The Alex Leach Band- All the Way review

My review of The Alex Leach Band’s second album All the Way is up at Country Standard Time. Read it here. Here is how it started before the editor did his thing: “As he’s matured, many of us have grown up with Alex Leach. I’ve been listening to him on WDVX for more than twenty…

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Amy Ray- If It All Goes South review

Amy Ray If It All Goes South Daemon Records Almost every year one album sneaks up, slaps me in the face, and causes me to reconsider everything I was considering for the top spots on my annual ‘favourite’ roots albums of the year. 2019: Yola. 2021: Allison Russell. 2022: It just may be Amy Ray.…

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John McCutcheon- Leap! review

John McCutcheon Leap! Appalseed/FolkMusic.com I’ve told this story before. In 2011, due to in-law connections and good fortune, I was able to travel to Chicago from Red Deer for a Chicago Blackhawks game. I got to see Teemu Selanne play for the Ducks and Fernando Pissani the ‘Hawks, but the game itself is rather unmemorable.…

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Steve Dawson & the Telescope 3- Phantom Threshold review

Steve Dawson & the Telescope 3 Phantom Threshold Black Hen Steve Dawson has been creating and recording innovative folk roots music for twenty-five years, and during that time—and notably the last decade—has seldom repeated himself. With the release of Phantom Threshold, he has paired with Jay Bellerose (drums and percussion), Jeremy Holmes (basses, including URB),…

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Cedar Hill- New Chapter review

Cedar Hill New Chapter Mountain Fever Bluegrass can be complex. It doesn’t have to be. Simultaneously, it isn’t simple music, and it certainly isn’t easy to play. I just spent a weekend at a bluegrass festival featuring 18 acts, nine of them solid bluegrass of various shades. These groups all impressed in various ways, but…

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Bill Scorzari- The Crosswinds of Kansas review

Bill Scorzari The Crosswinds of Kansas BillScorzari.com Weird Ass Americana. That’s my jam. Whether going back years to Mary Gauthier, Sam Baker, Roscoe Holcombe, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and every bluegrass band recording prior to 1980, up to and including Willi Carlisle, Melissa Carper, Otis Gibbs, and Scott Cook, a scan of my CD shelves will…

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Dan Tyminski- One More Time Before You Go: A Tribute to Tony Rice review

Dan Tyminski One More Time Before You Go: A Tribute to Tony Rice North Star Records No one should be surprised by this project. Tony Rice was the most influential guitarist bluegrass music has produced, and that is revealed on each festival stage weekly. This past weekend, I had the pleasure to listen to Richard…

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Willi Carlisle- Peculiar, Missouri review

Willi Carlisle Peculiar, Missouri Free Dirt Records An unusual album, Peculiar, Missouri is also one of the freshest and most honest folk albums I’ve encountered the last decade. Inspired by the Ozark region we love, Willi Carlisle embraces the traditions of Guthrie, Phillips, and McCutcheon and bring the methods they mastered over decades screaming into…

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Jim Hurst- From the Ground Up review

Jim Hurst From the Ground Up Pinecastle It has been some many years since I last heard a Jim Hurst album. I purchased Intrepid years ago upon release, and his performance of “Dew On The Mountain” remains one of my favourites. Jim Hurst is under-known within the acoustic and bluegrass worlds despite a career of…

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Peter Rowan- Calling You From My Mountain review

Peter Rowan Calling You From My Mountain Rebel Records In various configurations and eliminating live sets, Peter Rowan has recorded well over 40 albums of new music. That’s a lot, but considering his career going back to the 60s and the quality of his experimentation, both within and outside bluegrass, not an unwelcome amount. A…

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