Reviews recently posted elsewhere

I was asked to contribute some reviews to Lonesome Road Review recently. I am likely writing a little less for LLR and Country Standard Time than I had in the past, but I do find time to get a couple or three done monthly. These days, there is little to no money in freelance writing…

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Danny Paisley & The Southern Grass- Weary River review

Danny Paisley & the Southern Grass Weary River Patuxent Music Done right, bluegrass sounds simple. We know it isn’t, of course; anyone who has watched a talented group working up a new song is aware of the incredible complexities that go into making a pure and natural bluegrass song. Some people are convinced that bluegrass…

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Favourite Roots Albums of the Year, 2015.

Time for the annual ‘best of’ list which I never title ‘best of.’ I always go with Favourites because that is all I can go by: which albums have I listened to the most this past year, which ones have I most appreciated, and which ones do I feel are of an exceptional quality? In…

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Town Mountain- The Dead Session review

I was planning on being productive today; it isn’t every week I have a five-day weekend, certainly, and one should make use of such to accomplish some writing. But, finding myself in the middle of those five days today, someone on Twitter sent out a link to a 2011 Ray Wylie Hubbard concert on YouTube,…

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Steep Canyon Rangers- Radio review

Hmmm. I guess I am getting forgetful, but I notice this afternoon that I didn’t link through my review of the Steep Canyon Rangers album Radio here at Fervor Coulee. It was published over at Country Standard Time last month. I likely over-stated my assertion that they are no longer a bluegrass band, at least on…

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Brady Enslen- Beautiful Things review

Brady Enslen Beautiful Things www. BradyEnslen.com North America is blessed (maybe overly blessed) with singer-songwriters. While there are no doubt many who should give up the dream and get on with life, in my experience most of those who get to the level of recording an album have more than a little something to offer.…

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Lynn Jackson- Songs of Rain, Snow, and Remembering review

Lynn Jackson Songs of Rain, Snow, & Remembering Busted Flat Records Dang. I hate coming late to the game, but such is the situation as I first encountered Lynn Jackson this past month. The Kitchener, ON singer and songwriter is on album number eight with Songs of Rain, Snow, & Remembering and I don’t think…

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Eric Bibb and JJ Milteau- Lead Belly’s Gold review

Lead Belly’s Gold: Live at the Sunset and More Stony Plain Records I been a gambler, I been a rambler, I been called a low-down roustabout, Been a convict man down in Sugar Land, An’ I know what a chain gang’s all about… On his self-penned song that closes Lead Belly’s Gold, Eric Bibb creates…

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Joy of Living: Tribute to Ewan MacColl review

If you are not familiar with Ewan MacColl, you really owe it to yourself to do some Google searching. He was a terrific songwriter and a central figure-some may argue ‘the’ central figure-in the revival of the British folk music tradition. He was also a big of a cad, I’ve read, but since few of…

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Ryan Boldt- Broadside Ballads review

Ryan Boldt Broadside Ballads (Big White Cloud/Dahl Street Records) It takes true effort to listen to and fully comprehend the old ballads. In a click-a-minute world, where video clips go by in ten seconds, when songs require little more than a beat, a groove, and a chorus of five words, and where our intellect is…

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