Category Archives: Music

Phil Ochs’s The Early Years

No’am Newman wrote this review. Phil Ochs was one of the top folk protest singers in the US during the 1960s who never really became famous outside of his own field; in the ’70s he seemed to run out of … Continue reading

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The Bluegrass Patriots’ Springtime in the Rockies

Mike Stiles wrote this review. Here’s one that goes right down into the roots of bluegrass. The Patriots are Dan Mitchell (fiddle), Glenn Zankey (guitar), Danny Rogers (standup bass), Ken Seaman (banjo), and Willie McDonald (mandolin). Everyone sings, too. Whether … Continue reading

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Magpie Lane’s A Taste of Ale

I must confess I find it very hard to be impartial about this one. In choosing to fill a whole CD with songs about one of my favourite subjects, English beer, Magpie Lane has surely won my heart. Magpie Lane … Continue reading

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Various artists’ What’s That I Hear?: The Songs of Phil Ochs

Dean MacPherson wrote this review. Richard Thompson has one. Kurt Weill has a couple of them. Hell, even Mickey Mouse has a tribute album, so it’s about time somebody put together a collection of Phil Ochs cover tunes. Ochs, though … Continue reading

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Michael Kaeshammer’s Tell You How I Feel, and No Strings Attached

Christopher White wrote this review. Michael Kaeshammer (pronounced case-hammer) is a young … 25 or so … German-Canadian piano player with what might be dubbed post-neo-retro trad jazz sensibilities. And exceptionally prodigious chops. A child prodigy, he studied classical piano … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Hula Blues: Vintage Steel Guitar Instrumentals from the ’30s and ’40s

Big Earl Sellar wrote this review. About a decade ago I was turned on to the wonderful musical possibilities of the lap steel guitar. It’s basically a slab of wood (or occasionally cast metal) with six to 10 strings, tuned … Continue reading

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NRBQ’s Dummy

NRBQ is one of the longest-lasting rock bands in history, and while they’ve never had a hit, they’ve made almost uniformly strong records for their entire career. Started as the New Rhythm & Blues Quintet (later Quartet) in 1967, the … Continue reading

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Dan Bern & the IJBC’s Fleeting Days

Listening to the big guy’s new CD laying in bed the one his producer thinks he never shoulda made but it gets me going gets me into the shower what a shock to be awake at this early hour Dan … Continue reading

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Ry Cooder’s My Name Is Buddy

Subtitled “another record by Ry Cooder” My Name Is Buddy is the second album in a planned trilogy in which Cooder searches for the old weird America that the guitarist knows is still there, buried somewhere under our modern society. … Continue reading

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John Sebastian’s John B. Sebastian, Tarzana Kid, and Welcome Back

John Sebastian’s combo The Lovin’ Spoonful was a folk-pop crossover in the mid-1960s, but by 1968 he was ready to strike out on his own. He had been around the New York folk scene since the early years of the … Continue reading

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