Michelle Malone Stronger Than You Think SBS Records By Al Kaufman “Mature” is a tricky world in the music business. It’s often code for “losing your edge,” or “quietly slipping off into adult contemporary oblivion.” Michelle Malone’s last two albums, 2012’s Day 2, and 2014’s Acoustic Winter could both be considered “mature” albums in the […]
By Al Kaufman Back in 1985, you really couldn’t be much cooler than Lloyd Cole, his album with the Commotions, Rattlesnakes, spawned the alternative hits “Perfect Skin.” “Forest Fire,” and “Are You Ready to be Heartbroken?”. He was a mod Brit who possessed Elvis Costello’s wit and gift for wordplay without the bile, and Bryan […]
By Al Kaufman Concrete Blonde’s “Joey” is the type of song that, when it comes on the radio, people stop what they are doing and listen. If there is a group of people, and they happen to have a few beers in them, they try to hit all the high notes. Johnette Napolitano, lead singer […]
By Al Kaufman Listening to Black Lillies’ third CD, Runaway Freeway Blues, is akin to transporting oneself through large country roads in Middle America. That’s due in no small part to Cruz Contreras, founder, singer and songwriter of the band. When Contreras’ marriage to Robinella Bailey of funky bluegrass Robinella and the CCstringband dissolved […]
By Al Kaufman Darrell Scott is a musician’s musician. He has played with everyone and written songs for more people than that. The Dixie Chicks cover of his “Long Time Gone” earned him a 2003 Grammy nomination for Best Country Song. His 2009 single, “It’s a Great Day to Be Alive,” was chosen by American […]
By Al Kaufman Amelia Meath and Nick Sanborn are like oil and water. They do not mix, but when they try lots of pretty swirling colors are the result. The duo that comprises Sylvan Esso came to be when Meath, who was singing in the Appalachian band Mountain Man, asked Sanborn, who was playing bass […]
By Al Kaufman Seth Walker likes to go where the music is. The North Carolina native has bedded down in Austin and Nashville before reaching his current destination, New Orleans. At each stop, Walker has absorbed the scene and incorporated it into his music, which now includes great storytelling, big guitars, Gospel-tinged blues, some Texas […]
By Al Kaufman Christopher Denny is the ultimate music redemption story. In a childhood full of poverty, instability, and self-destructive behavior by the people around him in Little Rock, Arkansas, Denny turned to two things, drugs and the guitar. Fresh out of high school, armed with a love of Southern rock and a strong, warbly […]
By Al Kaufman We hear often about the woman behind the man, but occasionally it is worth it to hear about the men behind the women. With Wildewoman, indie-pop band Lucius quickly became known for the infectious harmonies of lead singers Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig, the two friends and Berklee grads who often dress […]
By Al Kaufman Elephant Revival is not your typical band. While a typical band may revolve around the music it creates, Elephant Revival revolves around the music that is in nature and the cosmos. Their goal is to live in harmony with that nature; to create one world through music. A little too metaphysical for […]
By Al Kaufman Back in 1989, when country music stars were pseudo-cowboys wearing oversized hats, a band formed in Miami, fronted by a Cuban-American who sounded like Roy Orbison’s long lost kid brother. They called themselves The Mavericks, but nobody knew what to call their music. They were country, but because they infused their music […]
By Al Kaufman Like his friends Todd Snider and Hayes Carll, Will Kimbrough is a man who can tell a magical story about everyday people doing everyday things in four minutes or less. Sometimes the story is funny, sometimes it is sad. Sometimes it is both. But it is always insightful. It is always clever […]
By Al Kaufman Atlanta’s Nine Times Blue have made quite a name for themselves. Besides their raucous live shows at Smith’s Olde Bar, they released Falling Slowly in 2012. The Grammy-winning Don McCallister-produced album garnered the hit single, “Falling Slowly.” The guitar fueled, power-pop quartet follow that up with a six-song EP, Matter of Time. […]
By Al Kaufman It’s been a busy year for Atlanta’s preeminent blues mama, Michelle Malone. While she spent the whole year on tour behind 2012’s Day 2 album, she also found time to collaborate with Rocky Mountain Slides to make a guitar slide bearing her name. And, more importantly, she just put the finishing touches […]
By Al Kaufman For all intents and purposes, let’s begin by assuming that Jess Wolfe and Holly Laessig are sisters, twin sisters even. So while they are not related and met while majoring in voice at the Berklee College of Music, they dress alike, look alike (when they wear the same wigs and make-up), and […]
Have Your Say (Latest Comments)