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Avett Brothers - Raggedy Righteousness

"Screaming my lungs out with nothing to say." So goes the key line of "Please Pardon Yourself", a song of almost palpable yearning and hope from the Avett Brothers' new album Mignonette. I'll give them the first part of that lyric: The trio&

Dave Alvin - Do look back

"Ashgrove", the title song from Dave Alvin's new solo album, is a salute to the Hollywood nightclub where Alvin, as a teenager, first saw Big Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker, Lightnin' Hopkins and Reverend Gary Davis. But this is not your typical tribute tune, full of

Eric Ambel - Lord of the Lakeside

"I tell bands I record with today that if you can quit playing music, you probably should," says Eric Ambel. "But that was never an option for me." Over the course of three decades, Ambel has been, among other things: A founding member of the iconic

Ray Condo: 1950 to 2004

Renowned as a firecracker performer with little regard for his health, the future or musical fashion, Ray Condo was just shy of his 54th birthday when he died of a heart attack in Vancouver on April 15. Born Ray Tremblay in Hull, Quebec, Condo earned his nickname ("one-man condo&

Jay Farrar - Stone, Steel & Bright Lights

Jay Farrar's appeal has always been as much in his sound as his songs. It's a sound that has remained remarkably consistent through several bands and settings. Over his career, the musical backdrops have varied from traditionalist country to naked acoustic folk to raging, feedback-drenched rock.

Floyd Tillman - I Love You So Much It Hurts

Floyd Tillman's obituaries last summer discussed his groundbreaking 1949 cheating song "Slippin' Around", which pioneered treating adultery without the usual moral conundrum. In truth, his legacy was nearly as complex as the man himself. Tillman was a major force in laying the foundation for the

James McMurtry - Live in Aught-Three

Perhaps partly because of his bloodline, James McMurtry enjoys (or endures) a reputation as the most writerly of Texas singer-songwriters, one whose material highlights literary qualities such as an eye for detail, a strong sense of place, a shifting narrative perspective and a keenly calibrated irony. Along the way, he