Category Archives: Music

Various Artists’ Folk Music in Sweden series

During the 1950s and 1960s there was a lot of field recording taking place in Sweden and the Swedish speaking parts of Finland. A generation of source singers and musicians were growing very old and the effort was directed at … Continue reading

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Eli West’s The Both

This release combines the talents of some of my favorite musical discoveries of the past couple of years, starting with Eli West. I first learned of the Seattle-based roots musician through his 2014 release with Cahalen Morrison, I’ll Swing My … Continue reading

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Warren Zevon’s Recordings

Now that I am dead my agent finally said he wanted to have lunch with me Now that I’m deceased my record sales increased I’m making lots of royalties I’m a composer decomposing I’m on the rocker’s roll of fame … Continue reading

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Warden Zevon’s The Wind

Will you stay with me to the end?When there’s nothing left / But you and me and the wind… I don’t believe I’ve ever before cried when preparing a review, but Warren Zevon finally did it to me. With The Wind, his … Continue reading

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Crystal Zevon’s I’ll Sleep When I’m Dead: The Dirty Life and Times of Warren Zevon

Warren Zevon died in 2003, within a week of Johnny Cash. While he was nowhere near the cultural icon that Cash was, Zevon was one of the most important voices in popular music in the second half of the 20th … Continue reading

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Gordon Lightfoot’s Songbook

“It’s so nice to meet an old friend and pass the time of day, / and talk about the old towna million miles away.” from Gordon Lightfoot’s  “Did She Mention My Name” Gordon Lightfoot is a Canadian institution. He has been awarded the … Continue reading

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Warren Zevon’s Warren Zevon

Rhino Records, in conjunction with Asylum, has just re-issued Warren Zevon’s first album! The self-titled collection is part of Rhino’s Collector’s Edition line, which seeks to re-introduce “legendary albums remastered, and expanded…with previously un-released material, extensive liner notes and rare … Continue reading

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Gwazigan’s Y’Vait du monde 

This album’s a sheer delight, but then I tend to like anything that comes from the Quebec musical tradition. This is a group with violin, mandolin, guitar, vocals — and Uillean pipes. Yes, Uillean pipes! Brigid, me dear wife, says … Continue reading

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Various Artists’ Evangeline Made

Cajun music is a beguiling, seductive, heady mixture of influences –rhythms borrowed from the Creole, French fiddle and accordion, full voice American vocal styles in which notes are emphatically held and the voice wavers around the tone. Along with its … Continue reading

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Monsieur Pantin’s Ma Rosalie

Monsieur Pantin is not the name of some newly discovered French or Belgian or Swiss or Québécois musician. It is, as the CD’s skimpy documentation (see last paragraph below) informs us, the French title of a Scottish air found in … Continue reading

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