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Eric Andersen - Blue River

As the '60s ebbed into unease and uncertainty, Eric Andersen cast a deadly, unveiled glance on his own life -- the drugs and the affairs, the dreams and the journeys -- ultimately turning his own spiritual and emotional desolations into an unconscious accounting of the whole decade. "I

Jerry Jeff Walker - Best Of The Vanguard Years

Of all the three-name Texas singer-songwriters, Jerry Jeff Walker has always mystified me. His progressive country recordings are mostly spotty and artistically self-destructive, hobbled by giddiness and a booze-addled delivery. The notorious Viva Terlingua! and Jerry Jeff Walker sound dated today, essential only to students of the hipneck revolution. But

Alison Krauss - Forget About It

If there were any doubt left that Alison Krauss is a musician pursuing her own course with a healthy disregard for both the jealous embrace of bluegrass exclusivists and her own commercial success, Forget About It ought to clear things right up. With her latest album, the one-time bluegrass prodigy

Nanci Griffith With The London Symphony Orchestra - The Dust Bowl Symphony

Call it Moody Blues Syndrome. Or maybe Paul McCartney Disease. Whatever it is, there's something about the lure of a big full-blown symphony orchestra that attracts some rock, pop and country singers who want to prove they know they difference between fiddles and violins. Perhaps they think their

Mark Lanegan - I'll Take Care Of You

Listening to Mark Lanegan on a bright, shimmering Saturday afternoon just seems so...wrong. Better to wait until you're half shot-out at 2 a.m. the following Sunday morning and let the guy's somber aura just wash over you. But since my days don't

Cowboy Junkies - Rarities, B-Sides And Slow, Sad Waltzes

Ever since their acclaimed late-'80s breakthrough The Trinity Session, the Cowboy Junkies' sound -- underamped instruments, lugubrious tempos and singer Margo Timmins' glacial cool -- has become an alt-cowpoke cliche. The very style that brought them acclaim quickly became the critical stick used to beat up

Ray Wylie Hubbard - Crusades Of The Restless Knights

Working in relative obscurity, '70s Texas songwriting great Ray Wylie Hubbard has resurfaced in the '90s through a series of fine solo albums, beginning with 1992's Lost Train Of Thought and continuing through 1994's Loco Gringo's Lament and 1997's Dangerous