Time Reveals Changes in Son House’s Approach on 1964 Recording ‘Forever on My Mind’
The 8 performances on Forever on my Mind, recorded live at Wabash College in 1964, are so different, they force us to rethink everything we know we about him.
Kenny Berkowitz
Trevor Gordon Hall Crafts Expressive Instrumentals from a Variety of Guitars on ‘This Beautiful Chaos’
Using six guitars—a nylon-string crossover, a baritone, a Portuguese viola amarantina, steel-string acoustics, and an electric—Hall switches between solo and multitracking and different tunings.
ADVERTISEMENT
Aoife O’Donovan’s ‘Age of Apathy’ is an Introspective Album Completely of Its Time
Aoife O’Donovan's Age of Apathy is a different kind of pandemic album: engaged, ambitious, expansive.
Paul Thorn’s ‘Never Too Late to Call’ is His Most Stirring Album Yet
There’s no one else like Paul Thorn, a walking contradiction with an honest sense of his shortcomings, an insistent moral compass, and a healthy dose of country funk.
Buffalo Nichols’ Blues Guitar Hits Hard in this Acoustic Guitar Sessions In Place Performance
Buffalo Nichols is writing songs that channel the music he heard growing up into a deeply lived vision focused on “putting more Black stories” into acoustic blues.
ADVERTISEMENT
Sarah McQuaid’s ‘The St. Buryan Sessions‘ Is a Beautiful Reimagination of Her Finest Songs
In the cavernous 15th-century St. Buryan’s Church, McQuaid collected two decades of songs and reimagined them into the strongest album of her career
Thoughtful Old-Time and Newgrass Ideas Coalesce on Eli West’s ‘Tapered Point of Stone’
There’s an architectural quality to Eli West's Tapered Point of Stone, a careful sense of craft that methodically builds from one note and one instrument to the next.
John Hiatt and the Jerry Douglas Band Shine on ‘Leftover Feelings’
The settings in Leftover Feelings, recorded live in Nashville’s historic RCA Studio B, find the middle ground between wisdom and cleverness, country and bluegrass.
ADVERTISEMENT
‘Mande Guitar: African Guitar Series’ is a Revelatory Album From True Master Boubacar ‘Badian’ Diabaté
There’s plenty of awesome to go around on Boubacar "Badian" Diabaté's "Mande Guitar," the first album released on Banning Eyre’s Lion Songs Records.
Vivian Leva & Riley Calcagno Dig Deep into Country and Old-time Roots
Both have been steeped in Appalachian music for as long as they’ve been alive, and each comes to this music with a determination to dig deep.
M. Ward’s ‘Think of Spring’ Is a Stripped-down Take on a Billie Holiday Classic
This albums features a handful of open tunings recorded to 4-track
ADVERTISEMENT
Album Review: Pierre Bensusan Reimagines His Guitar as an Orchestra on Beautiful ‘Aswan’
Bensusan’s touch keeps growing increasingly subtle, and it’s steadily matched by the responsiveness of his 1978 Lowden, producing a variety of tones and textures along the spectrum.
David Broza’s ‘en Casa Limón’ Moves from Flamenco to Swing to Jazz and Pop
Broza has taken a huge leap, writing and recording an entire album of music for Spanish nylon-string guitar
Album Review: Acoustic Blues Titan Rory Block Broadens Her Focus on ‘Prove It on Me’
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.…
Album Review: Hiroya Tsukamoto’s Brilliant ‘Window to the World’
Amazing fingerpicking on a Martin, plus looping pedals.
ADVERTISEMENT
Justin Townes Earle on Songwriting, His Idiosyncratic Fingerpicking Style, and Battling Personal Demons
[Ed. Note: Singer/songwriter Justin Townes Earle passed away on August 23, 2020, at the age of 38. Earle last sat with Acoustic Guitar’s Kenny Berkowitz for an extended conversation in 2012. Here is that interview.] As the son of Steve Earle, Justin Townes…
Dave Simonett’s ‘Red Tail’ is Full of Revealing, Plainspoken Honesty
The lead singer, guitarist, and songwriter of Trampled by Turtles has finally released an album under his own name.
Album Review: The Milk Carton Kids Return to Spare Acoustic Sound on ‘The Only Ones’
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.
ADVERTISEMENT
Album Review: Billy Strings’ ‘Home’ Moves Beyond Bluegrass
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…
Ace Fingerpicker Charlie Parr Revisits His Catalog on Self-Titled Album
Parr returns to some songs he’d written years earlier, determined to “live through them again, and take them apart, and put them together.”
Album Review: Scorching Guitar-Dobro Combo of Rob Ickes and Trey Hensley Live In a ‘World Full of Blues’
Ickes and Hensley are clearly made for each other, and over time they’ve learned how to bring out their one-upping best.
ADVERTISEMENT
Catfish Keith Plays Some Smokin’ Guitar on ‘Reefer Hound: Viper Songs Revisited’
At 21, Keith Kozacik recorded his first song about smoking dope, and three decades later, he’s still going strong
The Andrew Collins Trio Spreads Its Wings Wide on Double Album ‘Tongue & Groove’
This double set of 11 vocal songs (Tongue) and 11 instrumentals (Groove) is the best of both worlds
Album Review: Hayes Carll ‘What It Is’
With Hayes Carll's dust-dry Texas delivery, this album knows how to rock when it needs to rock, dance when it needs to dance, and lean in close when he needs to promise.
ADVERTISEMENT
10 Music Festivals You Must Attend At Least Once
Here are ten musical festivals to put on your bucket list (plus, an idea for creating the eleventh...)
