The Cash Box Kings reanimate that moment when popular music — both black and white — began to coalesce into the rock ‘n’ roll aesthetic. It’s loud music, fun music, occasionally delving into darker themes, but possessing an impetuous, undeniable rhythm. You May Also Like: Cash Box Kings – HoldingRead More

Like 461 Ocean Boulevard, but with better singing, Eric Clapton’s Old Sock is similarly thin on original songs, swerves into an amiable island-inflected vibe, and never gets too far outside of its super-mellow box. You May Also Like: Eric Clapton – Slowhand at 70 (2015) How Eric Clapton’s ‘Me andRead More

‘Skydog: The Duane Allman Retrospective’ hurtles along with the same restless, furiously creative impetus as its subject.

A meditation on the most wrenching, soul-deep cries for love from the master of such things, Lonely and Blue illuminates Otis Redding’s way with a lyric in a manner that straight-forward greatest hits packages never have. You May Also Like: Otis Redding tried something new with ‘Dock of the Bay,’Read More

Neo-progger Steven Wilson’s stirring new album spends a second month in the reader’s poll.

Boz Scaggs references some of the most distinctive, timeless R&B recordings of the 1970s, even as he continues exploring outward from that tradition.

A sign of the times in this age of the download: John Oates of Hall and Oates says he will be releasing a new album — but only one song at a time, over the next year. You May Also Like: John Oates on the thing he hates most aboutRead More

Something like blues, something like R&B, something like pre-Beatles rock. James Hunter is simply something else, and this soul-lifting, groove-tastic lead track from his forthcoming album only confirms it. You May Also Like: Charlie Hunter got his groove back on the endlessly accessible Baboon Strength Charlie Hunter Trio, “Those People”Read More

Kim Wilson, in detouring through the slow-simmering joys of R&B on this new Fabulous Thunderbirds recording, has allowed himself a remarkable depth of feeling. It is, to my ear, the best he’s ever sung. You May Also Like: Jimmie Vaughan reached back for ’50s-style cool on Plays Blues, Ballads &Read More

Hadden Sayers, the hard luck Houston, Texas bluesman, made an inspired comeback after a series of personal setbacks made him all but retire from the music business by the late 2000s. You May Also Like: Xander and the Peace Pirates, “Soul Sailing” (2016): One Track Mind Rolling Stones – BlueRead More