Like the best of today’s roots-rockers, the Gourds burn with an honesty and simplicity that keeps the music in perspective. No character is a cliché, no story drowns in either irony or sentiment, and no guitar wails or accordion squawks. This Austin, Texas group comes naturally from the ground level; the loveable losers are never [...]
BeauSoleil has long been a band that can be taken for granted. To win Grammys, to become representative of a genre, and to become keepers of a cultural flame can be a blessing and a curse. Because, at the end of the day, it’s all about how the music moves you
Truth be told, I’ve looked [...]
If there was one thing that made artists establish Stax Records and the Muscle Shoals studios as their homes away from home, it was economy. From the punchy horn arrangements to the syncopated drums and the crisp guitar licks, ’60s soul music showed how much you could do with just enough. JJ Grey, the Mofro [...]
When it comes to the Iguanas, patience is a virtue. With If You Should Ever Fall on Hard Times, the New Orleans group has proven once again that it’s worth the wait. The album is the group’s first work in five years, making it the first since Hurricane Katrina shook up both the city and [...]
The year 2007 was an incredibly busy year for the seemingly always-busy New Orleans jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Along with earning two Grammy Awards (winning one) for leading his quintet and a 40-piece string orchestra through A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina), Blanchard also served as artist-in-residence for the Monterey Jazz Festival, [...]
The year 2007 was an incredibly busy year for the seemingly always-busy New Orleans jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard. Along with earning two Grammy Awards (winning one) for leading his quintet and a 40-piece string orchestra through A Tale of God’s Will (A Requiem for Katrina), Blanchard also served as artist-in-residence for the Monterey Jazz Festival, [...]
Cow Island Hop finds Feufollet all grown up with somewhere to go. Formed in 1995 by accordionist and fiddler Chris Stafford and Chris Segura when Stafford was 8 and Segura was 11, Feufollet grew into its own a while back but now seems as self-assured as a veteran Cajun band should.
There have been personnel changes [...]
Perhaps the most curious disappointment of John Sayles’ latest film, Honeydripper is its woeful unemployment of the music it is supposed to celebrate. Set at a small Alabama juke joint in 1950, Honeydripper only hints at the boogie-woogie foundation that will soon herald the age of rock ‘n’ roll. Instead of in a joyous deluge, [...]
The Cowboy Junkies didn’t so much burst onto the roots-rock scene with The Trinity Session in 1987 so much as they crept onto it, masters of restraint in their moody evocations of Margo Timmins’ breathy ruminations set over brother Michael’s teasing mandolin. Less known for their originals, they completely redefined such seemingly disparate classics as [...]
