artists of yore, some undeservedly obscure..but no longer so.
by David McGee
 

 
 
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In The Prime Time Mood

DAVE STRYKER's first studio album with his trio will get you in the mood.
by David McGee