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Linda Ray

Dolly Parton - Hungry Again

The descent from Dolly Parton's last visit home, the gaudy 1994 album Heartsongs -- overblown, overproduced, overcrowded, and altogether every bit larger-than-life as Parton herself -- to the stripped-down, live-to-DAT musical framework of Hungry Again might give a lesser mortal nosebleed. But in this effort to redeem her

Whiskeytown / Neko Case - Highway 145/ My 63

Another big little idea from Bloodshot, the folks whove criss-crossed the nations byways seeking evidence of country music insurgencies, this split single straddles contrasting anecdotes in the epic love affair between North Americans and their cars. Whiskeytowns Highway 145 is one of those songs you recognize the first time you

Robert Becker - To a Friend Unknown

Driving burned and pissed out of Arizona over the Plains is an acid test of a true road song, and was the making of some mighty good ones on this solo debut by Gin Blossoms piano man Robert Becker. His track record with bands can only improve; meanwhile, he'

Various Artists - Na Mele O Paniolo: Songs of The Hawaiian Cowboy

These songs may once have seen the backside of a steer headed full tilt down the slopes of Mauna Kea, but not lately. This production's new-age romanticism is of the sort that reduces Southwestern Indian culture to pastel macrame dreamcatchers hung with chicken feathers. It's an

Corey Harris - Fish Ain't Bitin'

Four times, now, I've started this CD just to hear the effortless little woebegone slide in Corey Harris' voice as he sings, "High fever got me-e-e." It's not a fearful, pneumonial plea, but it perfectly imparts the considerable discomfort of chickenpox. Harris is

16 Horsepower - Sinners in the Hands of a Twangry God

"The seed is the word of God." Luke 8:11 David Eugene Edwards composes alone, picking out brooding and intense melodies on his accordion, on his banjo. "I play until I find something that strikes me and then I bring it to the group at practice and

Waco Brothers - Do You Think About Me / Jon Langford - Skull Orchard

The Waco Brothers put out the gnarliest of a more sentimental crop of roots rockers last year -- twice, for good measure. Mostly a collection of outtakes, the ten-song CD Do You Think About Me was intended to be the kicker that last January's Cowboy In Flames needed