Gold…In A Way- The SteelDrivers, featuring Chris Stapleton

Over at Fervor Coulee Bluegrass, I’ve posted an update to my 2008 review of The SteelDrivers’ debut album. Gold…In A Way is a semi-regular thing I do where I look back on a favoured bluegrass release. I was prompted to do this one by Chris Stapleton’s absolutely unexpected crowning as the CMA’s Male Vocalist of…

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Chris Vallillo- Abraham Lincoln in Song

Another from the Fervor Coulee, pre-blog archive. Originally published in The Red Deer Advocate, April 18, 2008. Chris Vallillo Abraham Lincoln in Song http://www.chrisvallillo.com An album of old-time music from and inspired by the times of Lincoln; there’s a commercial bonanza just a-waitin’! Within detailed liner notes, Illinois songwriter and musician Chris Vallillo outlines the…

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Carlene Carter- Stronger

This weekend I made the decision to revamp Fervor Coulee a bit, so you’ll notice a few tweaks. I also realized I hadn’t dug into the non-posted archive for a long time. I dug out this review of Carlene’s ‘comeback’ album originally published just before this blog was born. I’ll make an attempt to update…

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Roots music column, June 5

Good day, roots music fans, In this week’s column, I advance several area shows and festivals as well as highlight the five albums I am placing on my ballot for this years Polaris Music Prize: the latest from The Great Lake Swimmers, Maria Dunn, The Swiftys, The Wooden Telegraph, and Jayme Stone & Mansa Sissoko.…

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Jay Clark- I’m Confused

Jay Clark I’m Confused JayClarkMusic.com  This one has taken much too long to review; I’ve been enjoying it for months. An East Tennessean now calling Alabama home, Jay Clark is one of hundreds of singer-songwriters producing quality music, offering insights into the way he perceives the world. Like John Prine, whom he vaguely recalls, what…

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Lluís Gómez Quartet- Lluís Gómez Quartet

Lluís Gómez Quartet Self-released web.mac.com/lluisgomez International bluegrass is no more consistent in sound and influence than the familiar North American variety. No surprise then that Spaniard Lluís Gómez’s Quartet recording is an eclectic album that will either challenge listeners- again- as to ‘What is bluegrass, anyway?” or be embraced by those who celebrate acoustic instrumental…

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Robin & Linda Williams- Buena Vista

Robin & Linda Williams Buena Vista Red House   The venerable folk and acoustiblue duo return with their, by my count, 20th album; it is another that will undoubtedly become cherished by their legion of followers.   Little new ground is broken here, and little does that matter. As they have for thirty-some years, the…

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Paul Reddick- Sugar Bird

Paul Reddick Sugar Bird Northern Blues   I’ve never really ‘got’ what others saw and heard in Toronto’s Paul Reddick. Not his fault, not mine either. Sometimes, things just don’t click. But now, I believe I’m coming around.   On Sugar Bird, and with the assistance of producer and album mainstay Colin Linden, the blues…

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Copper Kettle – Poison On Your Mind

Copper Kettle Poison On Your Mind http://www.copperkettleband.com   Upon listening to this second album from Brooklyn, NY-based Copper Kettle these past weeks, three thoughts kept returning.   The first is Del McCoury; lead vocalist Fred Skellenger has either worked hard to sound more than a little like our Del, or is one of the most…

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The Hager’s Mountain Boys – A Better Way

The Hager’s Mountain Boys A Better Way http://www.thehagersmountainboys.com   Based in Roxboro, NC, The Hager’s Mountain Boys are a fun-loving and relatively heralded quartet producing bluegrass music in a manner that brings to mind the sounds perfected by groups such as the Nashville Bluegrass Band, Rock County, and J.D. Crowe’s New South over the past few decades.…

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