Music
Willy DeVille, Come a Little Bit Closer: The Best of Willy DeVille Live (Eagle Records)
Reviewing a deceased artist of lesser renown can be problematic. You have to take music on its own terms, but you can’t fully tap that all-important relationship between sound and […]
Blind Boys of Alabama, Take the High Road (Saguaro Road)
Updated Listen to Lee Ann Womack take the early lead on “I Was a Burden,” wavering from each pitch like a fast, heavy car struggling through a curve—painful, unpredictable, the […]
Nasimiyu, It Ain’t Pretty But It’s Beautiful (Independent)
Vocalist Nasimiyu Murumba came to New Orleans from the Twin Cities in 2009, and it’s clear from the title to the lyrical content of her EP that she’s set on […]
Booker T. Jones, The Road from Memphis (Anti- Records)
Booker T. Jones, still occasionally of Booker T. and the MGs, reminded us of his mastery of the Hammond B3 two years ago with Potato Hole, which satisfied all Memphis […]
Davis Rogan, The Real Davis (Sousaphonk Records)
Davis Rogan has a flair for the dramatic. His last album, The Once and Future DJ, was rescued from the flood before inspiring David Simon to base one of the […]
Dr. Michael White, Adventures in New Orleans Jazz, Vol. 1 (Basin Street Records)
The surprises on Adventures in New Orleans Jazz, Vol. 1 begin with the very first notes, a repeating figure on the balafon—the ancient West African ancestor of the xylophone—echoed in […]
Helen Gillet, Running of the Bells (Independent)
It’s hard to define what kind of music cellist Helen Gillet plays on this record. There is a contemporary classical vibe to this as well as a jazz sensibility and […]
Johnny Sansone, The Lord is Waiting and the Devil is Too (Shortstack Records)
In the wrong hands, the blues are a quick trip to Cliché City, a place where there’s no lyrical or musical problem that can’t be solved in the exact same […]
Koan, Chronicles of a Dying Breed (Independent)
The New Orleans hip-hop scene has enjoyed an interesting dichotomy over the last few years: you’re either rapping about partying and booze over pseudo-bounce tunes, or you’re crafting politically charged […]
Henry Gray, Lucky Man (Blind Pig Records)
When blues pianist Henry Gray released Lucky Man in 1990, it was his first solo American album despite years of recording and playing with Howlin’ Wolf. This release is the […]
