Spins: Los Blancos

I caught this hardworking upstate NY band last night and loved their blend of blues, soul, zydeco--brought back happy memories of Little Feat and the Subdudes. Colin Aberdeen anchors Los Blancos with his soulful vocals and understated guitar, a plugged-in adaptation of acoustic blues fingerpicking. Add sweet accordion playing from Mark Nanni and the fine grooves of Steven T. Winston on bass and Mark Tiffault on drums... They've played countless shows and have totally meshed.

Los Blancos has a new CD called Just This Once. Check them out on MySpace and on their home page.

Spins: Rani Arbo & Daisy Mayhem, Big Old Life

This great string band is back with more groove-oriented roots music, from gospel to old-time, bluegrass to swing. A few years back Rani was diagnosed with cancer, just after giving birth to her first child, and their new music is all about finding joy in hard times. (She's recovered, and the band is on the circuit this summer.) The title track is just classic--check it out on their MySpace page.

A few years back, the band was featured in my All Things Considered story about a music hall in Indiana Amish country. Listen to the story at NPR's site.

Spins: Eric Bibb

I opened a show last night for folk/bluesman Eric Bibb, and it was a pleasure to hear his smooth, soulful renditions of songs from Taj Mahal and Rev. Gary Davis along with original tunes. I was particularly struck by his version of "No More Cane on the Brazos," a Texas work song collected back in the '30s by John Lomax. Since songs like that were originally sung unaccompanied, they're wide open to interpretation for an instrumentalist, and I loved Eric's jazzy harmonization on the guitar.

More about Eric Bibb.

Spins: The Ditty Bops, Moon Over the Freeway

This young duo got plenty of press last summer for touring the country by bicycle, but the music is the real story. Amanda Barrett and Abby DeWald play a fresh and irresistible blend of swing, Tin Pan Alley, ragtime... Breezy and playful, wordy and witty, they come across sorta like the Roches in cowboy hats playing a swing dance. The instrumental backing is understated and sweet too, in particular Abby DeWald's agile acoustic guitar.

Read more about the Ditty Bops.

Spins: Radio Paradise

A friend recently pointed me to this Internet station, which streams a very satisfying mix of rock, pop, and world music, old and new. So much of the Internet is about serving ever-narrower niche interests, and I appreciate this station's eclectic DJ-driven approach, a throwback to the dimly remembered days of free-form FM radio. The playlist includes some artists and songs I know, some I don't, but all are clearly filtered through a music lover's taste--not chosen to target a marketing category. For those with fast connections, the 192k MP3 stream sounds awfully good too...

Check it out: www.radioparadise.com. (It's free, and no registration is required.)

Spins: Beth Nielsen Chapman, Hymns

Sad to say, but worthy and even great CDs can languish in the teetering stacks of CDs received by just about every music journalist. So it is with this 2004 CD, which finally made it into my player and...wow. Absolutely gorgeous choral arrangements, backed by lovely classical guitar and strings. Sung almost entirely in Latin. I wasn't raised Catholic, as she was, but this music carried me away today and helped raise my spirits in a tough week in my extended family. Thank you, Beth.

More on Beth Nielsen Chapman at her site.

Spins: the Duhks, Crooked Still

Seems like every time I turn around I find another cool CD by a young string band making some kind of merger of trad tunes and rock. Nickel Creek (a band I've covered over the years for both NPR and Acoustic Guitar)...the Mammals (whose last CD I reviewed here a few months back)...

And now comes Migrations, from the high-energy Canadian band the Duhks, with strong threads of gospel, plus a seductive CD called Shaken by a Low Sound, from Crooked Still, with nice softspoken vocals from Aoife O'Donovan and fabulous cello playing by Rushad Eggleston (also heard in Darol Anger's Republic of Strings).



It's great to hear both rock energy infused into traditional tunes, and also rock tunes played by musicians with a real feel for tradition.

Spins: Joan Osborne, Pretty Little Stranger

I perked up to find this advance CD in my mail (release date 11/14/06 on Vanguard). Osborne has such powerful pipes, but I'm sorry to report they're not put to good use here. There's something way too clean and clinical about the country-rock production, by Steve Buckingham. It's the sound of hired hands who are competently doing their jobs--no sweat or grit to bring out the bluesy edge in Osborne's voice.

