Roosevelt Sykes is due for a hipster reevaluation. Ever adaptable, there’s something for every fan of roots music to be found in this pianist’s incredibly varied repertoire. You May Also Like: Mick Abrahams, of Jethro Tull: Something Else! Interview Cash Box Kings – Holding Court (2015)

If you haven’t been blessed to stumble into a New Orleans gig from Tom McDermott, then the forthcoming Bamboula compilation — overseen by Van Dyke Parks — is your chance to get caught up. You May Also Like: Michael McDermott – Willow Springs (2016) The Westies – Six on theRead More

Willie Nelson has already issued three new albums since signing last year with Legacy. An And Friends project might seem like the least interesting yet. You May Also Like: Willie Nelson and Wynton Marsalis shared an uncanny chemistry on Two Men With the Blues Willie Nelson Found a Worthy FoilRead More

The shame of it, really, is that Sting’s still-resonant pop smarts are often subsumed on The Last Ship, his first proper album in a decade, by its High Concept beginnings as a theatrical production. You May Also Like: Sting – 57th and 9th (2016) How Laura Branigan’s Passion and EmotionRead More

‘Levin Minnemann Rudess’ was an opportunity to marvel over Tony Levin and Jordan Rudess, but also to dig deeper into the versatility of Marco Minnemann.

This would have been the most variedly accessible, hit-worthy album of Gov’t Mule’s career — even if they hadn’t invited along a raft of famous folks to join them for a second-disc sing-along. You May Also Like: Gov’t Mule + John Scofield – Sco-Mule (2015) As Gov’t Mule reached aRead More

A long-awaited artifact, Live in Athens 1987 corrects the period-piece wrongs of Peter Gabriel’s original film from the So tour — eliminating the edited-in backstage footage that slowed 1990’s P.O.V. You May Also Like: When Peter Gabriel Suddenly Decided to Open Up on ‘Us’

Old-line Hall and Oates fans who may been less interested in John Oates’ more overtly country-inflected side trips of late, take heart: “Pushing a Rock Uphill” finds him returning to a tangy R&B vibe. You May Also Like: John Oates – Another Good Road (2015) John Oates on the thingRead More

This album, Dizzy Gillespie’s first and best for Norman Granz’s Pablo imprint, reaffirms a relationship with bassist Ray Brown that goes back to the mid-1940s. It’s Joe Pass who makes the bigger impression here. You May Also Like: Dizzy Gillespie and Friends – Concert of the Century: A Tribute toRead More

Tony Joe White boasts a uniformly comfortable approach, established with 1968’s “Poke Salad Annie” and repeated since with all the regularity of shotgun rows of Southern-grown cash crops. You May Also Like: Joe Mandica, “I Just Can’t Wait” from A Thousand Miles (2007): One Track Mind Fortunato Isgro, Joe MandicaRead More