by Pico Either it’s been a strong year music-wise, or I’ve simply been listening to more new releases than I usually do. It’s probably a combination of both but regardless, there was a lot of good chaff left on the floor by the time I finalized my All-Stars Starters andRead More

by Pico At 6:00 a.m. this morning, singer-songwriter Dan Fogelberg passed away peacefully at his home in Maine. He fought a three year battle with prostate cancer that was already advanced when diagnosed in 2004. He was 56 years old. He will of course always be remembered for the musicRead More

by Pico JT has been around since the Flower Power days and never really left the scene. He captured a large chunk of the young populace at that time who largely held on as his fanbase as younger generations passed on him. He’s long settled into a comfortable living fromRead More

by S. Victor Aaron Today, John Hiatt is among the leading American folk-rock singer-songwriters, standing in stature just below Springsteen and Mellencamp, but it was no overnight success story for him. Hiatt struggled to get traction on his career for over a dozen years after releasing his first album inRead More

This installment of “Quickies” actually boasts some more diversity than the last one. As in some (gasp) singer-songwriter records! Sandwiched in between is a jazz icon, who like the first entry, recorded some folk-rock back in 1968. Thankfully, he eventually chose the right genre. The last guy is in aRead More

Richard Thompson seems to put out a live album every year and being a sucker for his clever songwriting and maximal guitar playing, I usually lap it up all the same. The former founding member of that seminal British folk-rock group Fairport Convention, Thompson has not only been a partRead More

By Pico The fertile music grounds of Austin, Texas has brought the world such uniquely talented guitar big shots like Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eric Johnson. But the list doesn’t stop there; among many other specialists of the six string from that locale is a dude who stands out aRead More

NICK DERISO: Even four solo records later, you keep expecting Billy Bob Thornton to do something wacky on his new release “Beautiful Door,” to be issued by Universal on July 24. See, in the movies, he’s Bad Santa. The Astronaut Farmer. That murderous dude in his Oscar-winning plot for “SlingRead More

The lead-off track from Anders Osbourne’s Grammy-nominated ‘Living Room’ is a rootsy jam and a helluva good time.

by Pico In the last three or four years, Georgia native Lizz Wright has created a stir in the same folk-jazz circles that Cassandra Wilson, Nina Simone and Oleta Adams have made their names in, but with her 2005 release Dreaming Wide Awake, she moved further into Sarah McLachlan territory.Read More