Tag Archives: Americana music

Calexico’s Feast of Wire

In Feast of Wire the Tucson, Arizona-based Calexico has made the most overtly political statement in its brief but prolific history. Their fourth full-length CD offers a cohesive vision of the collision of cultures in the desert borderland between the … Continue reading

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M. Ward’s Transfiguration of Vincent

With Transfiguration of Vincent, M. Ward is batting .1000. He has three solid albums released in a little over three years. The young Portland, Oregon-based musician just keeps turning out charming, idiosyncratic albums that mark him as an American original. … Continue reading

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Steve Forbert’s Any Old Time and various artists’ The Songs of Jimmie Rodgers

Jimmie Rodgers continues to be one of the most influential of American roots musicians, which is nothing short of remarkable for a scrawny, untutored consumptive whose recording career barely spanned five years, seven decades ago. But contemporary musicians keep recording … Continue reading

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Sweet Honey in the Rock’s The Women Gather

Sweet Honey in the Rock celebrates its 30th anniversary with this disc, a dozen-and-a-half songs in their trademark style. Sweet Honey is a women’s vocal ensemble that draws from the full range of African-American music — rhythmic chants, field chants … Continue reading

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Little Sue’s The Long Goodbye

The Long Goodbye is the third full-length CD by Portland, Oregon based Susannah Weaver, who performs as Little Sue. In the same way that 1999’s Crow was a cut above her 1997 debut Chimneys and Fishes, so The Long Goodbye … Continue reading

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Kelly Willis’s Easy

Kelly Willis‘s Easy is easily one of the most beautiful country records made in the past year. Willis has been making records since the early 1990s, after she was “discovered” in an Austin, Texas, nightclub by Nanci Griffith. After spending … Continue reading

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Bert Williams’ The Middle years, 1910-1918 and His Final Releases, 1919-1922

I know about Fanny Brice. Her portrayal of Brice in “Funny Girl” was the breakthrough that made Barbra Striesand a star. I know about W. C. Fields, and can recite many of his best-known lines in an approximation of his … Continue reading

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An omnibus review of midwinter holiday music

Ensemble Galilei’s A Winter’s Night: Christmas in the Great Hall; St. Agnes Fountain’s Acoustic Carols for Christmas, and Comfort & Joy; Various artists’ Oh Christmas Tree: A Bluegrass Collection for the Holidays And how do you approach your midwinter holiday? It … Continue reading

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Various artists’ Dressed in Black: A Tribute to Johnny Cash

It’s always nice to see a deserving person being recognized for a lifetime of achievement while still alive. And in American popular music, few living artists are as deserving of accolades as John R. “Johnny” Cash. Cash has written and … Continue reading

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Joan Baez’s 5 and Farewell, Angelina

These two albums present a snapshot of the American folk music scene during the pivotal years in which the 1960s became The Sixties. The popular young American President John F. Kennedy had just been assassinated, The Beatles began the British … Continue reading

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