Martin Zellar & The Hardways - Live: Two Guitars, Bass & Drums
The bulk of the songs on the three albums Martin Zellar has released after the demise of his beloved garagey-tonk outfit the Gear Daddies suggests that his characters' two main hobbies remain despairing and regretting. But although the mood is the same, Zellar takes more risks these days
Dan Penn - Blue Nite Lounge
On Blue Nite Lounge, his first studio album since 1994's Do Right Man, Dan Penn serves up a musical smorgasbord that showcases his strengths as a singer and songwriter.
"Funky Folks" and "Down Around Birmingham" are Southern slices of R&B and soul,
Diana Darby - Naked Time
Naked Time, the debut from Texas-bred songstress Diana Darby, is the payment that comes due for buying the lie. Having cut her writing teeth on napkin poems, sitcom scripting and Nashville co-writes, Darby offers up nine original documentary-style narratives scantily dressed in breathy wonder and floaty sonic
Brian Waldschlager - Down There
Even getting the name right has been hard for Knoxville expat Brian Waldschlager. Originally his Nashville band was called Shinola, but as labels came to be interested, it was clear the shoe polish company wouldn't relinquish its trademark. So they became Five Bucks.
Along the way, and just
Sam Bush - Ice Caps: Peaks of Telluride
Sam Bush's work with New Grass Revival provides substantial evidence of his vision, both in his choice of bandmates and the breadth of his musical boundaries. This new live album, recorded at the Telluride Bluegrass Festival, combines his more recent solo work, while featuring NGR alumni Bela Fleck
Slobberbone - Everything You Thought was Right was Wrong Today
Not since the heyday of acts such as Jason & the Scorchers has there been such authentic roadhouse rawk as Slobberbone shows here. The Denton, Texas, band, along with cohorts such as Georgia's Drive-By Truckers, carry on the born-in Southern tradition nicely, continually finding their salvation