Almost half a century after her landmark recording with the late Max Roach, Abbey Lincoln’s voice remains as beguiling and insistent as ever. Abbey Sings Abbey is retrospective in that the tracklist draws from her vast catalogue, but this is no stroll down memory lane. Lincoln conducts a master class in phrasing, this time to [...]

A select few musicians have, while exploring their own unique sound, plugged into traditional music at its spiritual core (Duke Ellington would probably head the list). For almost three decades and dozens of recordings, that vital connection has energized the music of Doyle Lawson. Alternating of late between gospel and secular recordings while marshaling an [...]

Avoiding the shortcuts and vanity pitfalls that plague many self-released projects, Jeffrey Dean Foster delivers a strong personal statement with wide-ranging appeal on Million Star Hotel. The foundation is classic rock — a musical antiquity for some — but like Jeff Tweedy, Foster knows how to sweep out the cobwebs and rattle-test the walls. The [...]

It’s a time of uncertainty in the music business. Caught between risking some off-the-wall experiment or cranking out “Listen As I Repeat Myself”, artists and their art drift toward the half-hearted. Refreshingly, Sarah Harmer just digs deeper and discovers, with each new album, elements of a voice that can last. Unlike her previous two discs [...]