Arlo Guthrie - Outlasting The Blues / Power Of Love
Outlasting the Blues (1979) features Arlo Guthrie on the cover with a saxophone, a bad but unrepresentative sign. Inside he offers some of the most searching -- of self, society and spirit -- lyrics he ever wrote. "In the event of my demise," he starts, "Be sure to include
Merle Haggard - Stay a Little Longer
In a 1996 feature in The Austin Chronicle, Merle Haggard told interviewer Tim Stegall, "I'll play the game now. I'll do everything I'm supposed to do, and see if that's what it is." He was speaking of Nashville, and his
Fair River Station - Back to Bluegrass
"Hard times are hanging 'round my door," Wayne Turnage sings on the opening of Fair River Station's 16 Cuts, the band's debut disc on Black Dog Records. Listening to his husky, time-worn voice, it's not hard to believe. He'
Dallas Wayne - That's How I Got to Springfield
Dallas Wayne Jr. was born in Springfield, Missouri, in 1956 and grew up in nearby Branson and Cape Girardeau, but he was over 40 years old before a phone call to Finland from a friend he met in Chicago finally hooked him up with Springfield's roots-rock wonders,
Christgau's Consumer Guide To Albums Of The '90s
In his intro to Rock Albums Of The '70s, longtime Village Voice scribe Robert Christgau claims, "I've tried to grade every '70s rock album worth owning" -- an assertion that flirts precipitously with both hubris and foolhardiness. But excepting the much cherished (and by now
Carter Family - In The Shadow Of Clinch Mountain (12-CD box)
With all due respect to the labels that have helped to keep the recorded legacy of the original Carter Family in print during the CD era, this new release on Germanys Bear Family label leaves them all in the dust.
Here, on eleven CDs, are all 287 surviving tracks recorded