Tag Archives: Americana music

Rhonda Vincent’s Back Home Again, and The Storm Still Rages

Rhonda Vincent was born in 1962 and first performed on stage as part of her family’s band, the Sally Mountain Show, when she was 5 years old. She has 18 albums to her credit, but these latest two, made for … Continue reading

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Muleskinner Jones’s Death Row Hoedown, and Terrible Stories EP

Muleskinner Jones is the English answer to the Handsome Family, crossed with the off-kilter cowpunk of the Meat Puppets, say, or perhaps Butthole Surfers. It’s a hole in the current musical scene that was just begging to be filled, and … Continue reading

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Johnny Cash’s American IV: The Man Comes Around

The man in black has gone to be with the man in white. After a hard seventy-one years John R. Cash’s big heart stopped beating the other day. Perhaps it was just broken irreparably by the loss of his wife … Continue reading

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Johnny Cash’s At San Quentin

In the late 1960s, Johnny Cash was on a roll. He was finally getting his life together after a disastrous decade of drug abuse which led to lots of legal problems, a divorce and a growing reputation as an erratic … Continue reading

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Various artists’ The Best of The Johnny Cash TV Show, 1969-1971

American musicians always have, for the most part, understood that the various categories of American music are mostly imaginary. They’re marketing tools drawn up by those in the business of selling music to the public, and they cater mostly to … Continue reading

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Chris Whitley’s Hotel Vast Horizon

Chris Whitley first took center stage with a stunning debut album called Living With The Law in 1991. Slide guitar, solid rhythms and Chris’s vocals in a Lousiana gumbo … it was beautifully funky. After a couple of changes of … Continue reading

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Trond Kallevåg’s Fargo single

One of the albums I listened to the most during the darkest days of the Covid pandemic was Norwegian guitarist Trond Kallevåg’s Bedehus & Hawaii, released by Hubro in 2019. So I’m especially happy to learn that Hubro is scheduling … Continue reading

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Margo Cilker’ Valley of Heart’s Delight

I was among the reviewers and critics who fell head over heels for Margo Cilker’s 2021 debut Pohorylle. No sophomore slump here as Valley of Heart’s Delight marks a big step in fulfilling her early promise as a country folk … Continue reading

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Viv & Riley’s Imaginary People

Vivian Leva and Riley Calcagno have made a delightful album that reflects the changes in their lives, moving from old-time and folk country in a more indie roots and folk-pop direction as they’ve moved from Portland, Oregon to Durham, North … Continue reading

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Commentary: RIP Jimmy Buffett

Well. I didn’t see this one coming. Mr. Margaritaville has transitioned to the Big Beach. I’m not a real Parrot Head, as the Buffett fanatics call themselves. I stopped following him in the mid-80s, when he started getting played on … Continue reading

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