Lukas Nelson & Promise Of The Real “Find Yourself” (2017)
I don’t get out to the movies much. That fact is not merely a matter of my laziness or the presence of Netflix. In truth, there are just very few occasions when a new movie comes out that excites or inspires me much, let alone motivates me to actually get to a theater. So the...... Read More
Blackberry Smoke “Let It Burn” (2016)
They’re the keepers of the flame. For those like me, who basked in the glory days of Southern Rock music, who gobbled up as many southern rock jams as possible and maybe chased them with a little Southern Comfort, who consider the classic southern rock bands to be as much a part of our essential...... Read More
Lucero “For The Lonely Ones” (2018)
I recently saw the band Lucero in concert at Warsaw in Brooklyn, a cool venue in a former Polish community center where I had a kielbasa sandwich and some tasty pierogies during the show. I’m relatively new to Lucero, a 20-year veteran band out of Memphis, that’s in the country/punk family and lately has been... Read More
JP Harris “JP’s Florida Blues #1” (2018)
He may not look like it, but JP Harris is an absolute traditionalist. When he took the stage at a packed hole-in-the-wall in Brooklyn called Skinny Dennis this past Saturday night, he began by issuing the crowd a tongue-in-cheek warning: “I don’t know if any of ya’ll know who I am, so I hope you’re...... Read More
Parker Millsap “Fine Line” (2018)
This is a hit song, right? A big time, wide scale hit. Listen to it, it’s got to be (but, of course, it won’t be). There was a time when songs like this were played on mainstream rock stations, however that time was long ago. Can you imagine if groups like Marshall Tucker and the...... Read More
American Aquarium “Tough Folks” (2018)
American Aquarium has been a band for 12 years. And, they're also a brand new band starting last year. Founder BJ Barham created American Aquarium in his dorm room at N.C. State back in 2006, but as of their 2018 release, their 7th studio album appropriately titled Things Change, he’s now backed by 4 entirely... Read More
Southern Culture On The Skids “Liquored Up And Lacquered Down” (2000)
Why do I love Southern Culture On The Skids? Well, first the name. Pretty descriptive. It jumped out at me in some music magazine I was reading many years ago, and I thought, yeah, that’s a band I’ve got to check out. That led me to the music, which was way better than I could...... Read More
Old 97’s “Longer Than You’ve Been Alive” (2014)
I recently saw an Old 97’s show with my friend Kenny at the Tarrytown Music Hall, an 843-seat capacity theater built in 1885, the oldest in Westchester County and one of just 6% of theaters in the U.S. built before 1900. It’s a sleepy place. I’ve been to about a dozen concerts there before, and...... Read More
Lucinda Williams “Buttercup” (2011)
Some rock singer’s voices are almost so bizarre you wonder how they even had the audacity to step up to a microphone and try in the first place. I mean, what on earth gave Tom Waits the idea that his grotesque growl could possibly ever work in popular music? Or Lou Reed? Or Joe Cocker??...... Read More
Band of Heathens “Trouble Came Early” (2016)
When a group literally brands themselves a band of heathens they better have something besides mere paganism to back it up. A song with an opening chord that sounds plucked right from ‘Street Fighting Man’ is a good place to start. The Band of Heathens are another in a seemingly endless line of quality Americana/roots-rock...... Read More