“Watch lights turn into stars,” Pharis Romero sings in “Hometown Blues,” the opening song on on the folk duo’s latest Lula Records release, Bet on Love. In a phrase, she encapsulates the album: cozy but curious, intimate but open, homespun but imaginative.
Broza has taken a huge leap, writing and recording an entire album of music for Spanish nylon-string guitar
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On only the second album under her own name, Cindy Cashdollar draws from her collection of steel, lap steel, tricone, resophonic, and Weissenborn guitars.
The 13th release from the Neil Young Archives since 2006, Homegrown is one of Young’s famously “lost” albums, recorded in 1974–1975.
What’s most striking on this rich, satisfying album is Jarosz’s growth as a songwriter,
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After announcing her new “Power Women of the Blues” series, snagging the 2019 Blues Music Award for Acoustic Artist of the Year, and releasing a tribute album to Bessie Smith, Rory Block is back with a follow-up that’s even better. Unlike her last seven albums, Prove It on Me isn’t…
Amazing fingerpicking on a Martin, plus looping pedals.
As the title of Steve Hicks’ Rule of Thumb indicates, the British fingerstylist’s solo showcase of old-time music is tied together by his alternating bass thumb technique,
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LJ’s takes on The Beatles never get old
In turbulent times, the mellow tones of James Taylor are a soothing balm. On American Standard, the popular singer, songwriter, and guitarist teams up with ace jazz guitarist John Pizzarelli to explore the Great American Songbook, including the rich repertoire found in such vintage musical theater hits as the Broadway…
The ten tracks vary considerably from tune to tune in terms of style, but are unified by his wondrous playing
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On his second solo album Egan adds classical, pop and progressive rock influences.
Before beginning live-on-the floor sessions for The Django Experiment V, Stephane Wrembel recorded Django L’Impressionniste, an album-length interpretation of 17 little-known Django Reinhardt solo pieces.
The lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of Trampled by Turtles has finally released an album under his own name.
Gunn draws on jazz, flamenco, and Travis-style fingerpicking to tell a series of impressionist stories
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The New York-based singer-songwriter transcends titles like songwriter or poet.
The quietness of the production makes these songs feel especially brittle and heart-worn, as if there’s nothing left for Kenneth Pattengale and Joey Ryan to hide.
Billy StringsHome(Rounder) Home begins with 30 seconds of down-tempo guitar arpeggio and fiddle birdsong. It ends with the full quartet—Billy Strings (guitar), Billy Failing (banjo), Royal Massat (upright bass), and Jarrod Walker (mandolin)—crashing through a cover of Bill Monroe’s “Big Sandy River.” In between, there’s an hour of bluegrass played…
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To say Hot Club of Cowtown—guitarist Whit Smith, fiddler and vocalist Elana James, and upright bassist Jake Erwin—explores the past on their new album, Wild Kingdom (Gold Strike) is an understatement: one of the CD’s 11 originals, “Caveman,” imagines a prehistoric character who becomes famous for his cave paintings.
If Livin’ with the Blues Again had been released in 1969 instead of 2019, Mary Flower might have been mentioned in the same breath as Stefan Grossman, Duck Baker, and other fingerstyle players of approximately her generation.
Parr returns to some songs he’d written years earlier, determined to “live through them again, and take them apart, and put them together.”
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Ickes and Hensley are clearly made for each other, and over time they’ve learned how to bring out their one-upping best.
Altiplano takes a relatively minimalist approach to revisiting and reinventing the Andean music of his homeland
Melodic Moments flit through multitracked acoustics in meditative grooves
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Who knew Frédéric Chopin could be so funky
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