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Jim Shahen

Béla Fleck and Toumani Diabaté Build Bridges with Banjo and Kora on ‘The Ripple Effect’

Béla Fleck and Toumani Diabaté Build Bridges with Banjo and Kora on ‘The Ripple Effect’

Music, definitely at its best and sometimes at its worst, brings people together. It’s an agent of good in the world, a way to bring together performer and listener, musicians with other musicians, and cultures with other cultures. It takes a big, big world and makes it a little

‘From Liberty Street’ to Your Street, Mapache Delivers the Feel of Togetherness

‘From Liberty Street’ to Your Street, Mapache Delivers the Feel of Togetherness

Have you seen the news lately? Things are looking pretty bleak out there, what with the coronavirus pandemic and its fallout. Concerts and other mass-attended events are being cancelled, folks are being encouraged to stay home and avoid public spaces — it’s more than a little overwhelming and terrifying. But

Black Pumas Debut Is Worthy of Its Buzz

Black Pumas Debut Is Worthy of Its Buzz

EDITOR’S NOTE: In December, we like to take a look back at albums we didn’t get around to reviewing earlier in the year. Black Pumas was released in June. The Grammy nominations came out recently, and the “Best New Artist” category was quite interesting. You had some obvious

‘An Emotional Lightning Rod’: Jeff Buckley’s ‘Grace’ at 25

‘An Emotional Lightning Rod’: Jeff Buckley’s ‘Grace’ at 25

Grace is 25 years old. Jeff Buckley’s debut is gorgeous and heartbreaking, ambitious, daring and eclectic, and, as the sole studio album released during his short life, the only fully realized vision of the artistic brilliance he possessed. With the expectation that his first LP was the starting point

Ryan Bingham Sings of Himself and His Country

Ryan Bingham Sings of Himself and His Country

It feels like Ryan Bingham is a touch underappreciated. Yes, that’s kind of a crazy thing to say about someone who’s won a Grammy, Golden Globe, and Academy Award for one of his songs (“The Weary Kind,” in the motion picture Crazy Heart) and who was named the

Mavis Staples Delivers a Live Album That's Right in Time

Mavis Staples Delivers a Live Album That's Right in Time

Mavis Staples takes the live album seriously. In a nearly 70-year recording career, she’s only released a few, and each one has meaning to it. Freedom Highway, the 1965 Staple Singers live release, is a vital documentation of the civil rights movement and the Staples family’s role in

The War and Treaty Rises with 'Healing Tide'

The War and Treaty Rises with 'Healing Tide'

The War and Treaty, husband-and-wife team Michael and Tanya Trotter’s onstage nom de plume, made their entrée into the music scene last year with their Down to the River EP. The seven tracks of Southern blues-folk moved the couple away from the ’90s-inspired R&B of their 2016