Category Archives: Music

The Handsome Family’s Wilderness

“Can you imagine your own world suddenly made shining, weightless and stretching infinitely in all directions?” This is the question Rennie Sparks asks toward the end of her essay on woodpeckers, the first in her 70-page book Wilderness that accompanies … Continue reading

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The Handsome Family’s Last Days of Wonder

The Handsome Family sound energized on Last Days of Wonder. This is their seventh studio album starting with 1995’s Odessa, in addition to which they have put out a live set and an EP of odds and ends, and contributed … Continue reading

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Interview: The Handsome Family, Aug. 4, 2007

I knew that, for the most part, Rennie Sparks writes the lyrics and Brett Sparks the music for The Handsome Family’s songs, a sometimes surreal blend of dark humor, grim pathos and gritty murder tales. But I was curious about … Continue reading

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Mike Jones, Penn Jillette and Jeff Hamilton’s Are You Sure You Three Guys Know What You’re Doing?

I may have known at some point that the world famous illusionist and humorist Penn Jillette was also a double bass player but if so, I’d forgotten that little fact until now. But here he is holding down the low … Continue reading

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Mulgrew Miller’s Solo in Barcelona

I have a fairly short list of pianists I care to listen to as solo artists. I prefer Brubeck with his quartet and even prefer my favorite, Bill Evans, in a trio or quartet setting. My short list for soloists … Continue reading

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Carsten Dahl’s The Solo Songs of Keith Jarrett

I’ve never been able to get into Keith Jarrett’s music, no matter how I tried. I’m one of those who’re put off by his vocalizations. I know it’s my loss, because he’s one of the most successful and highly honored … Continue reading

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Andy Shanks and Jim Russell’s Diamonds in the Night

Chuck Lipsig wrote this review. Imagine, if you will, a singer, backed by guitar, bass and other instruments, performing something between blues, quiet jazz, and folk. Maybe it’s a smoky bar or a coffee house – any place where music … Continue reading

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Pandit Shiv Kumar Sharma’s Sampradaya

Big Earl Sellar wrote this review. This is one of those discs I haven’t been able to pry out of my computer since I got it. A jugalbandi, or duet, between two santoors, this disc contains just over 66 minutes … Continue reading

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Son Volt’s Okemah and the Melody of Riot

Jay Farrar has put out a record that is a worthy successor to his band Son Volt’s 1995 debut, Trace. Okemah and the Melody of Riot is a masterpiece that reflects – somberly, angrily and joyfully – on the current … Continue reading

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The Sharecroppers Home, Boys!

Faith Cormier wrote this review. The Sharecroppers (Guy Romaine, Mike Madigan and Ed Humber) are three teachers from Pasadena, Newfoundland. Even their Web site doesn’t explain why they chose their name, since sharecropping has never been a way of life … Continue reading

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