Longtime friends, songwriting and musical compatriots, Carol King and James Taylor team up for a nostalgia-laden one-night stand at LaLa Land’s famed Troubadour. Heartwarming for old hippies and folkies if a tad shopworn and dated in the manner of an oldies show.
Competent if uninspired and uninspiring newgrass from the critically acclaimed (?) if underwhelming six-member family band consisting of the Cherryholmes clan - dad, mom, two sisters, two brothers.
A very nice spin on the “Essential” series from Epic - one disc of legendary Brill Building songwriter King showcasing her singing chops and another of a multitude of artists who took King’s songs to pop and rock fame. Play what you will.
The most recent recording in a series celebrating street music and musicians from the world over, “Sugar Sweet” spotlights rhythm-and-bluesman Grandpa Elliott and his soulful, Sam Cooke-inspired streetcorner sound.
Liv Taylor checks in with a typically poppy set of singer-songwriter folk that gets mired down in over-production and a tendency towards the saccharine and sappy. Misses the plaintive, touching, evocative feel of his earliest work.
Texas honky tonk and rockabilly rave-ups from Seattle transplants Ruby and the boys, recorded live at Austin’s Continental Club and Roadhouse Rags. Put on your dancing shoes and shed some tears in your beer.
Masterful rockabilly, hillbilly boogie, and American roots guitarist Bill Kirchen serves up a tasty platter of honky tonk and hard country with pals Dan Hicks, Elvis Costello, Paul Carrack, Nick Lowe, more.
Legendary Texas psychedelia pioneer and guiding light of ’60s icons the 13th Floor Elevators in a typically perverse, angst-laden set of rockers and ballads mining the depths of a fragile, sensitive and troubled psyche. RIYL: Tom Waits, Nick Cave, Vic Chesnutt.
Hedzoleh means “Freedom”. This is one of the earliest bands to fuse Afrocentric traditional music with western rock in Ghana, in the early 1970s. Discovered & promoted by Hugh Masekela, Hedzoleh composed much of the material for Masekela’s 1973 “Hedzoleh Soundz” album. The African roots and rhythms of the music dominate, and to my ears, this makes for an exciting and exotic cross-cultural experience. This is a reissue of Hedzoleh’s one and only early 1970s LP, which long ago lapsed into obscurity. Now it’s back. This CD is excellent!
Compiled from nine different Soundway “best-of” compilations of 1970s music from the rich musical cultures of Latin America & Africa. Selections are deeply textured & fascinating cross-cultural musical artifacts. A very fine sampler!