A.A. Bondy’s music is spare, dark and penetrating. Much of it features just Bondy on acoustic guitar singing of sadness and loss.
Bonnie Bishop has evolved from a self-described country singer trying to sell beer at Texas dance halls, to a bluesy soul singer more in line with who she is as a musician.
T Bird and the Breaks blend all kinds of styles to create what the band calls “chunk” music: equal parts funk, hip-hop, and rock ‘n’ roll.
This Old, New, Borrowed and Blue set features David Crosby, the Seratones, Wilko Johnson and Roger Daltrey, and the Rolling Stones.
Hollis Brown is a new band from NYC with an old sound. Any band naming itself after a Bob Dylan song and covering an entire Velvet Underground album is worth checking out.
Slobberbone’s hard-driving rock sound softened with a whiff of country twang is just what I needed to re-acclimate to the U.S. after seven months in South America.
It is difficult to write about any aspect of Chilean culture without making reference to the dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet. And so it is with music. This post features bands I learned about while spending six months in Chile.
Prior to the REC festival, my knowledge of Latin American music could be summed up in three words: Miami Sound Machine. The weekend was a musical education.
I have always been a Neil Young fan, but this record gave me an entirely new appreciation of his artistry and place in the rock canon.
This Old, New, Borrowed and Blue set features Cory Branan, the Wood Brothers, Shovels & Rope and John Fullbright.
I was unmoved when the Clash broke up, believing Joe Strummer had nothing left in the tank. I was wrong. The Mescaleros showcase Strummer in top form.
Gregg Allman says that Blackberry Smoke “is gonna put Southern Rock back on the map.” With Holding All the Roses, the band may have proven him right.
A revisiting of The Boomtown Rats’ 1979 classic, “The Fine Art of Surfacing,” reveals an album that remains relevant lyrically and musically.
Anthony D’Amato’s music is a cross between early Bob Dylan folk and Bruce Springsteen rock. His lyrics are both un-apologetically earnest and, at times, playfully droll.
A staple of my teenage radio-listening days was the “Old, New, Borrowed and Blue” sets on WNEW in New York. This iteration features all female vocalists.
Every song on Utah offers up a slightly different sound. But the parts all fit together, revealing a unique blend of rock ‘n’ roll influences.
The Fine Tuning Parlays consist of three songs that I can vouch for, but, for whatever reason, I can’t unequivocally endorse the artist or the album.
The music of Cold War Kids brings a decidedly pre-grunge vibe into the modern era.
Because it so masterfully explores every seam in the bedrock of American music and then transcends them all in fashioning a new art form, Exile is the quintessential (and hands down best) Stones record.
Jonny “Two Bags” Wickersham’s 2014 record Salvation Town is an exceptional fusion of rock and Americana.
Trigger Hippy’s self-titled debut album mixes rock, blues and country. The musical combinations at play create a sound that is both fresh and classic.
“The Way We Move” is filled with finely crafted acoustic nuggets that defy easy categorization. Some have a Celtic quality, others a jazz influence, but always present is the spare, troubadour spirit of Bob Dylan.
While brass drives the music of St. Paul & The Broken Bones, the roots of classic rock are all in there, blended together in a powerfully unique sound.
One of the staples of my teenage radio-listening days was the “Old, New, Borrowed and Blue” sets on WNEW in NYC. This is my first post employing the format. It features, among others, the great Richard Thompson.
Shovels and Rope mix lots of different musical elements all dear to classic rock fans. There’s folk, bluegrass, rock, garage, country, and a hint of punk, all tied together with pitch-perfect harmonies.
“Blue Eyes” is the first tune that ever hooked me from the lead-in count of “one, two, three, four. . .,” which is followed by a twangy, country-fried opening riff that sets the tone for the mellow Neil Young groove reverberating throughout the track.
I was jogging in the Oakland hills the other day, listening to a Pandora shuffle, when a version of Hendrix’s “Voodoo Child” stopped me in my tracks and challenged my long-held theory of cover songs.
I know a band rocks when it inspires a bald fifty-something to stage dive — thrice. And my wife to skip the gym in favor of drinking.
The Stone Foxes, originally from California’s Central Valley and now hailing from San Francisco, have a polished grittiness that features great structure and arrangements while also displaying the rawness that epitomizes rock.
Heartless Bastards is a unique blend of many roots and classic rock influences. There is a lot going on with this band, all of it good.