Ray Charles - The Complete Country & Western Recordings: 1959-1986
Nearly four decades later, it's hard to imagine just how bold Ray Charles' 1961 album Modern Sounds In Country And Western Music must have sounded to the unsuspecting listener. A country record from the Genius of Soul? You put the needle to the record, hear Charles shout
Various Artists - Real: The Tom T. Hall Project
He got his start in bluegrass, but movies came first. Tom T. Hall traveled around Kentucky with Hurley Curtis ("Uncle Curt") and brought movies to the small towns, and the boy would make announcements as the reels spun: "Over at Jones's Grocery they've
Bruce Springsteen - Tracks
In his introductory note, Bruce Springsteen describes Tracks as "the alternate route to some of the destinations I travelled to on my records." That's a fair assessment of much, but not all, of the music contained on this sprawling, four-CD set, which up to now
Loretta Lynn - Konocti Harbor - Classic Concert Showroom (Kelseyville, CA)
It took me a lot longer to get to rural Kelseyville than I thought it would. When I finally entered the Konocti Harbor Classic Concert Showroom, a fight had already broken out and been subdued. The comedian had finished his impressions and taken his bow. The last new-country strains
Bob Dylan / Van Morrison / Lucinda Williams - Rose Garden Arena (Portland, OR)
Watching Lucinda Williams step on the Rose Garden Arena stage as the crowd of 14,000 filed in, I recalled the first time I saw her perform, in 1989 at a small club in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Her tentativeness that night and almost Sally Field-ish reaction to the
Virginia Dare - Hardly hard work
In the atypical little world of the Makeout Room in San Francisco's Mission District, Virginia Dare is in heavy rotation. Their music is always playing between bands' sets, and their shows there attract a lively crowd. But don't chalk up such popularity to a hard-