| Kelly Kessler-"The Salt of your skin"(Melungeon Records) "No depression" music from the former Texas Rubies vocalist. There's something for everyone : slow folky ballads("The salt of your skin", "Back he flew away") Gillian Welchlike("Eastlake", "Can't go home", "One true way" with Robbie Fulks), bluegrass("This is gonna hurt your more"), Rock'n & roll("Your darling ain't done shit today" with Lonesome Bob), GP & ELHarrisballad("Meet me tonight at the landfill"), country ballad("Well of tears") and a jazzy cover of "You are my sunshine". A real treat for the "No Depression" fan. www.kellykessler.com |
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| Stratochief- "In search of the seven foot woman"(Bobby Dazzler Records) Rocking country sounds from this 8-piece Canadian band. They vary uptempo songs("Brother 12", "Tennessee") with midtempo ones("Put your diamond in the drawer","Temptation") and ballads("Kitchen clock"). Absolute highlights are "Shoelace Easy" and "Hooray for beer". Four members sing but it's Linda Feijo's voice which strikes me the most. They use the traditional rootsy instruments as steel,fiddle,accordian and mandolin. Don't stop your cd after track 10 because there's a great bonus-track following. www.stratochief.ca |
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| Coal Palace Kings -"Upstate" (Kranepool Records) Another great band of the New York area. Although CPK had a bit of a punk history, there's not much left of that on their latest cd. Alt. country-rock with up-tempo tracks("Bend in the river", "Stubborn", "Doreen") , mid-tempo("Cecil King") and ballads("Should've been loved"). Highlights are "Stoneytown", "When blankets fail", "One million meadows" and "Cascade". Most of the songs are written by Howe Glassman. Recommended to all country-rock lovers. www.coalpalacekings.com |
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| Lisa O'Kane - "Am I too blue" - Raisin' Kane Music Lisa is a great country singer, who grew up in California's Yosemite Valley, a place I was lucky enough to visit a couple of times. She picks the songs out of that great bag of bluegrass, folk, traditional country and modern singer-songwriters and brings songs of John Prine, Hank Williams, Lucinda Williams and K.T. Oslin amongst others. She got some help of great L.A. musicians like Taras Prodaniuk, Skip Edwards, Scott Joss, Tom Corbett and Billy Watts. The whole cd is a chain of highlights and it's hard to believe that no major never noticed this great talent. www.lisaokane.com [email protected] |
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| Davin James - "Magnolia" Bullnettle Records The third cd of this multi-talented Houstonian. I got acquainted with Davin as producer of Johnny Wolfe's latest cd. His cd is a collection of southern music as country-rock("I thought she'd think", "Real Good Night" and "Washed in the blood") Texas country honky-tonk("Heaven on earth", "The one that got away") Southern rock("Ten foot pole", "Rolling Dice") New Orleans blues("Mardi gras mamma") and jazzy ballad("Dream girl"). His voice reminds me a bit of John Hiatt. www.davinjames.com |