At first, there’s a homespun innocence about Bobby and Suzy, this brother-and-sister duo. Recording in their music room at Charleston, S.C., you can almost see them as they once were You May Also Like: Bobby Kimball – We’re Not in Kansas Anymore (2017) Bobby Kimball, former Toto frontman: Something Else!Read More

Grammy-nominated singer and pianist Karrin Allyson starts “April Come She Will” in the same melancholy mood as the Simon and Garfunkel original, then pushes the tune into a gently swinging cadence. That rhythm, trickling along like a babbling brook, contrasts nicely with her wood-grained, country-inflected delivery of the lyric —Read More

“Blue Tip” is tensile and itchy then soaring and romantic — the closest this new record, the Cars’ first in 24 years, gets to approximating its own career-making mixture of Ric Ocasek’s weirdo aloofness and Benjamin Orr’s sun-drenched pop warmth. Orr, of course, passed in 2000 after a bout withRead More

Just as Mike and the Mechanics’ “The Living Years” reminds me of my father, there’s now a song that brings fond thoughts of my dear mother, to whom I dedicate this song. During this time of year, a lot of us reflect a lot on what our mother means toRead More

Saxophonist Walt Weiskopf’s first-ever in-concert recording Walt Weiskopf Quartet: Live, issued earlier in the month on Colorado-based Capri Records, is special in another personal way. You May Also Like: Walt Weiskopf European Quartet – ‘Diamonds and Other Jewels’ (2022) Walt Weiskopf – Fountain Of Youth (2017)

South Carolina’s Stella by Starlight is an entertaining electropop amalgam of modern and distinctly old-school sounds, one part mixtape-from-your-dad’s-vinyl-collection and another part post-modern-hipster-songcraft. You May Also Like: Eri Yamamoto, Chad Fowler, William Parker + Steve Hirsh – ‘Sparks’ (2022)

Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis continue a stirringly offbeat musical dialogue begun with their 2008 release Two Men with the Blues, this time focusing on the music of Ray Charles. You May Also Like: Willie Nelson Found a Worthy Foil on the Diverse, Rootsy ‘Willie and the Wheel’ Wynton MarsalisRead More

A long-awaited advance single hails the return of that odd conundrum called Death Cab for Cutie, whose spit-take name can’t begin to hint at the deep musical complexities tucked away inside. You May Also Like: Death Cab for Cutie, “Summer Skin” from ‘Plans’ (2005): One Track Mind

“Mississippi Mile,” a country-inflected blues, finds John Oates right up close, even as his band sets about making this rafter-rattling ruckus.

by Fred Phillips When Volbeat’s “Sad Man’s Tongue” comes blaring out of my speakers on a shuffle, I’m always happy, and I always hit repeat — usually a dozen times or so, at least. And I always think about how I nearly missed such a great song. You May AlsoRead More