Superbly talented guitarist picks holiday chestnuts Australian guitar player Tommy Emmanuel may just be the single most talented picker of his generation. His finger- and flat-picking are precise yet graceful, with tone that's clean but still soulful. Emmanuel sticks to his acoustic here, playing in both solo and band settings. It's the former, in which his syncopated bass runs support the melodies, that is the most mesmerizing. The song list is mostly well-worn chestnuts, but Emmanuel's sprightly and sensitive renderings make them sound fresh. This album will fit perfectly into many different holiday activities, [...]
Willie Nelson strolls through great country hits In contrast to the deeper picks of last year's Country Music , this year's model has Nelson working through some of the most famous tunes in country music's chart history. Included are signature hits from Ernest Tubb ("Remember Me"), Tennessee Ernie Ford ("Sixteen Tons"), George Jones ("Why Baby Why"), Hank Snow ("I'm Movin' On"), Porter Wagoner ("A Satisfied Mind"), and many others. Nelson teams with Nashville session players and producer James Stroud (the 'J' in the R&J record label) to record surprisingly [...]
A three-song holiday treat from Lyle Lovett This three-song EP from Lyle Lovett includes jazzy covers of Vince Guaraldi's "Christmastime is Here" and Frank Loesser's "Baby, It's Cold Outside," with vocalist Kat Edmonson serving as harmonist and foil. There's also a sly new original, "The Girl with the Holiday Smile." The latter is slated to reappear on Lovett's next album, but the cool yuletide covers are only available here. [©2011 hyperbolium dot com] Lyle Lovett's Home Page
Talented American Idol Top-10 finalists sing a holiday duet Reinhart and Abrams were each too sophisticated and jazz-oriented to win the popularity contest of American Idol, but hopefully the attention they received will turn into full-length releases. In the meantime, this duet is a nice showcase for their hip style of singing. Too bad they didn't include an Abrams bass solo! [©2011 hyperbolium dot com] Haley Reinhart's Home Page Casey Abrams' American Idol Page
Sherrié Austin writes for her female fans It's been more than eight years since Australia-to-Nashville transplant Sherrié Austin released her last solo album. She's been busy in the interim starring in Broadway musicals (including Bonnie & Clyde and Ring of Fire: The Johnny Cash Musical Show ) and writing songs for Blake Shelton ("Startin' Fires"), George Strait ("Where Have I Been All My Life") and Tim McGraw & Faith Hill ("Shotgun Riders"). She also spent time rethinking the writing she did for herself, [...]
PRESS RELEASE NEW YORK, NY : The 4th Annual Beatles Complete On Ukulele Marathon Concert returns to Brooklyn Bowl on Saturday January 14, 2012 from 3-11 PM. Every Original Beatle Song (185) will be performed by some of New York's top players sprinkled with a star or two. Previous shows have featured Nellie McKay, Ben Kweller, The Pierces, The Naked Brothers Band, Ryan Miller of Guster and many, many more. The event is produced by Performance Philanthropist and Ukulele Master Roger Greenawalt, who has raised literally hundreds of dollars for [...]
Legendary bassist's post-Stones R&B band After leaving the Rolling Stones in 1992, bassist Bill Wyman formed the Rhythm Kings around a core of Graham Broad, Andy Fairweather-Low, Georgie Fame, Albert Lee, Beverly Skeete and Geraint Watkins. The group is joined by a revolving line-up of British all-stars that has included Gary Brooker, Eric Clapton, Peter Frampton, Mark Knopfler, George Harrison, Nicky Hopkins and Mick Taylor. Wyman shares lead vocals with Fame, Skeete, Watkins, and the occasional guest, such as Paul Carrack. Wyman's hoarse whisper hasn't the power or charisma of Mick Jagger, but with [...]
Willie Nile continues his rock 'n' roll hot streak Willie Nile is clearly possessed by the spirit of rock 'n' roll. Three albums into a renaissance that began with 2006's Streets of New York , the sixty-three-year-old singer-songwriter continues to turn out arrestingly good music. At an age that most rockers have retired, resigned themselves to oldies shows or simply turned into lesser versions of their younger selves, Nile is enriching his work with age and experience. His voice remains charged with idealistic belief, and he propels his tight [...]
South Carolina band with a yen for the mid-60s In 2008 this South Carolina band's Freedom Wind so thoroughly evoked the Beach Boys golden age, that you'd wonder if their East Coast beach town of Charleston had somehow connected via a time and space portal to Los Angeles in 1965. More than just recreating the harmonies, instrumentation and arrangements, the band evoked Brian Wilson's ethos in music, words and emotional tone. It remains a jaw-dropping achievement from start to finish. Four years later, in February of 2012, the [...]
Tight pre-Bluegrass country harmonizing This old-timey North Carolina trio (Mark Jackson on guitar, Adam Tanner on mandolin and fiddle, and Duane Anderson on stand-up bass) return with their second album of early-country inspired harmonizing. As on their first album, 2010's Evening Shade , the singing brings to mind the Delmores and Louvins, and the song list recounts several of the brothers' tunes alongside traditional songs and later country works. Jackson and Tanner can each sing lead, but it's the blending of their voices that creates the brightest sparks. The [...]
