A wealth of previously unreleased live material from the Man in Black Volume 1 of the bootleg series, Personal File , documented solo home recordings from the '70s and '80s in which Johnny Cash explored a wide variety of American song. Volume 2, From Memphis to Hollywood , essayed the background of Cash's transition to country stardom via a collection of 1950s radio appearances, Sun-era demos and a deep cache of 1960s studio recordings. Volume 3 looks at Cash's role as a live performer [...]
Compelling collection of pop covers The 1990s edition of the Mickey Mouse Club was a surprising hotbed of soon-to-be-successful young artists. In addition to better-known alumni Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Christina Aguilera, the Club was home to a dozen more actors and singers whose stars may not have risen to international fame, but whose work is worth looking up. Among those making a living with their music is Los Angeles-based singer-songwriter Tony Lucca. No longer the boy singer (that's him in the middle, next to girlfriend Keri Russell), or the [...]
The Chairman meets the Count The twenty tracks collected here pull together the original line-ups of 1962's Sinatra-Basie: An Historical Musical First and 1964's It Might as Well Be Swing . Both albums found Sinatra in superb voice, complete command of his material and leading Basie's band from the singer's seat. Unlike his early days as a big band boy singer, Sinatra doesn't have to dodge and weave around the instrumentalists; Neil Hefti and Quincy Jones penned the arrangements in consultation with the [...]
Terrific soundtrack from the Wilburn Brothers mid-60s TV show Little by little, the catalog of 1960s country hit-makers Teddy and Doyle Wilburn is coming back into print. Varese issued a terrific greatest hits anthology in 2006, and followed up with an album of inspirational songs earlier this year. An import anthology and original album reissues [ 1 2 ] are now joined by Varese's first ever CD issue of the official soundtrack album from the Wilburn's popular television show. Originally released in 1966, the album recreates [...]
Better-priced cable to connect your iDevice to a TV or Hi-Fi Amazon's entry into basic electronic accessories is a boon to consumers. This cable - which allows you to attach an iPhone, iPad or iPod Touch to a television set - retails for rough 2/3 the cost of the Apple-branded item . It provides the same connectors (video, stereo audio and USB) and performs the same function. The cable allows you to play video through any television set with composite video and stereo audio inputs. The cable works with both American (NTSC) and [...]
Power pop from the Great White North Americans might be surprised to learn that the intersection of "Winnipeg, Manitoba," and "rock stars" yields no less than the Guess Who, Bachman-Turner Overdrive, Crash Test Dummies, and Neil Young. The Perms have been plugging away on the Winnipeg scene since 1997, and their fifth album is a hook-filled collection, heavy on the guitar, bass, drums and harmonies. The vocals range from a low-register that suggests the Smithereens' Pat DiNizio to the keening edginess of the La's Lee Mavers; fans of Sloan, Weezer, Teenage Fanclub and Velvet [...]
An American songwriting legend revisits her career highlights It's been more than a decade since listeners heard new recordings from Jackie DeShannon, and rather than writing new material, she's chosen to reconsider the classics in her catalog. The good news is that the songs are terrific, DeShannon's voice has aged well, and she finds compelling, new interpretations for the well-worn chestnuts. The less good news is that a few of the arrangements are undercooked, the tempos start to drag by album's end, and the mixes don't always lay the vocals fully into the instrumentation. [...]
Buck Owens' pre-Capitol sounds Before signing with Capitol Records and pioneering new sounds in country music, Buck Owens recorded in the 1950s for Pep, and waxed a number of original demos. His earliest sides showed little of the invention and none of the electric sting he'd develop in his Bakersfield days; instead, the pedal steel, fiddle and piano are pushed to the fore, and Owens' voice, though easily recognized, is drawn more directly from the lachrymose honky-tonk tradition than the unique, upbeat style he'd develop in the '60s. The lack of drums and harmony [...]
Elvis tears up the music world in '56 Eighteen months after bursting into the music world with "That's All Right," Elvis moved from the indie Sun label to the major leagues of RCA. A month-and-a-half later, in January 1956, he entered the a Nashville studio and began a year that included two chart-topping albums ( Elvis Presley and Elvis ), three chart-topping singles (five, if you include the Country chart), several more top-fives and fifteen total chart entries among two dozen singles. That's in [...]
British Invasion sounds of '64 The third volume of Castle Music's British Invasion anthology is now available domestically for digital download. Originally released in 2002, the 56-track collection digs into the Pye Records vault for sides released amid the British Invasion in 1964. The name act most familiar to U.S. listeners is the Searchers (represented here by the lovely "Don't Throw Your Love Away, the love-lorn beat rock "I Pretend I'm With You" and two more), but the real riches are in the lesser known acts. Highlights include Rod and Carolyn's tight duet "Talk [...]
