Fervor Coulee’s Favourite Roots Albums of 2020

I’ve been writing about roots music for 20 years, and have been assembling self-indulgent ‘favourite roots albums of the year’ lists for most of that time. While always a pleasant challenge, this year’s list was the most difficult for me to assemble. COVID-19 kept me even more tied to my remote music world this year,…

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Fervor Coulee’s Favourite Bluegrass Albums of 2020

This year I decided to limit my Favourite Bluegrass Albums of the Year to ten titles; not only is that a manageable number, it was a place where I noticed a natural break between albums I listened to repeatedly and those that I quite enjoyed but didn’t return to after reviewing. The following didn’t make…

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Fervor Coulee’s Favourite Roots Albums of 2020…so far

As the first half of 2020 comes to a close (and thank criminy for that) and inspired by Exclaim! magazine’s request that I participate in their ‘top albums of the year…so far’ project (shocker: none of my albums made their list, and I even eliminated the bluegrass albums because I knew there was no point),…

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The SteelDrivers- Bad for You review

 The SteelDrivers Bad For You Rounder Records With multiple Grammy nominations under their collective waistbands, and a win for Bluegrass Album of the Year for their latest, The Muscle Shoals Sessions, expectations are always high for The SteelDrivers. Almost five years since their latest was released, and with a third lead singer now in the…

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Fervor Coulee’s Favourite Roots Albums of the Decade, 2010-2019 (#11-#20, pt. 4/5)

When considering inclusion on this list, I weighed the album’s positioning on my annual lists, how frequently I continue to listen to the recording, its impact on me—has it influenced me down a path of listening— and how enjoyable I continue to find the music. The final element is most important: can I listen to…

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Dervish- The Great Irish Songbook review

Dervish The Great Irish Songbook Rounder Records Northwest Ireland’s favourite band, Dervish returns with a well-executed collection of songs suitably entitled The Great Irish Songbook. Much as other performers of the Celtic variety have done—The Chieftains, Altan, Sharon Shannon among them—Dervish looks to North Americana (I typed that accidentally, and decided it somehow seemed appropriate!)…

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Fervor Coulee’s Favourite Roots & Bluegrass Albums since 2000

I’ve been writing about music since 2000. Naturally, I’ve heard a lot of great music, have written about much of it, and have often put together a list of favourite roots and bluegrass albums of the year. And, I will do the same again this year. For perspective and to sprinkle some flavourful anticipation, here…

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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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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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The SteelDrivers- Hammer Down

It is always a good day when a new album from The SteelDrivers is released, and that day comes February 5, 2013. My review of Hammer Down has been posted to Country Standard Time. It is a pretty darned good album, every bit as good as the two which preceded it.

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