Spotlight

Charlie Musselwhite

Harmonica master Charlie Musselwhite’s life reads like a classic blues song: born in Mississippi, raised in Memphis and schooled on the South Side of Chicago. A groundbreaking recording artist since the 1960s, Musselwhite continues to create trailblazing music while remaining firmly rooted in the blues. His worldly-wise vocals, rich, melodic harmonica playing and deep country

Harmonica master Charlie Musselwhite’s life reads like a classic blues song: born in Mississippi, raised in Memphis and schooled on the South Side of Chicago. A groundbreaking recording artist since the 1960s, Musselwhite continues to create trailblazing music while remaining firmly rooted in the blues. His worldly-wise vocals, rich, melodic harmonica playing and deep country [read more]

Ray LaMontagne

Ray LaMontagne may be dismissed as the kind of musician relegated to warm, fuzzy television dramas, but there’s much more to the husky-voiced singer-songwriter. On his fourth studio album, God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise, he’s joined by his terrific band The Pariah Dogs: Jay Bellarose on drums, Jennifer Condos on bass, Patrick Warren

Ray LaMontagne may be dismissed as the kind of musician relegated to warm, fuzzy television dramas, but there’s much more to the husky-voiced singer-songwriter. On his fourth studio album, God Willin’ and the Creek Don’t Rise, he’s joined by his terrific band The Pariah Dogs: Jay Bellarose on drums, Jennifer Condos on bass, Patrick Warren [read more]

JJ Grey

Singing with a passion and fervor directly influenced by the classic soul heroes, JJ Grey has written and recorded five albums of original songs steeped in the rhythm & blues, rock, and country soul of his native backwoods home outside Jacksonville, Florida. Grey comes from a long tradition of Southern storytellers and, in that spirit,

Singing with a passion and fervor directly influenced by the classic soul heroes, JJ Grey has written and recorded five albums of original songs steeped in the rhythm & blues, rock, and country soul of his native backwoods home outside Jacksonville, Florida. Grey comes from a long tradition of Southern storytellers and, in that spirit, [read more]

Al Jardine

The Beach Boys may or may not reunite for a 50th anniversary tour next year, but they have already come together in the studio to record one song for Al Jardine’s new solo album A Postcard From California. Jardine began the track, “Don’t Fight the Sea,” as part of a planned solo album in 1978, recruiting Carl

The Beach Boys may or may not reunite for a 50th anniversary tour next year, but they have already come together in the studio to record one song for Al Jardine’s new solo album A Postcard From California. Jardine began the track, “Don’t Fight the Sea,” as part of a planned solo album in 1978, recruiting Carl [read more]

• Disturbed
• Arcade Fire
• The Budos Band

News

HOW TO BECOME A ROCK STAR…POSTHUMOUSLY

From the “I hope I die before I get old” department, have we got a deal for you! British company And Vinyly charges £2,000 ($3,100) for the pleasure of pressing cremated ashes into a piece of vinyl, sprinkling them in like one would sprinkle cinnamon in a carrot cake, producing up to 30 records. Not [read more]

NEW/OLD DYLAN

A pair of deluxe Bob Dylan reissues are coming out on Columbia Records, including The Bootleg Series Volume 9 – The Witmark Demos on Oct. 19 in conjunction withLegacy‘s release of the artist’s first eight long-playing albums in a box set titledBob Dylan – The Original Mono Recordings, available for the first time on CD as well as fully [read more]

DWIGHT TWILLEY TEAMS WITH SUSAN COWSILL AND ROCKY BURNETTE TO RIDE ON THE GREEN BLIMP

Big Oak Records announces the October 5 release of Green Blimp, the new CD from pop music master Dwight Twilley, featuring special guests Susan Cowsill and Rocky Burnette, plus original Dwight Twilley Band guitarist Bill Pitcock IV. Recorded at his Big Oak Studio in Tulsa, Green Blimp captures Twilley at his absolute best, creating 12 magical pop music [read more]

SMELLS LIKE SEX, PISTOLS THAT IS

The Sex Pistols have released a new fragrance. The English punk rock band – fronted by Johnny Rotten – have teamed up with cosmetic firm Fragrance and Beauty Limited to create the Sex Pistols scent, which is described as resisting tradition, fighting conformity and disregarding aromatic conventions. According to a statement the fragrance – which [read more]

BEATLES ON ITUNES: “DON’T HOLD YOUR BREATH”

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – Don’t hold your breath waiting for Beatles songs to go on sale at iTunes or other online retailers, Yoko Ono said on Thursday. The Fab Four have long resisted the allure of digital downloads, instead selling millions of old-fashioned compact discs last year after remastering the catalog. Apple Corps, the group’s holding [read more]

APPLE RECORDS CATALOG REMASTERED & REISSUED

When it was launched by The Beatles in 1968 Apple Records made musical history right from the start as the label built an eclectic roster of artists such as James Taylor, Badfinger, Billy Preston, Mary Hopkin, Doris Troy and Jackie Lomax. Apple Corps Ltd and EMI Music are raising the curtain on remastered CD – [read more]

New Releases

McGuffey Lane, 10

McGuffey Lane was formed nearly 30 years ago in Columbus. Ohio. Early radio and sales success was driven by hits like “Long Time Lovin’ You,” “People Like You,” and “Green Country Mountains.” The band’s personnel has changed over the years but the glue has remained in the form of the band’s creator and leader, John [read more]

Heart, Red Velvet Car

On their first new studio album in six years and their best new album in ages, sisters Ann and Nancy Wilson of Heart balance the cool allure of acoustic instrumentation with enough grinding rockers to match the magic of their early years. Too often overlooked and underappreciated among the mega-metropolitan elite, the Wilson sisters have nevertheless [read more]

Klaus Voorman & Friends, A Sideman’s Journey

An album from the musician, artist producer and famous sideman, best known for his work with The Beatles (he designed the Revolver album cover) and their solo recordings. Voormann played bass on many of the old solo Beatles albums. He was on Ringo’s first solo album Sentimental Journey, he played on John Lennon’s Imagine and [read more]

Micky Dolenz, King For a Day

Micky Dolenz, the Monkees’ self-described “wacky drummer,” released King For a Day last week, featuring his versions of 15 songs written or co-written by the recent Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee, whose contributions to the Monkees legacy includes the hit “Pleasant Valley Sunday.” “It’s a very exciting project,” Dolenz tells Billboard.com. “She wrote so many [read more]

Reviews

Eilen Jewell, ‘Butcher Holler: A Tribute to Loretta Lynn’, The Virginian Pilot

More from Reviews

• John Mellencamp, No Better Than This–USA Today
• Brian Wilson Reimagines Gershwin–The Washington Post
• Sun Kil Moon, Admiral Fell Promises-Pitchfork
• Stone River Boys, Love On The Dial-The Virginian Pilot
• When You’re Strange: A Film About The Doors, Blogcritics
• Tom Petty, Mojo, Rolling Stone
• John Ellis & Double-Wide, Puppet Mischief, The Virginian Pilot
• Shakura S’Aida, Brown Sugar, The Virginian Pilot