Category Archives: Music

Eliseo Parra’s Viva Quien Sabe Querer

Eliseo Parra is dedicated to preserving and bringing forward the various strains that make up Iberian music, and he does it admirably in this intriguing and compelling CD. Spain hasn’t yet made much of a splash on the World Music … Continue reading

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Boris Grebenshikov’s Russian Songwriter: A Collection From Boris Grebenshikov

A long time ago in a mythical, long-forgotten land known as the Soviet Union, a young man named Boris decided to write and sing songs. A native of Leningrad (now St. Petersburg), Boris Grebenshikov became arguably the most renowned figure … Continue reading

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Waterson:Carthy’s A Dark Light

This review was contributed by Judith Gennett. Norma Waterson and her spouse Martin Carthy have extensive musical histories extending into the dim murky past of the English folk revival. One’s head could explode just thinking of it all: the a … Continue reading

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KGB’s Contra-Intelligence and Volga Notions, and Bag o’ Tricks/Tricky Brits’ Bag o’ Tricks/Tricky Brits

These three CDs by three  … well, four inter-related Seattle, Wash., bands present a lively sample of contemporary contradance music. KGB is a trio of Julie King, Claude Ginsburg and Dave Bartley, and takes its name from the initials of … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Rough Guide to the Cuban Music Story

Q. Does the world really need yet another “various artists” collection of Cuban music? A. If it’s as good as this one, yes. I didn’t expect to like this, one of dozens of similar CDs to hit the market since … Continue reading

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Bo Ramsey’s In the Weeds

Robert Franklin “Bo” Ramsey is one of those musicians better known among his peers than among the public. Springing from the same corn-fed Iowa fields as his sometime songwriting partner Greg Brown, he plays a gritty heartland style of blues, … Continue reading

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Toshi Reagon’s Toshi

Toshi Reagon‘s second record for Razor & Tie (she’s been recording since 1990 on a variety of labels) is a mix of blues, roots, folk and rock. Reagon, whose parents were both members of the 1960s’ protest supergroup The Freedom … Continue reading

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The Handsome Family’s Twilight, and Smothered and Covered

“So long to my dog Snickers, who ate Christmas tinsel So long to Mr. Whiskers, who jumped out of a window And to the family of gerbils who chewed out of their cage and the little brown rabbit I ran … Continue reading

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Doc Watson and Frosty Morn’s Round the Table Again

Doc Watson is indeed “a legend,” as he is introduced at the beginning of this live disc. With its second live Watson release in as many years, Sugar Hill has bookended the extraordinary career of this blind guitarist and singer … Continue reading

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Kelly Joe Phelps’s Sky Like a Broken Clock and Beggar’s Oil EP

Kelly Joe Phelps is a Washington State native who started his musical career as a jazz guitarist and bassist. Sky Like a Broken Clock is his fourth as an acoustic blues player (his third for Ryko), and his first with … Continue reading

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