The disc includes a cover of "Brokedown Palace"--one of my personal favorites from the Grateful Dead catalog (Osborne has been appearing with Phil Lesh et al. in recent years). But this version somehow lacks the feeling of wonder that makes the original so transporting...


A far more satisfying recent Dead cover, btw, is Catherine Russell's version of "New Speedway Boogie" on Cat. Sweet acoustic blues groove and in-the-pocket vocals, well worth checking out. Russell is a seasoned backup singer (Steely Dan, David Bowie), and Cat is her debut.

Chris Thile...and other instrumentalists without limits

Listening to Chris Thile's new bluegrass-rooted CD How to Grow a Woman from the Ground prompted me to think about musicians who seem to be able to play absolutely anything their imaginations can conjure...and who have extraordinary musical imaginations (the ability to play anything isn't worth much if you don't have anything to say). I'm not talking so much about the ability to play fast--lots of people can do that--but about musicians who have completely bridged the gap between brain and fingers.

Thile undoubtedly belongs on that list--he's one of the most explosive instrumentalists I've ever heard. Who else? Here's a small start.

Chris Thile
Pat Metheny
Kelly Joe Phelps
Zakir Hussain (tabla)
Jerry Douglas
Keith Jarrett

Spins: Corinne Bailey Rae

This young soul-jazz singer from the U.K. released her self-titled debut Stateside on Capitol earlier this year. Check out the performances on the VH-1 "You Oughta Know" page (under the heading "Watch 'Em")--in particular the live video of "Like a Star." Sweet jazzy acoustic guitar along with the lovely vocals...

And here is her home page.

Spins: Bruce Springsteen, We Shall Overcome: The Seeger Sessions

The July issue of Acoustic Guitar includes my take on Springsteen's latest.

In acoustic music circles I've overheard a bit of grumbling about this CD--some folkies seem to resent any celebrity incursion on their territory. To me, that's a disrespectful attitude toward these incredibly sturdy old songs. My hat goes off to the Boss--and, of course, to Pete himself--for not treating trad music as a museum piece that must be handled with care.

Spins: Kris Delmhorst, Strange Conversation

I've been smitten lately with this New England singer-songwriter's fourth CD, a collection of songs inspired in various ways by poets and poetry. Songwriters will especially appreciate the opening track, "Galuppi Baldessari," in which the lyrics in one section call out the chord changes:

with the minor third so bitter
six chord like a sigh
suspension, solution
asking must we die, must we die, must we die
and the seventh says, well, fellas
life might not last, but we can try

In case you're wondering--I know I was--Baldessare was an 18th-century Venetian composer celebrated in Robert Browning's poem "A Toccata of Galuppi's"...which Delmhorst adapted for this song. If that all sounds high-brow and heavy, the song itself is anything but.

More about Kris Delmhorst and the CD here.

Spins: The Mammals, Departure

These self-styled "subversive acoustic traditionalists" beef up the rock component of their music quite a bit on this disc, with heavier electric guitar and drums alongside the core string band instrumentation. It's a great sound--deeply rooted but roaming free--matched by some fine songwriting. In a similar vein as Nickel Creek but more unruly.

I've been following the Mammals since hearing them in a cramped hotel room in Nashville several years back, during the Folk Alliance conference. I was reporting a story for NPR on the indie music business and loved the explosive energy of this band (then a trio). You can hear them playing during the close of the piece.

Download MP3s from some recent Mammals shows here.

Spins: Dixie Chicks, "Not Ready to Make Nice"

This track from the forthcoming album Taking the Long Way (due in May) responds to the hubbub a few years back about the Chicks' politics, and gives a taste of a more rocking sound that suits them quite well.

Check out the song here.

Spins: Jennifer Kimball, Oh Hear Us

It's a long-awaited treat to hear new music from this great voice of the singer-songwriter world, best known for her dynamic duo with Jonatha Brooke, the Story. Kimball made a standout solo debut in 1998 with Veering from the Wave, and Oh Hear Us continues in a similar vein with literate, gorgeously sung original songs. Producer Duke Levine plays all manner of six-string boxes on tunes that touch on pop rock, trad ballads, and even crooner jazz.

