I have three friends who have yet to steer me wrong (at least with music). All are Boston-to-Nashville transplants, so when they each sang praises of Bostonian Dennis Brennan, I listened. They were right, again: Brennan’s new Upstart disc mixes Motown, Buck Owens and the Rolling Stones in a way that’s reminiscent of early GP [...]

On this recording, Sonny George (formerly of the Planet Rockers) uses some of Nashville’s finest players — guitarists Kenny Vaughn (currently touring with Kim Richey), and George Bradfute (Webb Wilder), drummer Steve Ebe (George Ducas), bassist Preston Rumbaugh (Radio Kings), and multi-instrumentalist Fats Kaplin on pedal steel and fiddle. Los Straitjackets players Eddie Angel and [...]

This six-song disc opens with “Cactus Wine”, which on first listen sounds like a Texas fat string shuffle. But there’s more to it than that: Lots of twang and an unexpected modulation before the chorus make this a pretty cool song. The second song, a cover of Steve Earle’s “The Rain Came Down”, is pretty [...]