Music
Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble, The Sky Is Crying (Epic)
Everyone knows that rock is largely derivative. True artists go to the trouble to reinvent what they borrow (see much of the Led Zeppelin catalog, for instance). Stevie Ray Vaughan […]
Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, No Looking Back (Alligator Records)
“I built my own prison, my mind must find the key, and nobody, nobody can open this cell but me.” Gatemouth’s hip, mature ’90s urban blues style confronts isolation, infidelity, […]
Ellis Marsalis, Heart of Gold (Columbia Records)
Ellis’ fans will no doubt welcome his new album on Columbia. Produced by son Delfeayo, it features Ray Brown on bass and Herlin Riley, Billy Higgins, and Jason Marsalis as […]
Carol Fran and Clarence Hollimon, Soul Sensation (Black Top Records)
Once again Black Top reintroduces the world to some master blues musicians who could easily have slipped through the cracks of time. And once again the world should thank them […]
Paul Richell, Blues on a Holiday (Tone-Cool Records)
Finger-poppin’, straight-ahead blues…no frills, just thrills. Richell plays National Steel and electric, and makes you feel like you’re right on the front porch with him. Kick off your shoes and […]
Vernon Garrett, Crossfire (Ichiban Records)
A true blues and soul legend, Garrett had big hits like “Shine It On,” “At the Crossroads,” “Turn Back the Hands of Time” and “Johnny Walker Red.” The first time […]
James Montgomery Band, The Oven Is On (Tone-Cool Records)
I first heard of the James Montgomery Band through Phil Walden’s Capricorn record label, the label that introduced us to such greats as Otis Redding, the Allman Brothers, and Johnny […]
Meat Puppets, Forbidden Places (London Records)
This is the Meat Puppets’ first major label album, and the first since the collapse of the band’s indie label, SST. Apparently the trio emerged creatively unscathed, destined to be […]
Will and the Bushmen, Blunderbuss (Core/SBK)
Burning and melting skeletons, mechanized gears creating a tidal wave, blurry fast-moving figures exploding in bright light, and a whirring vortex consuming itself…the cover art of this trio’s debut contains […]
Nirvana, Nevermind (DGC)
Seattle, Washington’s Nirvana burst onto the music scene in a big way with this, its major-label debut. You might have been hard-pressed to find the record in local stores around […]
