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There are quite a few former members of Jimmy Martin's Sunny Mountain Boys around, and while many of them would politely decline the opportunity to rejoin the band, even more are willing to defend the cantankerous but prodigiously gifted singer-guitarist's claim to his "King of

Beautiful Dreamer represents a contemporary anomaly, a tribute album that's not only good but essential. There's no other contemporary album of Stephen Foster songs, even though his music lies at the deepest roots of American vernacular music. The album honors America's first great professional

If his songwriter peers were in charge of the music industry, Vic Chesnutt would no doubt be a major star. Beloved and championed by artists more commercially successful than he, the Athens, Georgia, artist boasts a body of work that ranks among the most formidable of any singer-songwriter currently active.

There's a fascinating documentary making the art house rounds this summer titled Festival Express, comprised of footage from a roving rock festival that traversed Canada by train in 1970. Although the movie features The Band, the Grateful Dead, Janis Joplin and the Flying Burrito Brothers playing and partying

Want dirty blues? This here's the dirtiest blues. On the strength of one worn-out, unreleased 78, Lucille Bogan became infamous when Legacy released it on a compilation. (Us older folks already knew her from Maria Muldaur's scorching version of Bogan's "Tricks Ain'

Ah, the curious case of post-Days Of Wine And Roses Dream Syndicate. The Los Angeles quartet's 1982 full-length debut was a stunning opus of crazed guitar shrapnel, phenomenally intuitive ensemble playing, and singer Steve Wynn's wiser-than-his-years songwriting. Like Husker Du's Zen Arcade, Days Of