Category Archives: Album Reviews

Temples – Sun Structures

Give me a time machine, some vinyl copies of Temples’ Sun Structures, and set the controls for somewhere in the late 1960s. I’ll be back in a flash and we’ll be sitting here talking about those long-haired lads from England’s Midlands who changed the world with their swirling harmonies, shape-shifter guitars, organ passages that disappeared […]

Professor Louie & The Crowmatix – Soul Blues

It took a couple listens to figure out just what made the latest album from Professor Louie & The Crowmatix such a hoot to listen to – but I finally did. The key to the joy of the new Soul Blues can be summed up by the tracks that bookend it: “A Few Hours” (a […]

Sticky Fingers – Like A Rolling Stone

It’s a piece of work – it really is: the opening seconds are a bit of sweet and wistful late-night bass work, way up high on the neck, supported by gentle acoustic guitar and shimmering keys. The bass retreats to allow the acoustic guitar to step into the foreground, all snuzzly with the keyboard … […]

Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs – It’s Her Fault

Honest and true: I think the only folks who wouldn’t like Holly Golightly & The Brokeoffs’ new It’s Her Fault are inhabitants of Salt Lake City, Utah. And that’s not a done deal, either. Though it may be true that the opening tune “SLC” warns, Don’t get your hopes up in Salt Lake City Because […]

The Highballers – The Highballers

If you like crunch with your twang; if you think it’s a crying shame that Hank Williams Sr. never lived long enough to own a Nudie suit; if you think the ultimate gig would be Johnny Cash fronting The Bottle Rockets – or Uncle Tupelo at their cowpunkiest – then you, my friend, need to […]

Drive-By Truckers – English Oceans

Everything you need is right here. The Drive-By Truckers’ new English Oceans album makes its entrance with the chainsaw Sex Pistols-style guitar roar that ushers in “Shit Shots Count”. An hour later it bids farewell in a state of total marrow-deep zen (drummer Brad Morgan’s subconscious humming during the miles-deep drums that take “Grand Canyon” […]

John The Conqueror – The Good Life

Philly-based power trio John The Conqueror sounded way better than they deserved to on their 2012 self-titled debut. The biggest risk of coming out of the hole that strong was a classic one: how the hell do you follow that up? One of the best things that drummer Michael Gardner, bassist Ryan Lynn and guitarist/vocalist […]

Jimbo Mathus & The Tri-State Coalition – Dark Night Of The Soul

A little over a year ago Jimbo Mathus & The Tri-State Coalition laid White Buffalo upon us – a multi-faceted album that captured the soul of the :::HANK:::KEITH:::JIMI::: holy trinity. A time capsule-worthy collection of interplanetary honky-tonk at its best, White Buffalo was bursting with the vibe and essence of some classic American music, slathered […]

The Allman Brothers Band – Play All Night: Live At The Beacon Theatre 1992

If it hadn’t already been used for a 1994 studio album, the phrase “Back Where It All Begins” would have been an apropos subtitle for The Allman Brothers’ new archival release Play All Night. The band’s annual multi-night runs at NYC’s Beacon Theatre over the last 20-plus years have seen some of the modern-day ABB […]

Blackie And The Rodeo Kings – South

For Chrissakes – Canada ain’t that far away, people. How did Blackie And The Rodeo Kings stay under the Americana/roots music/alt-country/whatever-you-want-to-call-it radar for the last 18 years? No matter: that’s all about to change with the release of South. What started out as a collection of stripped-down tunes birthed from backstage picking sessions and sittin’-around-the-kitchen […]