Brian Paulson - Been there, done that
If you're reading this magazine, you almost certainly own at least one album Brian Paulson has produced. He's been pretty hard to avoid in '90s alternative country circles, and the genre is unimaginable without such Paulson-produced landmarks as Uncle Tupelo's Anodyne, Son
Wilco - Common Courtesy
"It's Just That Simple", John Stirratt's high lonesome moment on Wilco's debut, suggested that singer-songwriter talent in the band ran deeper than frontman Jeff Tweedy. Further recorded proof was a different matter, at least until Stirratt and bandmates Jay Bennett and
Jeremy Tepper - By Products, When a producer isn't exactly a producer
Editor's note: A few months back, I made my first visit to New York's modest, humble, yet quickly-becoming-famous Lakeside Lounge, a bar co-owned by Eric Ambel, who's profiled elsewhere in this package of articles about producers. Ambel was gone that day,
Various Artists - Rig Rock Deluxe: A Musical Salute to the American Truck Driver
Theres a race of men that dont fit in,
A race that cant stay still;
So they break the hearts of kith and kin,
And they roam the world at will.
* Robert Service, The Men That Dont Fit In (ca. 1907)
After the loneliness passes and it does, three or
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