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Joy Lynn White - Tougher than the rest

Today's breakthrough female singer in country music, Gretchen Wilson, is celebrated and promoted for her up-from-down-home midwest background, for her blunt and direct way of holding herself and singing, and for R&B-influenced rock elements in her music that give way to moving, traditional honky-tonk ballads. In

Bobby Bare - Daddy, what if...

History has not been particularly kind to Bobby Bare, at least so far, and in some ways this is hard to figure. After all, he stayed on the country charts from the early 1960s to the mid-'80s, a great run by anyone's standards; from '50s

Buddy Guy - Bring 'Em In

Once again the veteran Chicago blues guitarist has "brought 'em in" by the boatload: this disc features cameos by Keith Richards, Carlos Santana and Robert Randolph, among others. But this time, Buddy Guy seems to have taken some extra care in choosing both his material and his

Ray Charles - Pure Genius: The Complete Atlantic Recordings, 1952-1959, 8-CD box

Like the title says, here's everything Ray Charles recorded for Atlantic -- six CDs containing 119 tracks (including one LP he produced for his tenor star David "Fathead" Newman and two collaborations with Modern Jazz Quartet vibraphonist Milt Jackson), one disc of previously unreleased material (mostly

Vassar Clements: 1928 to 2005

Not long ago, fiddler Vassar Clements attended a concert in Nashville of the fictitious heavy metal band Spinal Tap. Vassar was called up onstage to jam. Not realizing that the band was a spoof, Vassar simply dove in and fiddled his heart out. He made real music and the audience

Susan Cowsill - Goin' back to the Crescent City

The way Susan Cowsill tells it, she spent much of her life running -- from her past, from her personal relationships, from finding her own voice. She remembers life in Los Angeles when Peter Holsapple, later her husband, asked her to go into therapy, a first. She agreed. The routine

Black Boot Trio - Ten-year itch

In a time when simply making music for ten years can count as a robust career, a near-decade-long hiatus from music may seem excessive. But Ottawa's Black Boot Trio can honestly account for their time away from the fray. After the release of the group's third