Category Archives: Music

John Prine’s Fair & Square

“That’s golden!” John Prine exclaims, after the last strains of a guitar chord fade away on the last (bonus) track on his latest album, Fair & Square. Those two words sum up the whole album. Prine is an absolute treasure … Continue reading

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Lama Gyurme and Jean-Philippe Rykiel’s Rain of Blessings: Vajra Chants

Patrick O’Donnell wrote this review. If it’s meditation or inner peace you seek, Rain of Blessings may be the perfect musical accompaniment. But if you’re after anything else — some quiet background music or an interesting listen, for instance — … Continue reading

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Halali’s Halali

Pat Simmonds wrote this review. Halali consists of three fiddlers, Hanneke Cassel, Laura Cotese and Lissa Schneckenburger, with Flynn Cohen providing guitar accompaniment. The thriving and bustling session scene in Boston has been bubbling under the surface for a number … Continue reading

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Habib Koite and Bamada’s Muso Ko

Patrick O’Donnell wrote this review. Habib Koite’s rich guitar playing and complex, poetic lyrics make Muso Ko an album of literary proportions. Throughout the 16 tracks, the immensely talented Koite tackles prostitution, work ethics and morals, politics, the dangers of … Continue reading

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Yet another big Celtic music omnibus review by Peter Massey

Carreg Lafar’s Profiad Robin Flower & Libby McLaren’s Steelhead in the Riffles Ken Kolodner’s Journey to the Heartland Various artists’ The Independence Suite Brendan Begley’s We Won’t Go Home Til Morning Rosie Shipley and Matt Mulqueen with Peter and Trevor … Continue reading

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Gjermund Larsen Trio’s Christmas Sessions, and Berit Opheim’s Helgasong

If you’re looking for some winter holiday music that almost totally avoids the familiar and yet is still recognizable as yuletide music, here are two that fit the bill, one by a longstanding Norwegian folk trio, the other by a … Continue reading

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Trendafilka’s For the Olives

“Chichovite Konye,” the opening track on Trendafilka’s second album For the Olives was a good choice for its first single, as it presents the vocal group’s two sides in microcosm, as it were. Beginning with a stately, slow traditional polyphonic … Continue reading

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John Stewart’s Havana

John Stewart was an early member of the Kingston Trio, replacing Dave Guard in 1961. He wrote one of the Monkees’ greatest hits (“Daydream Believer”). He inspired Lindsey Buckingham of Fleetwood Mac to play guitar. Buckingham paid him back for … Continue reading

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Malinky’s 3 Ravens

Judith Gennett wrote this review “It’s down intae yon green grass field There lies a knight that’s newly killed.” Malinky is an acoustic Scottish band on the rise. Atypical for a Scots bands, they employ Irish box and low whistle … Continue reading

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Lissa Schneckenburger’s Dance, and Oliver Schroer and the Stewed Tomatoes’ Freedom Row

Over the past month or so I’ve been cleaning out my home office. I sold a bunch of stuff on-line. A guitar, 450 vinyl records, three boxes of music magazines, and a violin. The violin was incomplete, there was no … Continue reading

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