Author: Geoffrey Himes
Town and Country - Shorter Artist Feature from Issue #56 March-April 2005
Duhks – Old-time’s new wave
In 1991, when Leonard Podolak was 16, he wasn’t enamored with folk music. Podolak, the future leader of the Duhks, thought it was OK, but it was his parents’ music, not his. His father Mitch, founder of the Winnipeg Folk Festival, had tried several times to teach his son how to play the banjo, but [...]
The Long Way Around - Feature from Issue #55 Jan-Feb 2005
Sonny Landreth – Bayou Blues
The Grant Street Dancehall in Lafayette, Louisiana, officially opened its doors with a big Fourth of July party in 1980. Headlining was Clifton Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band, the group that was to zydeco what the Muddy Waters Band was to Chicago blues — i.e., an ensemble that created a whole new sound [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #55 Jan-Feb 2005
Alison Krauss & Union Station – Lonely Runs Both Ways
To understand why Alison Krauss is one of the greatest singers of our time — and not just in bluegrass, not just in country, but in all of English-language pop — listen to “Goodbye Is All We Have” from her new album, Lonely Runs Both Ways. Sarah Siskind’s song is a farewell address to a [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #53 Sept-Oct 2004
Various Artists – Por Vida: A Tribute to the Songs of Alejandro Escovedo
Before he got sick in 2003, Alejandro Escovedo often lamented in interviews that he couldn’t understand why no one else recorded his songs. The reason was obvious: His sound — a peculiar mélange of punk rock, chamber music and corrida that sounded like a Norteño version of the Velvet Underground — was so original, so [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #53 Sept-Oct 2004
Kieran Kane & Kevin Welch with Fats Kaplin – You Can’t Save Everybody
This album opens with the kind of prickly, slow-motion banjo that was a Dock Boggs specialty. Then comes Kieran Kane’s tenor vocal, sounding just as weary and ancient, declaring, “You can’t save everybody; everybody don’t want to be saved.” This is the kind of downbeat observation that no one wants to hear because it’s so [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #53 Sept-Oct 2004
Dan Bern & the IJBC – My Country II
Dan Bern is the Michael Moore of folk-rock. In other words, he advances his left-wing critique of the world not by reasoned argument and carefully sifted evidence but by irreverent mockery, freewheeling speculation and razor-sharp anger. Like Moore, he’s a jester not a journalist, a satirist not a senator; he’s Richard Pryor, not Dan Rather. [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #53 Sept-Oct 2004
Everlast – White Trash Beautiful
Previous attempts to blend hip-hop and country-rock have ranged from the amusing (Kid Rock) to the embarrassing (Bubba Sparxxx), but now someone has finally done it right. There’s nothing gimmicky about Everlast’s new album; he’s blending the genres not to be cute but to serve the fistful of terrific songs he’s written. Just as Gram [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #52 July-Aug 2004
J.J. Cale – To Tulsa And Back
They used to say that the Velvet Underground never sold many records but every record they sold inspired a new band. You could say something similar about J.J. Cale, who never moved much product but did provide the sonic blueprint for Dire Straits and Eric Clapton’s solo career. Cale’s influence can be felt not only [...]
Miked - Live Reviews from Issue #52 July-Aug 2004
Del McCoury Band / Vince Gill / Patty Loveless / Rebecca Lynn Howard – Grand Ole Opry American Road Show – York Expo Fairgrounds (York, PA)
When Del McCoury introduced his band, he pointed out that his two sons — mandolinist Ronnie and banjoist Rob — had been born a quarter-mile away at the York Hospital. Del then said hello to a dozen siblings and in-laws in the audience, making it clear this was no ordinary show for the quintet; this [...]
The Long Way Around - Feature from Issue #52 July-Aug 2004
Dave Alvin – Do look back
“Ashgrove”, the title song from Dave Alvin’s new solo album, is a salute to the Hollywood nightclub where Alvin, as a teenager, first saw Big Joe Turner, T-Bone Walker, Lightnin’ Hopkins and Reverend Gary Davis. But this is not your typical tribute tune, full of reverence and sentiment. This, like all of Alvin’s great songs, [...]
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