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,
Jim Lauderdale - Persimmons
I'd like to think we're missing something, my co-editor and I, when it comes to Jim Lauderdale. Understand that the two of us quite often don't see eye to eye in our musical tastes, a divergence that hopefully helps bring a broader and
Kris McKay - Things That Show
Kris McKay, a veteran of the Austin music scene as a vocalist with the Wild Seeds and on her own, is back after a six-year absence with Things That Show. Her singing chops are unquestioned -- McKay's textured vocals, less twangy than other Austinites such as Kelly Willis
Neil Young with Crazy Horse - Broken Arrow
God help Neil Young for making a record that could justify what Dave Marsh has written about his music. Broken Arrow lacks any real center of gravity. As a result, it meanders, indulges in whimsy, and is largely dull. "I'm a little bit here, I'm