This Mid-Year Best of 2015 list also includes Boz Scaggs, Pops Staples, Papa Mali, Wes Montgomery, Robben Ford, the Word, Steve Earle and Beth Hart.

Here is a review of Sam Trapchak’s solid second album, ‘Land Grab,’ with Greg Ward, Tom Chang and Christian Coleman.

The hard-rocking, unjustly overlooked Rugbys certainly had good ideas and a rich imagination, so there’s a lot of neat stuff going on here.

‘Planetario’ may be Novalima’s most accessible release to date, but the Afro-Peruvian electronica group still packs quite a wallop.