The Burnt Pines- Don’t Look Down review

The Burnt Pines Don’t Look Down TheBurntPines.com  “Sex and lies make it snow,A burning house behind us…” I’m not exactly sure how those words from “Angels and Violence” work together poetically, but a rather stark image is created within my little mind, one that stuck with me during my (many) visits to The Burnt Pines…

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Kathy Kallick & Friends- Dodi Kallick What Are They Doing in Heaven Today? review

Kathy Kallick & Friends- Dodi Kallick What Are They Doing in Heaven Today? Live Oak Records http://www.KathyKallick.com and https://kathykallick.bandcamp.com/album/what-are-they-doing-in-heaven-today Over the last fifty years, few bluegrass singers, songwriters, and performers have received less acknowledgement for their groundbreaking perseverance than has California’s Kathy Kallick. With all due respect and realizing she has received awards (a Grammy…

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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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Dan Weber and Dana Cooper album reviews

Dan Weber The Way the River Goes Highway 142 DanWeberMusic.com Dana Cooper I Can Face the Truth DanaCooperMusic.com “I’ve heard it all.” How many times have I had this thought rattle around inside my brain as I reach for the next troubadour’s album? Trust me, it has been a few hundred times. Almost as frequently,…

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Steve Dawson- Gone, Long Gone review

Steve Dawson Gone, Long Gone Black Hen Music We all know that guy. He is the coolest in the room. He knows everyone. He is good at everything he does. He looks fresh. Life just comes easy to him, he basks in it, and in the warmth of his admirers’ glow. We hate that guy,…

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Fervor Coulee’s Favourite Roots Albums of 2021

Years from now, when we consider the best roots albums of 2021, we will have great memories. The second year of COVID allowed artists to release music recorded either prior to the pandemic or that which was created in trying circumstances. It was a year of breakthroughs for many wonderful artists, and even a breakthrough…

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Doc Watson- Life’s Work: A Retrospective review

Doc Watson Life’s Work: A Retrospective Craft Recordings I look up and I am staring at a picture of Doc Watson (and Jack Lawrence) taken in Tacoma in 2001. Over my shoulder, his first Vanguard album has pride of place, and on the record and CD shelves surrounding me there are about as many discs…

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Matt Patershuk- An Honest Effort review

Matt Patershuk An Honest Effort Black Hen Music When the Coalition of Alberta Troubadours met last spring to compare pandemic-influenced facial hair, songs, album release plans, and dark liquor, one imagines interesting conversations did unfold. Perhaps Joe Nolan suggested he release his album first, break a bit of heavy trail for the older guys, with…

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John Wort Hannam- Long Haul review

John Wort Hannam Long Haul Black Hen Music Eight albums. Time flies. John Wort Hannam has been on his roots-fueled troubadour journey for most of two decades, spinning songwriting gold from the chaff of the lives he has encountered, both in reality and imagination. From early masterpieces like “Scotsman’s Bluff” and “Pier 21” to his…

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Doc Carter- High Tide for Low Times review

Doc Carter High Tide for Low Times A few years ago, Rodney Crowell and Mary Karr borrowed Nelson Algren’s phrase “Never play cards with a guy named Doc” for their song, “My Father’s Advice.” Artists get to do that. Borrow, I mean. Sometimes I wish we reviewers could do that, just take phrases that capture…

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