Progressive banjo player Alison Brown discusses career-shaping music by Earl Scruggs, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and David Grisman.

Released 15 years ago today, the heavily praised ‘Raising Sand’ doesn’t sound like either Robert Plant or Alison Krauss – and that’s a good thing.

Beginning roughly with 2007’s Alison Krauss collaboration Raising Sand, Robert Plant began working in a quieter, more confidential manner that was completely alien to his Led Zeppelin style. You May Also Like: How Robert Plant and Alison Krauss’ ‘Raising Sand’ Still Confounds Expectations

Dobro ace Jerry Douglas might have been expected to do some picking and grinning on the forthcoming Traveler. Happily, in keeping with the name, the album moves far afield of such easy assumptions. You May Also Like: Dave Douglas with Melvin Gibbs, Sim Cain + Rafiq Bhatia – ‘Marching Music’Read More

One day back in 1996, I was on my way to work and heard this terrific song … about a kid playing in the backyard? Refusing to wear a shirt? Huh?! You May Also Like: Joe Jackson’s Rain underscored a complete modern-era return to form

By Tom Johnson I spent most of the morning flipping between one disc and the next, restless for something that actually fit my mood. I just didn’t want to, you know, as they say, deal and nothing particularly appealed to me. On days like this, I tend to gather upRead More

Click through the titles below for Something Else! reviews on a number of last night’s key Grammy-award winners, including Robert Plant and Alison Krauss — who must have charley horses from going up and down to the podium so often. We also review B.B. King, whose terrific “One Kind Favor”Read More

by Pico Yesterday I revealed my second team selections of favorite CD’s from 2007. Now, we get into the really good stuff. Here is the Special Seven: Robert Plant/Allison Krauss – Raising SandNiether Plant nor Krauss are the kind of artists whose records I run out and buy, but I’veRead More

There’s been a plethora (love that word) of releases on the rock side of the genre ledger that has demanded by attention. You see, the rocksters listed here were all riding high back in the seventies, so naturally, I was curious to see if they still got “it.” In eachRead More