Counting Crows is a great band that has prospered while attracting the slings and arrows of critics and hipsters alike. My theory is that because the Crows emerged amidst the raw reverberations of early-’90s grunge, their classic-rock instrumental expertise and singer-songwriter Adam Duritz’s moody, melodic gifts were deemed suspect, if not downright square. The Crows [...]

Beautiful is the work of a singer who’s seen (and sung) it all. By the time Bonnie Bramlett gained prominence in the late 1960s as half of the rootsy duo Delaney & Bonnie, she’d already sung behind Albert King and Little Milton, not to mention a stint as an Ikette with Ike & Tina Turner. [...]

Van Morrison is the kind of superlative singer who justifies the cliché about the artist who “could sing the phone book.” The songs on Keep It Simple are certainly better than names and numbers, though none of them rank with Morrison’s best. To be fair, competing with one’s finest work is a Herculean challenge for [...]

Shine is Joni Mitchell’s first new collection of songs in nine years, and she’s apparently been feeding her muse with boatfuls of bile about mall-bound yokels who yack into their cell phones while remaining oblivious to the fact that men keep waging war and that money, cars, and other evils are making the world go [...]

It’s good fun to hear a superior musician cover great tunes written by others; indeed, before the rock era, interpretations were a singer’s bread and butter. These days, when a singer-songwriter tackles previously recorded songs, the results can also reveal a lot about the artist behind the microphone. New country collections by Raul Malo and [...]

Ryan Adams has never been one to hide his influences, and on his ninth solo album, he favors Harvest-era Neil Young, with a bit of Jerry Garcia in the guitar lines. Easy Tiger is arguably Adams’ most consistent and varied effort since Gold, though it still might leave you wanting a little more. Adams has [...]

John Prine and Mac Wiseman are not average people, and the songs they’ve chosen for this low-key collection are hardly standard. Prine is famous for a superior catalogue of songs with lyrics that boast a wry sensibility and emotional acuity. Wiseman, who turns 82 in May, is known for his mellow tenor voice, which first [...]