In 1981, I had just turned 30 and, like most know-nothing twenty-somethings, I thought I knew it all. (Now, of course, at 60, I realize I’m just starting to learn.) Disappointed in how punk rock splintered off into so many factions, disgusted with the dearth of good new rock…

Beautiful. Simply beautiful. Guitarist John Scofield has followed up 2009’s jazz-gospel Piety Street with a lovely excursion into balladry:  From McCartney’s “I Will” and Gershwin’s “I Loves You Porgy” to Carla Bley’s “Lawns” and Billy Eckstine’s “I Want To Talk About You.” Add five originals, including the Bach tribute…

There’s a reason New York City singer/songwriter/multi-instrumentalist Sheri Miller got the best of the best to back her up on her five-song EP. She’s that good. With the chutzpah to reach out to producer Kevin Killen (U2) and assemble a dream-team like bassist Will Lee (The Fab Faux), drummer…

Totally odd yet mesmerizing, imagine 12 of the greatest songs by The Doors—with no keyboards!—reconfigured, re-imagined, rearranged and turned inside-out as backporch bluegrassy stringband jams. It’s as if they sucked the innards out of such time-tested gems as “The End,” “Soul Kitchen,” “Break On Through,” “Light My Fire,” “Strange…

Guitarist Keb Mo bends those notes in a Memphis hot stew and when he starts singin’ there’s an inherent joyousness in his voice. When the girls come in to add some vocal sugar, he slides those notes like JJ Cale; understated, distinctly discreet, the effect on “The Whole Enchilada”…

If you believe The Summer Set (singer Brian Dales, guitarists John Gomez/Josh Montgomery, bassist Stephen Gomez and drummer Jess Bowen), then everything’s fine. As produced by John Fields (Jimmy Eat World, Jonas Brothers, Switchfoot, Andrew W.K.), the sound of this record veers into light pop with the breezy air…

It’s amazing to me the alternative reportage this newspaper pioneered in the 1990s. The Aquarian Weekly was always progressive, radical even. We’ve been arguing for the legalization of marijuana since the ‘70s, an idea whose time may have finally come. We supported Fred Harris for President in 1976. Harris,…

As with most uneven tribute albums, the 19-tracks here are wildly diverse, many memorable, and some unlistenable. Surprisingly, Sir Paul McCartney’s “It’s So Easy” leads the negative ranks in its over-the-top spoken-word rants and near death-metal bellows! It’s as if the producers told him, “Now listen Sir Paul, this…

The 1990s were a time of political turmoil (when wasn’t?) as the Conservative Christian Coalition unveiled a “Contract With Families” at the same time that one of its heroes, Senator Phil Gramm (a Presidential hopeful back then) was discovered to have invested in a soft-core porno film called Truck…

BETHLEHEM, PA—The Taj Mahal Trio cakewalked into town on a hot July night and got the locals all revved up with pure blues fervor. Hey, we may not have Muddy Waters, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Howling Wolf, John Lee Hooker, Mississippi John Hurt, Mississippi Fred McDowell, Rev. Gary Davis, Son House…