Since 1953, the Great Smoky Mountains Association has existed to support the preservation of Great Smoky Mountains National Park. Through promoting public understanding and appreciation through education, interpretation and research, … Read more
Trailer and truck pretty much running? Check. Homemade box guitar? Check. Harmonica and banjo? So far so good. Clothes and food? OK. Wait—did someone remember the kid? She’s along too? … Read more
Raleigh, North Carolina’s Chatham County Line stands at a dusty crossroads where bluegrass and urbane folk music collide in magnificent bursts of song. And stand they do. Singer/songwriter, guitarist, and … Read more
It was inevitable that Catherine Russell would make this record. The daughter of famed bandleader Luis Russell, who arranged for Louis Armstrong, and the late Carline Ray, noted vocalist/guitarist/bassist who … Read more
I have described Ronnie Earl as “the John Coltrane of the guitar” on these pages before, but this album may best epitomize that term. Earl pays tribute to his dear … Read more
Sophomore albums bring their challenges especially when a band has a highly acclaimed debut, like 2013’s Half the City. We all know about the sophomore jinx, which often has bands … Read more
The vault of material Hollis Brown frontman Mike Montali chooses to pull from renders promise. Revisiting songs he wrote a decade ago when Hollis Brown was in its infancy, Montali … Read more
In my radio days I had a caller who often said, “You can never have too many horns.” It is the horn charts that drew me to this record, but … Read more
Elvis Presley is a pretty easy sell. Like most iconic and late musicians, there is a plethora of new releases that just shake up what’s already been heard. Case and … Read more
A lone, edgy sax intros the title track, an equally jumpy, (kudos to the fluid pump and bump of bassist Jakob Dreyer) though tightly wound backstreet riff that unfolds like … Read more
