Post Tagged with: "Blues"

Vinyl

Marcia Ball – Live! Down the Road (2005)

NICK DERISO: As good as her studio recordings are, they have a certain airless perfection that doesn’t quite fit the rollicking piano genius of Marcia Ball. Hers is a bubbling soulfulness, loose limbed and informal – and it’s dripping over the sides of “Live! Down the Road,” Ball’s first-ever full-lengthRead More

Vinyl

Forgotten series: Danny Gatton – 88 Elmira St. (1991)

The late, and unjustly obscure Washington D.C. guitar guru Danny Gatton — known, quite simply, as The Humbler — finally got his splashy major-label debut with this one, and it sparkles in the white-hot spotlight. Good thing, too. By 1994, one of music’s most versatile, talented and electric performers hadRead More

Vinyl

Boz Scaggs – ‘Come On Home’ (1997)

Boz Scaggs, when he wanted, always had the chops back in the day. The throwback blues of ‘Come on Home’ made it clear that he still did.

Vinyl

Movies: Rhythm 'n' Bayous: A Road Map to Louisiana Music (2001)

by Nick DeRiso This two-hour documentary explores music from both southern and northern Louisiana, a rare tip of the hat to both traditions. So you have the expected segments on Acadiana- and New Orleans-based standouts Rosie Ledet, the Hackberry Ramblers, Henry Butler, Nathan Williams and the Jambalaya Cajun Band, amongRead More

Vinyl

Lightnin' Bugs – Live at the Sundown! (2000)

NICK DERISO: The Lightnin’ Bugs’ first live album begins, fittingly, with this boozy tribute to “Mama Rosanne,” a primer on the pleasing, blues-based gumbo that’s quickly become associated with this north Louisiana-based group. Start with healthy dashes of wheezing accordions, plucky fiddles and second-line drum-groove. Then, about midway through, sprinkleRead More

Vinyl

House Levelers – No Definitions (1991)

NICK DERISO: Go into this hidden-away New Orleans gem expecting blues — what with Jim Dickinson producing and East Memphis Slim as a sideman — and you’re in for a big surpise. The House Levelers were more of a thumpy roots-music outfit, one that was at once sharp as scissors,Read More

Vinyl

My All-Star CD's of 2007: The Best Of The Rest

by Pico Either it’s been a strong year music-wise, or I’ve simply been listening to more new releases than I usually do. It’s probably a combination of both but regardless, there was a lot of good chaff left on the floor by the time I finalized my All-Stars Starters andRead More

Nels Cline, California Transit Authority, Wilco + Others: S. Victor Aaron’s Alternate All-Star Albums of 2007

Nels Cline, California Transit Authority, Wilco + Others: S. Victor Aaron’s Alternate All-Star Albums of 2007

In looking back on 2007, it’s time to assess the releases over the last 12 months and pick out the more outstanding ones.

Vinyl

One Track Mind: Kent DuChaine, "Marilyn" (1995)

?Among the blues musicians of today, you’ve got your stars like Robert Cray, Jonny Lang, Shemekia Copeland and so forth, and then you’ve got the remaining 98% who are toiling away at this blessed craft in relative obscurity, anonymous to all but the patrons who catch their shows in barsRead More

Vinyl

Otis Rush – 1956-1958, His Cobra Recordings

by S. Victor Aaron Left-handed Chicago electric blues guitar legend Otis Rush is a living link to a Chicago blues scene ruled by the likes of Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf and Little Walter in the late fifties. But the harsh reality that Rush had never quite attained the status ofRead More