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Henry Carrigan

ALBUM REVIEW: Ana Popovic Melds Rock, Blues, and Jazz for Fiery ‘Power’

ALBUM REVIEW: Ana Popovic Melds Rock, Blues, and Jazz for Fiery ‘Power’

Ana Popovic careens around the tight curves of blues and jazz as easily as she rockets down the rock-and-roll highway. On her new album, aptly titled Power, she funks it up with crunchy guitar riffs, lays down a soul ballad with her shimmering rhythm strums, and rocks it off the

ALBUM REVIEW: Alison Brown Carves New Contexts for Banjo

ALBUM REVIEW: Alison Brown Carves New Contexts for Banjo

On her new album, On Banjo, Alison Brown devotes her usual careful attention to the sonic architecture of tunes. On these 10 tunes, she dwells in the spaces between the notes, listening for ways that her banjo and various other instruments can pick up a pattern and coalesce into grander

ALBUM REVIEW: Tommy Emmanuel and Friends Take Flight on ‘Accomplice Two’

ALBUM REVIEW: Tommy Emmanuel and Friends Take Flight on ‘Accomplice Two’

Tommy Emmanuel is a guitarist’s guitarist, and Accomplice Two is another master class in hot licks and crisp guitar stylings put on by Emmanuel and his “accomplices” — some of the best guitarists and string instrument musicians playing today. (Accomplice One came out in 2018 and featured Jason Isbell, Ricky

THE READING ROOM: Lucinda Williams’ Memoir Lets Us in on Her Secrets

THE READING ROOM: Lucinda Williams’ Memoir Lets Us in on Her Secrets

Musicians’ memoirs fall into one of two categories. One type descends into an inferno of drug-fueled episodes of sex with a new partner every night, with very little attention to the music that consumed the artist’s life and work — Gregg Allman’s My Cross to Bear is a prime

ALBUM REVIEW: William Bell Keeps Soul Chops Sharp on ‘One Day Closer to Home’

ALBUM REVIEW: William Bell Keeps Soul Chops Sharp on ‘One Day Closer to Home’

The review of this album could be very short: William Bell is a master of soul music who can tear out your heart with one vocal phrase and soothe and comfort with the next, and One Day Closer to Home reveals a master at work. Bell’s signature 1961 song

ALBUM REVIEW: Robert Earl Keen Follows a Laidback Trail on ‘Western Chill’

ALBUM REVIEW: Robert Earl Keen Follows a Laidback Trail on ‘Western Chill’

While Robert Earl Keen may be officially retired from touring, Western Chill makes it quite clear he’s not retired from writing songs and making music. Western Chill tracks the travels of a troubadour who’s not heading off into the sunset but who’s heading to the cool climes

THE READING ROOM: Finally, A Book About Leon Russell — But Only For Devoted Fans

THE READING ROOM: Finally, A Book About Leon Russell — But Only For Devoted Fans

Leon Russell appeared Zelig-like in almost every scene in American popular music from his earliest days of performing in his native Tulsa, Oklahoma, in the late 1950s to his performances at the 2015 Mad Dogs & Englishmen reunion engineered by the Tedeschi Trucks Band at the Lockn’ Festival in Virginia.