Mark Carson, Wild Ride (MDC Records)

Mark Galasso, Perchaplectic (Tutti Music)

Stavin’ Chain, Collected Songs (Rott Gutt)

There’s a large cast of characters on Collected Songs, and I don’t mean the band — I’m talking about the lyrics, which are chock full of demon lawyers, tired waitresses […]

Kermit Ruffins, The Barbecue Swingers Live (Basin Street)

This record makes me think of something Tom Waits once said, “In New Orleans, music is like hot sauce. They put it on their food.” Yes, we do, and few […]

Various Artists, Angels in the Mirror: Vodou Music of Haiti (Ellipsis Arts), Various Artists, New Orleans Voodoo…From the Inside (Dubat Publishing)

Beausoleil, Arc de Triomphe Two Step (EMI Hemisphere)

Mose Allison, Gimcracks & Geegaws (Blue Note)

Various Artists, Sweet Emma and Her Preservation Hall Jazz Band (Preservation Hall)

Cyril Neville, Soulo (Endangered)

One of the wonders that is the Neville Brothers is the way four personalities, like points on a compass, can face in different directions yet together complete a circle. Cyril, […]

The Bluerunners, To the Country (Rounder)