Category Archives: Music

Shujaat Husain Khan’s Hawa Hawa

This review was contributed by Big Earl Sellar. This is one of those discs that I go into thinking, “Oooh, this is going to be cool.” I hate it when I do that: a premise is hardly the basis of … Continue reading

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Dulcie Taylor’s Mirrors and Windows

Dulcie Taylor has a few surprises up her sleeve. Mirrors and Windows, her second release on Black Iris, starts like a fairly typical singer-songwriter album of contemporary folk music — albeit a very good one. “Blackberry Winter,” the opening track, … Continue reading

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Jolie Holland’s Catalpa

Jolie Holland makes new music that sounds — some of it, anyway — very old. A true daughter of the American South, she was born and raised in Texas, and cut her musical teeth on the gypsy-like circuit of like-minded … Continue reading

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Laurie Anderson’s Life On A String and Live at Town Hall New York City September 19-29, 2001

Cue the tape loop. A gentle female voice, almost human, sets up a rhythm, “ah ah ah ah … “. A violin, amplified, scratches. Then a melody finds its way out of the midst. You can imagine a blank canvas, … Continue reading

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The Lucky Tomblin Band’s The Lucky Tomblin Band

The Lucky Tomblin Band‘s self-titled debut is a swingin’ platter of honky-tonk straight out of Texas. This band has a pedigree guaranteed to get it a blue ribbon in any show; its members have about a zillion years of recording … Continue reading

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Wylie & The Wild West’s Hooves of the Horses

Wylie Gustafson is a real-life, actual cowboy. He has a ranch in eastern Washington State, and he’s a world-class trainer and rider of cutting horses. Not only that, but he’s one of only a handful of artists around today still … Continue reading

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Jacob Young’s Dancing Outlaw and Dancing Outlaw 2, Jesco Goes to Hollywood

Up in Boone County, West Virginia There lives the outlaw Jesco White And the way he loves to dance Makes all the men want to fight … — “Jesco,” Trailer Bride’s High Seas (Bloodshot, 2001) (Editor’s note, Feb. 2021: These … Continue reading

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Eric Bibb, Rory Block, and Maria Muldaur’s Sisters & Brothers

Behold, how good and how pleasant for brothers and sisters to dwell together in unity.” — Psalm 133 The blues has a spiritual side which is every bit as important to the make-up of the blues as is the physical … Continue reading

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Tim Harrison’s Wheatfield with Crows

Lenora Rose contributed this review. Tim Harrison is a classic guitar playing singer-songwriter, with several obvious merits; he’s a tuneful singer with a pleasant voice, and a decidedly skilled guitar stylist. There’s Spanish and classical guitar technique here if I’m … Continue reading

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Carol J. Oja’s Making Music Modern: New York in the 1920s

The 1920s was a formative decade for “serious” American music, and the nexus of musical activity was in New York. Music professor Carol Oja provides an in-depth exploration of the music of the decade and its continuing impact on American … Continue reading

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