Tim Easton - The Truth About Us
Tim Easton steps up in a big way on The Truth About Us. Backed by an impressive cast that includes three-fourths of Wilco, Mark Olson and Victoria Williams, Easton fully delivers on the promise of his 1998 solo debut Special 20.
Easton's move from his native Ohio
Various Artists - Rollin' Into Memphis: Songs Of John Hiatt
A good tribute album is a tough assignment: to capture the essence of someone else's body of work, to bring something new to the songs, and to do justice to the artist, as well as their fans. When the artist in question is someone such as John Hiatt,
Raisins In The Sun - Self-Titled
At first glance, you might consider these guys the Triple-A Wilburys. It's surprising that Jules Shear, Chuck Prophet, Jim Dickinson, Harvey Brooks, Winston Watson, Sean Slade and Paul Q. Kolderie all know each other, let alone are playing together. Yet these Raisins gathered amid the sun of
Levon Helm & The Barn Burners - Cat's Cradle (Carrboro, NC)
When Levon Helm was diagnosed with cancer and subsequently had his singing voice burned out by radiation treatments, most people would have expected him to hang it up and call it a day. Instead, Helm -- best-known for his role in The Band, but also with several solo albums to
Rodney Crowell - Born on the Bayou
One morning in the summer of 1956, when Rodney Crowell was not quite six years old, his father rousted him from bed before dawn and hustled him into the back seat of a borrowed 1949 Ford. Three cane fishing poles leaned out the window of the jet-black, white-walled
Nevermind the Slackers, Here's the Loafers
While nowadays it's hard to view the latter half of the '70s through anything but the safety-pinned lenses of punk, at the time there were pockets of resistance blissfully unaffected by the Sex Pistols and their unholy spawn.
Back then, up in the Smoky Mountains, news