Michael Jerome Browne- Gettin’ Together review

Michael Jerome Browne Getting’ Together Borealis/Stony Plain Records Michael Jerome Browne has been producing quality, Canadian blues longer than most of us have been listening. An undisputed master of the slide guitar, Browne’s albums usually feature a unifying theme, and Getting’ Together is no exception. Revisiting the songs that brought him to the blues when…

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Barbara Blue- From the Shoals review

Barbara Blue From the Shoals BarbaraBlue.com Up-tempo blues firmly rooted in Muscle Shoals soul is Barbara Blue’s stock-in-trade, one in which she is firmly and obviously masterful. Gritty honesty pervades Memphis-based Blue’s music on From the Shoals, follow-up to the ‘Reigning Queen of Beale Street’s’ 2018’s Fish in Dirty H2O.  The 65-minute set opens with…

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Fervor Coulee’s Favourite Roots Albums of 2022

I have no idea how many roots albums I bought, received for review, actually wrote about, listened to through a brief flirtation with a streaming service, and sampled via Polaris Music Prize jury membership, as well as other industry-provided downloads during 2022. But when I review other lists, I see a lot I am familiar…

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Fervor Coulee’s Favourite Blues Albums, 2022

I do enjoy blues music. Of all the roots styles I feature at Fervor Coulee, blues is the music I reach for when listening for enjoyment the least: I listen to it intently while reviewing and writing, but I just don’t often go to the shelves searching for blues music. That changed a bit this…

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Spencer Mackenzie- Preach to My Soul review

Spencer Mackenzie Preach to My Soul SpencerMackenzie.ca Go for what you know. For youthful blues-guitarist Spencer Mackenzie, that appears to be rockin’ blues. During my formative, high school musical years listening to mainstream rock FM stations, I could hear Powder Blues, Downchild, and David Wilcox alongside a Rumours track, the next chart-climber from Pat Benatar,…

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Robert Connely Farr- Shake It review

Robert Connely Farr Shake It RobertConnelyFarr.com My introduction to Robert Connely Farr came many years ago—a dozen?—when the Mississippi-native released a set with Jon Wood under the Mississippi Live moniker. I was a fine piece of stripped-down blues, the words about which I wrote long ago left to the ravages of print and the foibles…

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Suzie Vinnick- Fall Back Home review

Suzi Vinnick Fall Back Home SuzieVinnick.com Over the last decade, Suzie Vinnick has become one of Canada’s favourite blues artists. Albums including 2018’s Shake That Love Around and 2011’s Me ‘n’ Mabel placed her on my roots radar, and Fall Back Home continues this string of impressive development. Given pandemic time to reflect, Vinnick has…

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Rory Block- Ain’t Nobody Worried review

Rory Block Ain’t Nobody Worried: Celebrating Great Women of Song Stony Plain Records Into her seventies, Rory Block continues to rock the blues harder than many half her age. With this third release in her Power Women of the Blues series, Block turns to slightly more contemporary material and a wider definition of blues. Playing…

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Crystal Shawanda- Midnight Blues review

Crystal Shawanda Midnight Blues True North Records Crystal Shawanda spent years developing her artistry within the confines of commercial country music, and was quite successful doing so. She hit the Billboard Country charts, was a mainstay on Canadian country radio playlists for a couple years in the late ‘aughts, and toured from a Nashville base.…

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Harrison Kennedy- Thanks for Tomorrow review

Harrison Kennedy Thanks for Tomorrow Electro-Fi Records I don’t receive as many high-quality blues albums for review as I perhaps once did, but often enough something sneaks through to impress. This week that album comes from Ontario and Juno Award winner Harrison Kennedy. Oowee! This is my kind of blues, a mix of soul and…

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