J.J. Cale - Guitar Man
The premiere perpetrator of the laid-back Oklahoma country-blues shuffle is back in fine form on his 12th outing. Its the strongest body of work J.J. Cale has offered in years.
The title track opens with a lovely, speaker-bouncing, twangy fade-in, reminiscent of the Byrds Wasnt
Martin Zellar & The Hardways - Self-Titled
Perhaps my hopes are just too high for Martin Zellar, given that his former band the Gear Daddies seemed ultimately one of the best (if most underappreciated) bands the mid-late 80s Minneapolis scene produced. Lost in the shadow of their harder-edged brethren such as the Replacements, Husker Du
Jim Ringer - The Band of Jesse James: The Best of Jim Ringer
Like ghosts we roam without friends or a home
These tramps and hawkers and me
--Jim Ringer
This collection is a welcome resurrection of Jim Ringer, an underrated artist who died in 1992 at the age of 56. Ringer's recordings have the sometimes bruisy, sometimes sweet feel of
Rose Maddox - Rose Maddox Sings Bluegrass
Rose Maddox is perhaps best-known today for the high-spirited recordings she made with her family as a part of Maddox Brothers and Rose in the late '40s and early '50s. Maddox Brothers and Rose not only helped pave the way for rockabilly and the Bakersfield Sound
Stanley Brothers - The Complete Columbia Stanley Brothers
Ralph and Carter Stanley didn't invent bluegrass -- that bit of history belongs to Bill Monroe -- but these brothers from McClure, Virginia, expanded and enlivened the form, and in the process became one of the music's strongest forces. With haunting, high-lonesome harmonies and sharp instrumental skills,
Lyle Lovett - The Road to Ensenada
The background: Lyle Lovett was married to Julia Roberts for a while, and now he's not. The Road to Ensenada is Lovett's first post-split effort.
It would be totally, gratuitously, fatuous to suggest that Lovett might use a CD, or any form of public expression,