Album Reviews

James Lee Stanley

Without Susie comes without any baggage. In some ways it has a near-’70s vibe, with some slick acoustic guitar licks and picking offering more than a passing echo of the … Read more

The Sensational Barnes Brothers

What year is it again? Does it still feel like the 2010s, or have we been delightfully whisked back to the golden age of Motown soul for a fun 40 … Read more

Matt Patershuk

Canada has given us some incredible musicians. With hints of Ian Tyson, Matt Patershuk blends human sagas with the backdrop of his Alberta home. From the start, If Wishes Were … Read more

Geraint Watkins

Geraint Watkins is probably a name largely unknown to many US music lovers. But the likelihood is they will have heard him play somewhere down the road as one of … Read more

Big Dave McLean

Hailing from the prairies of Winnipeg, Big Dave McLean is a highly acclaimed Canadian roots and blues musician, dubbed by some as “Winnipeg’s ‘Howlin’ Wolf.” His gruff, raspy voice resembles … Read more

Johnny Rawls

  The prolific soul man Johnny Rawls is back, as he is every year, with another release. We count on it. This writer has witnessed Rawls in performance from festivals … Read more

Matchedash Parish

Saturday Night is an excellent ten-track release from Canada, a band of top Canadian session musicians who evidently have a love of good, old-fashioned soul music. With a full-throated, twelve-piece … Read more

Zack Walther Band

The Westerner, from the Texas-based Zack Walther Band,­ is a conscious effort to blend genres. Known primarily as a country and Americana artist, singer/guitarist Walther brings blues, R&B, and rock­­—anything … Read more

Various Artists

Sean Costello was one of a kind, and—by far—not enough music lovers are aware of that fact. Sean Costello enjoyed high peaks of success in his short life, but his … Read more