CD Review - Express and Company "Ontario"
Hailing from the thriving musical community of Peterborough Ontario, Express and Company is the band led by singer-songwriter Dylan Ireland, and their debut album, Ontario, is one of the most instantly lovable genre entries I’ve heard in years. Listing roots-rich influences that know a thing or two
Country Biographies Part I: Dick Damron
I have this great used bookstore in my neighbourhood; every time I go in, I find some rare Canadian or country music book. I avoid the store, because if I went in regularly, I’d spend all my money on filling my place up with books I don’t have
CD Reissue Review: Steve Forbert - Alive on Arrival / Jackrabbit Slim (Blue Corn, 2013)
Bonus-laden reissue of Steve Forbert's first two albums
Steve Forbert fell from recording star escape velocity with surprising quickness. His 1978 debut, Alive on Arrival, was a precociously well-formed introduction, recorded only two years after leaving his native Mississippi, and the 1979 follow-up, Jackrabbit Slim,
John Prine's First Review (by Roger Ebert)
I'm an expatriate Chicagoan. An old folkie from the Steve Goodman / John Prine days. I grew up with them and with Roger Ebert. Here is an Ebert Sun Times column where he includes the first review ever of a John Prine show.
John Prine: American Legend
From My Archives: "The Easy Winners" - Scott Joplin, Andre Previn, Itzhak Perlman
Talk about a cross-over album. "The Easy Winners" (Angel Records, 1975) was the work of Scott Joplin as interpreted by Andre Previn and Itzhak Perlman. The result was beautiful, a classic that probably should have got more attention than it did.
Joplin's ragtime is the
Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin
“They just don’t do it for me anymore.” We’re almost at the end of a delightful evening of music and banter from Mary Chapin Carpenter and Shawn Colvin. MCC has just finished singing I Feel Lucky, and this is her confession. Though she sings about Lyle and Dwight