Mary Lane- Travelin’ Woman review

Mary Lane Travelin’ Woman Women of the Blues Records Mary Lane. Does the name mean anything to you? If it does, you already know what the rest of us have been missing. But for the rest of us… Now 83, Mary Lane is one of the last of the northern-bound blues singers who moved from…

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Buck Owens & the Buckaroos- The Complete Capitol Singles: 1971-1975 review

Buck Owen and the Buckaroos The Complete Capitol Singles: 1971-1975 Omnivore Records Buck Owens scored somewhere around forty Top 10 Country Singles up to 1971; nineteen of those went to Number One. He was arguably the most successful country music artist during the 1960s, creating an industry built around his Bakersfield Sound. Most of the…

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Al Lerman- Northern Bayou review

Al Lerman Northern Bayou AlLermanMusic.com Al Lerman’s (formerly of Fathead) swampy blues is a highlight of this spring’s blues offerings. Infectious grooves abound. The album kicks off with “Down to the River,” a song possessing a fundamental force of some significance, and just keeps going. Recorded in a ‘live off the floor’ blast of creativity…

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Marty Brown- American Highway review

Marty Brown American Highway Plowboy Records Sometimes one needs a reminder: country music, roots music, Americana: it doesn’t have to be rocket surgery. Sometimes you just want to cruise along to an album of good-time sounding music. Marty Brown’s new one would be a fine place to start! The list of ‘next big things’ in…

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Johnny Shines- The Blues Came Falling Down review

Johnny Shines The Blues Came Falling Down Omnivore Records This is the best blues album I’ve heard so far in 2019. It was recorded when I was nine years old. A contemporary of Robert Johnson and Mississippi Fred McDowell, Johnny Shines garnered his limited fame as the folk and blues revival of the 60s came…

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Sean Pinchin- Bad Things review

Sean Pinchin Bad Things SeanPinchin.ca “If you’re gonna leave me, baby I wish you would just go.” With an exasperated cry, Juno-nominee Sean Pinchin opens Bad Things with a blues-breakup song that is a stompin’ cry to freedom. His voice is all over the place, low and accepting, high and hurt. It is a bit…

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Dale Ann Bradley- The Hard Way review

Dale Ann Bradley The Hard Way Pinecastle Records The Hard Way is stronger than Dale Ann Bradley’s previous self-titled release, which was itself a stout collection of bluegrass. Bradley’s style has evolved over these last twenty-plus years. Over the course of ten solo albums, most edges have been smoothed from Bradley’s presentation. In their place…

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