Tag Archives: Americana music

Tarbox Ramblers’ Tarbox Ramblers

A lot of bands make what is called “roots rock,” but Boston’s Tarbox Ramblers are so close to their roots that if you gave them a good shake, bits of dirt and loam and I don’t know what-all would probably … Continue reading

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Jimmie Dale Gilmore at Brunish Hall, Portland Center for the Performing Arts, Portland, Ore., May 7, 2000

Texas troubadore Jimmie Dale Gilmore and an ace backing band turned in a top-notch acoustic performance on this Sunday evening, a day after Gilmore marked his 55th birthday in Seattle. It was the second night of a spring-summer tour that … Continue reading

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Jean A. Boyd’s The Jazz of the Southwest

For about 20 years, from the mid-1930s to the mid-1950s, Western swing was one of the most popular types of music in America. At its peak in the late 1940s, the biggest of them all, Bob Wills’ Texas Playboys, was … Continue reading

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Jimmie Dale Gilmore’s One Endless Night

Jimmie Dale Gilmore is a dapper, long-haired, cowboy-booted Texan, equal parts Hank Williams, Roy Orbison and Zen poet. One Endless Night is a sterling collection of well-crafted songs that amply reflect the man’s artistry. Gilmore wrote the title track and … Continue reading

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The Handsome Family’s In the Air

Chicago’s The Handsome Family makes morbid Americana music for the depressed, crazy and suicidal. It is at times wickedly funny, and if you’re in the right frame of mind, very entertaining. In the Air, the Handsomes’ fourth full-length CD, carries … Continue reading

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Rick Kennedy and Randy McNutt’s Little Labels—Big Sound

Some of the most important and influential American music has been put out by small independent labels. And it’s no accident that it’s also some of the best and most authentic American music, from Delta and Chicago blues to bebop … Continue reading

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Ass Ponys’ Some Stupid With a Flare Gun

Some Stupid With a Flare Gun is arresting, rootsy rock from a band that’s been around for more than a decade and may be just hitting its stride. The Ass Ponys have been making folk-rock, country-rock and just plain rock … Continue reading

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Speedy West & Jimmy Bryant’s Stratosphere boogie: The flaming guitars of … and Vol. 2: Swingin’ on the Strings

Western swing is a hybrid of country and jazz, and if Wills was its king, then Speedy West and Jimmy Bryant were the crown princes. The two moved to southern California to join its burgeoning music scene in the years … Continue reading

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Brian Mansfield and Gray Graff, editors’ MusicHound Country: The Essential Album Guide

This is a very thorough, well researched, readable and useful reference book. If you’re a music junkie like me, and you like anything that could conceivably be called country music, you could probably spend many happy hours thumbing through MusicHound … Continue reading

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Kelly Joe Phelps, Aladdin Theater, Portland, Oregon – October 23, 1999

Singer-guitarist Kelly Joe Phelps held a crowd of perhaps 500 spellbound for two hours, with his unique blend of folk, blues, gospel and jazz. Himself a capable writer of elliptical ballads, Phelps’ main strengths are his offbeat interpretations of folk … Continue reading

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