Album Reviews

Kim Wilson

All the world’s woes evaporate into gritty, gleeful, and gripping melody the instant Kim Wilson starts performing these blues. Wilson formed The Fabulous Thunderbirds with guitarist Jimmie Vaughan (the late … Read more

Randall Bramblett

This Pine Needle Fire smokes, snaps, and sparkles on the energy of everyday realities, and the enormous talents of a man and his superb band. Georgia son Randall Bramblett was … Read more

Sylvie Simmons

Blue on Blue is an unexpected pleasure, an 11-track album rich in swirling sensuality and a sultry feel that seems strangely at odds with the principal instrument here, a ukulele. … Read more

NRBQ

The maid’s been in the NRBQ vault tidying up, taking care not to toss out the good stuff. An assortment of interesting odds and ends was set aside for In … Read more

James Williamson & Deniz Tek

Raw Power had a mean streak a mile wide. Vicious and menacing, it cruised the streets spoiling for a fight, bruising and battering everyone it encountered with its slashing, rumbling … Read more

Bobby Bare

No BS, when it comes to box sets, Bear Family Records seems to set the standard. Just consider the numbers on their latest LP-sized deluxe offering: 137 tracks on 8 … Read more

Dirk Powell

It’s always a true pleasure to catch a new, fresh release featuring US roots master Dirk Powell. Never a slouch or a single-genre sort of guy, Powell is invariably interesting, … Read more

Various Artists

The past has come back to haunt Leon Russell’s celebrated Paradise Studio, once a fertile creative playground for Russell and friends like Bob Seger and Freddie King, that stood silent … Read more

Will Kimbrough

If only this interminable pause the world has been subjected to since March were really a spring break. Rather than falling into despair, many artists have turned inward, using the … Read more