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By wedding old-school country melodies and lyrics to the dance rhythms and textures of modern electronica, Greg Garing has managed to create one of the most innovative country-flavored albums in quite some time. Garing brings plenty of rock-solid country credibility to the project. He played fiddle with Peter Rowan and

On the surface, the solo debut by Jon Dee Graham is certain to conjure comparisons with early Springsteen and later Tom Waits -- if one can imagine either of those urban artists transported to the border culture of the Tex-Mex cantina. Beneath the surface, however, is where the richness of

An unkempt romantic streak runs through the last two decades' worth of Texas songwriting, identifiable by its occasionally bombastic representations of violence and its more pervasive attempts at inflating even trenchantly average characters to the status of archetypes. As a lyrical tendency, it least serves those who insist on

While most American record companies seem content to let languish in their vaults countless classic performances from even the most well-known country legends, the British label Krazy Kat has once again dug up some long-buried musical treasures and compiled them on a couple of fascinating new collections. Jitterbug Jive features

Fifty years ago, the Stanley Brothers -- Ralph, Carter and company -- made their recording debut. One of the first tracks they committed to posterity was an as-of-then unreleased Bill Monroe composition called "Molly and Tenbrook". Just a few bars into the song, someone -- one of the

The most striking credit on this tribute to Tucson's Rainer Ptacek reads "Executive Producers: Robert Plant and Howe Gelb." That Led Zep's preening pretty boy and Giant Sand's desert visionary should find common bond in the musical inspiration of Rainer attests to