The iron man of country music George Strait's numbers are eye-popping: 30 years, 24 chart-topping albums, 57 chart-topping singles, 69 million records sold. 84 of his 89 radio singles have cracked the Top 10 – second only to Eddy Arnold (who notched 92!). It's a streak worthy of Lou Gehrig and Cal Ripkin Jr. One could wonder whether his fame has simply become self-sustaining, but the music industry is littered with acts who maintained their success for a few years or a decade, but few have sustained Strait's level of commercial success for thirty [...]
Nashville super-picker dazzles on his solo debut Kenny Vaughan's an A-list guitar-picker, and though he's made a living playing on some of Nashville's mainstream product, his bona fides come from backing the cream of Americana acts, including Lucinda Williams, Jim Lauderdale, Rodney Crowell and Marty Stuart. He's been a member of Stuart's Fabulous Superlatives for a decade, playing Don to Stuart's Buck, and the group backs him on this first solo album. The Buckaroos comparison comes to the fore in the tight harmony singing of "Stay Outta My Dreams," and though Vaughan sings "Country [...]
A few months after Alex Chilton's passing in May 2011, the remaining members of Big Star (Jody Stephens, Jon Auer and Ken Stringfellow) played a tribute show in Memphis at the Levitt Shell . The entire show was recorded, and may eventually see release, but for now, a terrific three-song EP featuring John Davis has made the leap from its initial vinyl release to the digital domain. You can hear it below, and buy it as part of a Big Star bundle at Ardent's on-line store .
A rootsy, soulful singer-songwriter's fifth On her fifth album, singer-songwriter Brigette DeMeyer shows off an impressive range of styles. There's the rootsy gospel "One Wish," the road warrior's country-rock lament "This Fix I'm In," the trad-jazz "Alright A-Coming," and the irresistible New Orleans-styled "Say Big Poppa." Each provides a different angle on DeMeyer's on a soulful voice whose edges resound with the character of Bonnie Raitt, Sheryl Crow and (if you listened past her megahit singles), Deana Carter. DeMeyer blends just as easily with fingerpicked acoustic guitars as with twangy pedal steel and the [...]
Compelling live set from a master Texas songwriter Over the course of twenty years and more than a half-dozen albums, transplanted New Englander Slaid Cleaves has established himself in a league with peers like Bruce Robison, and following closely in the footsteps of Robert Earl Keen, Guy Clark and the rest of the Texas songwriting deans. His studio recordings have been engaging and, starting with 2000's Broke Down , commercially noticed, but his words gain dimension when shared on stage. Cleaves' songs are not often happy affairs, and his [...]
Rock 'em sock 'em rock 'n' roll Nearly a decade after their 2002 debut, this Buffalo-born quartet continues to combine the menace of metal, the feral energy of punk rock, the panache of surf guitar (courtesy, perhaps, of their relocation from Buffalo to San Diego several years ago), the non-stop drive of southern boogie and the rough-edges of the garage. Their music is fast and loud and tight, and though the rhythm guitars, pulsating bass and full-kit drumming will assault your body (thanks, in large part to Jim Diamond's ferocious mix), it's Wesley Doyle's [...]
Remastered Health & Happiness Shows + Earlier Bonuses This three-disc set returns to domestic print the two discs of live radio performances previously anthologized on the 1993 Heath & Happiness Shows . These programs were remastered from transcription discs cut in October 1949 at the Castle studio in Nashville, and though there are a few minor audio artifacts, the sound quality – particularly the instrumental balance of the Drifting Cowboys and the presence of Williams' voice – is exceptional. Each of the eight shows stretched to 15 minutes, when [...]
Two eras of seminal New Orleans label Originally released by Capitol in 1994 as a limited edition 2-CD set , this 52-track collection is now rescued from the high-prices of the secondary market with an affordable MP3 reissue. Minit Records was established in the early '60s in New Orleans by Joe Banashak, and distributed by Imperial. Minit was acquired by Imperial in 1963, but many of the label's key sides and all of its biggest chart hits, starting with Jessie Hill's "Ooh Poo Pah Doo, Part 2" and peaking with Ernie K-Doe's chart-topping [...]
Get pumped for any game Colin O'Malley's music cues for EA Sports' latest edition of their NCAA football video game [ PS3 Xbox ] stand on their own as inspirational orchestral pieces. If you like the dramatic soundtracks of NFL Films , you'll enjoy the rousing martial rhythms and soaring brass of these bass and percussion-heavy arrangements. It's not clear how the musical themes actually relate to titles like "Turnover" and "Coaches Corner" – though you might absentmindedly find yourself avoiding the D-line as "Defense Wins Championships" marches through your living [...]
Iconic TV theme and an album of soft-rock nostalgia Truett Pratt and Jerry McClain were introduced to one another by the producer Michael Omartian, and after some success recording commercial jingles (under the name Brotherly Love) they signed with Reprise. Their real break, though, was being selected in 1976 to record the theme song to Happy Days . Written by successful television composers Charles Fox and Norman Gimbel, the theme song replaced the show's use of Bill Haley and the Comets' "Rock Around the Clock," and promoted with weekly airings, the single peaked [...]
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