Spin tracks from the new CD, the inaugural release on Kimball's own Epoisse Records, here.

Read my feature on Kimball, from 1999, here.

Spins: Darol Anger and Mike Marshall, The Duo

I recently had the pleasure of catching the latest ensemble led by fiddler Darol Anger, the Republic of Strings. The basic concept is to take a string quartet, replace the viola with guitar (Scott Nygaard), and steer the group all over the place--Texas-style fiddle tunes, twisty neo-trad Swedish music, Brazil choro, bebop... Superb.

Meanwhile, Anger's 1983 album with Mike Marshall, The Duo, has been reissued by Rounder and spending a lot of time in my CD player. All the hallmarks of their music, together and separately, are here: stellar acoustic playing, giddy eclecticism (Bach to folk to funk), with a sense of both adventure and humor.

Find out more about Darol Anger and Republic of Strings.

Read a short review I wrote of a previous Anger and Marshall album, At Home and on the Range: The Duo Live.

Spins: Bruce Cockburn, Christmas

If I had to choose just one selection from my piles of Christmas music, Cockburn's 1993 record would probably be it. Heartfelt singing, sweet guitar arrangements of classic carols, a nice mix of familiar and obscure songs...and not a single cheesy or false note on it. Just timeless good music, well worth seeking out.

Spins: Thermal and a Quarter, Plan B

My NPR story on this Indian fusion rock band stirred intense interest--and huge numbers of (free) downloads of their latest record. Spin some tracks and you'll hear why: first-rate playing and singing in the vein of Steely Dan, the Police, and Dave Matthews, with a distinctly Indian rhythmic sophistication.

Listen to the NPR story.

And find out more about the band.

Spins: Johnny Society, Coming to Get You

Some of the best things about '70s rock--groove-heavy guitar, a touch of sweaty soul, a taste for melodic and harmonic adventure--come barreling back in this New York band. Frontman Kenny Siegal has a John Lennon-esque fire in his voice and a bag of songs that are steeped in tradition yet full of unexpected twists. (Speaking of which, Siegal shared some interesting reflections on Lennon in my recent 25th anniversary tribute.)

You can sample a few songs from Coming to Get You here. Also keep your ears peeled for Chris Whitley's gothic-rock record Reiter In, recorded with Siegal at his home studio. I heard a few tracks during the mastering session that left me hungry for more...

Spins: Ben Harper meets "Michelle"

This Bird Has Flown, a 40th anniversary remake the Beatles' Rubber Soul by various roots and rock musicians, includes a sweet cover of "Michelle" by Ben Harper. Who would have guessed that a touch of reggae would suit "Michelle" so well? Sont les mot qui vont tres bien ensemble...

You can hear the full track at the NPR site. See the link at left, under the heading "Yesterday and Today."

Spins: Skip Gorman and His Waddie Pals, Dogie Music

I'm no diehard fan of cowboy music, which often strikes me as a bit hokey. But something about this collection of cowboy songs and old-time instrumentals has kept it in regular rotation in my house for months now. Gorman is a fine fiddler, guitarist, and singer, and he and his band just get right to the heart of these tunes. Read my full review here.

Spins: Lhasa, The Living Road

I first heard Lhasa years ago at Lilith Fair, and her music has held a special place in my collection ever since. A dreamy mix of Mexican folk, Billie Holiday-esque balladry, and indie-rock atmospherics, all delivered (in Spanish and, on the new album, English and French too) in a gorgeous, sultry voice. If I had to choose one disc, I'd still opt for Lhasa's La Llorona (1998), with its strong flavors of Spanish guitar. But The Living Road is still well worth taking.

Spins: Nickel Creek, Why Should the Fire Die?

The music of this young string trio keeps getting deeper and better. High points: the acoustic rock heaviness of "When in Rome," the blazing instrumental "Scotch and Chocolate," and the sweetly sung cover of Dylan's "Tomorrow Is a Long Time."

Read my Acoustic Guitar cover story on the band, from December 2002, here.