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Paul Westerberg - "Open Season" Soundtrack

Throughout Paul Westerberg's career as frontman for garage-pop band the Replacements and then as a solo artist, a sense of childlike fun has more than occasionally infused his songwriting. It should come as no surprise, then, that Westerberg, who has also been a dad for a few years

Grandpa, Granny, and Hee Haw

In 1971, CBS executive Fred Silverman made headlines with what became known as his "Rural Purge" when he canceled nine television shows (including The Beverly Hillbillies, Mayberry RFD, and Green Acres) -- not because they weren't successful, but because they skewed to a rural audience, which

Sally Spring - Americana Before Its Time

Blessed with hindsight, you could easily consider the music that Sally Spring was making in the '70s to be what's known these days as Americana. Her 1978 album Bird sported contributions from a guitarist and a bassist who were longtime Doc Watson sidemen; string support featured fiddle,

Marty Stuart & His Fabulous Superlatives / Mavis Staples - Damrosch Park Bandshell (New York, NY)

The pairing of Marty Stuart and Mavis Staples at the Roots of American Music Festival at Lincoln Center made for a sweet Sunday night service. During her opening set, Staples invited Stuart to join her on the first song Pops Staples taught his children, "Will The Circle Be Unbroken&

Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys - Legends Of Country Music (4-cd Box)

You'd think that when it comes to Bob Wills' music, there'd be no surprises left. Oh, sure, somebody's bound to turn up another live set somewhere along the way, or something like that. But the most important -- and most typical -- Wills

Ray LaMontagne - Till the Sun Turns Black

These days emerging artists arrive at the marketplace wrapped in myths of origin and self-discovery that too often double as prisons of real and alleged influences. In the case of Ray LaMontagne, he of the roar redolent of a bear with its paw in a trap, press clips insist that

Linda Ronstadt & Ann Savoy - Adieu False Heart

If Adieu False Heart comes across a little genteel, it's far from soft-headed. The singing is superb: Linda Ronstadt remains one of pop's most lucent vocalists, while Ann Savoy (who has done fine work in the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band) proves a remarkable soloist and duet partner.