Famed songwriter sings with his granddaughters Chip Taylor's most widely known for his iconic rock, pop and country compositions, including "I Can't Let Go," "Wild Thing," "Angel of the Morning," "Country Girl City Man" and "Sweet Dream Woman." His parallel recording career, including solo albums and a few charting singles in the mid-70s, never gained the renown of his writing, and spent most of the 1980s as a successful professional gambler. He crept back on to the music scene with a few albums in the '90s, and in 2002 he kicked off a series [...]
Ray Charles live in 1961 at the height of his powers 1961 was a banner year for Ray Charles. The crossover seeds he'd sewn with Atlantic on 1959's The Genius of Ray Charles had led him to bigger bands and orchestras and a contract with ABC. In 1960 he'd notched his first #1 on the pop chart with a cover of Hoagy Carmichael's "Georgia on My Mind," and by 1961 the demand for his concert appearances finally brought him to Europe, where he headlined the second-annual Antibes Jazz [...]
Hook-filled guitar-based indie-rock and power-pop If the Brill Building had lasted into the twenty-first century, one could only hope they'd be turning out pieces of pop perfection like the Perishers' "Spectre." The song builds from a lovely guitar riff, gently strummed acoustics and an infectious vocal melody, and by time the drummer kicks in with Hal Blaine's iconic "Be My Baby" beat, the strums have gained force, the bass line has grown insistent and the guitar solo chimes with simple authority. The song's lyrics are slight but potent, particularly the line "I have always [...]
Complete recitation of Ray Charles' fifty-three singles for ABC Ray Charles long ago graduated from a hit-seeking artist to an omnipresent musical god. His iconic singles, innovative albums and sizzling live performances are so monumental as to obscure the time before they existed. It's all but impossible to recall the excitement of a new Ray Charles release climbing up the charts to popular acclaim and immortality. But Charles' genius was both artistic and commercial, and his growth and triumphs as a musician were paralleled by success on the charts. Concord's 5-disc set gathers the [...]
Classic Billy Joel album and a stunning 1972 live concert Billy Joel had a long career in music before his first commercial break with this 1973 album and its title hit single. He'd played piano as a studio sideman and recorded with several rock groups, including the Hassles and Attila, before settling into the singer-songwriter style that began with 1971's Cold Spring Harbor . With his solo debut having stiffed commercially, and label problems keeping him from recording a follow-up, he relocated to Los Angeles where he spent six [...]
Minimalist folk punk from Durango, Colorado This trio from the Southwest Colorado town of Durango has a lo-fi sound that suggests new wave minimalists like Oh-Ok and Wednesday Week, as they might have sounded fronted by the rich voice of Pearl Harbour, Martha Davis or Lene Lovich. Vocalist Tracy Ford is backed by simple arrangements of guitar, bass and drums, and supplemented by short solos and simple harmonies. It's surprisingly effective, as the basic rhythm patterns and uncluttered production keeps the focus on the expressiveness of Ford's voice. These tracks have the finish of [...]
Southern-fried rock 'n' roll Halloween Just in time for Halloween, this thirteen-track set expands upon a rare, like-titled eight-song Australian EP from 1998. The band mixes originals and covers, including a killer instrumental take on Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Sinister Purpose," a psychotically-tinged version of Kris Jensen's "Torture," and a Las Vegas grind arrangement of Kip Tyler's rockabilly classic, "She's My Witch." Tales of demons, zombies, undertakers, witches and swamp monsters reanimate the exploitive nighttime feel of 1960s drive-ins, and musical nods to the Cramps, Lonnie Mack and Screamin' Jay Hawkins make this [...]
Streaming music services MOG and Rdio are great resources. They're not a replacement for music that you license and "own" a copy of (because music can disappear from their libraries at any time), but they're terrific resources for browsing new and catalog releases, or providing you hours of uninterrupted musical accompaniment. Both services allow you to search by artist, album or song title, but leave out so many other ways a visitor might browse or search. Where, for example, are basic genres? How does one find rockabilly or lounge music? MOG lists a record's [...]
Actor Robert Davi salutes Frank Sinatra There's a long history of actors branching into singing, some convincingly, some not so much. Actor Robert Davi, who sees himself as a singer who fell into acting, joins the former group with this salute to Sinatra. Davi shows that an actor's expressive ability and top-notch accompaniment go a long way to recreating the character of Sinatra's performances. Davi has a compelling baritone, and his enthusiasm for the material and the man are obvious. He's deeply influenced by Sinatra – as would be just about anyone singing these [...]
South Carolina band with a yen for the mid-60s In 2008 this South Carolina band's Freedom Wind so thoroughly evoked the Beach Boys golden age, that you'd wonder if their East Coast beach town of Charleston had somehow connected via a time and space portal to Los Angeles in 1965. More than just recreating the harmonies, instrumentation and arrangements, the band evoked Brian Wilson's ethos in music, words and emotional tone. It remains a jaw-dropping achievement from start to finish. Four years later, in February of 2012, the [...]
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