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Listen: Dr. John's Locked Down

Monday, May 7, 2012
Locked DownDr. John (Nonesuch Records, 2012)In the deranged days of 1968, New Orleans musician Mac Rebennack decided to join the fun by dubbing himself Dr. John the Night Tripper, taking to the stage in a Mardi Gras Indian-inspired costume and making music thoroughly marinated in his hometown’s Afro-Caribbean musical traditions and religious lore. In the decades that followed, Dr.

Listen: New Multitudes

Saturday, April 7, 2012
Listen: New Multitudes
Jay Farrar, Jim James, et al. (Rounder Records, 2012)When the American folk icon Woody Guthrie died in 1967, he left behind reams of song lyrics but no music for them. During the past two decades his daughter, Nora Guthrie, has invited contemporary artists to put music to those orphaned lyrics and record the results.

Listen: Temple Beautiful

Monday, March 12, 2012
Listen: Temple Beautiful
Chuck Prophet (Yep Roc, 2012)Chuck Prophet has been known in the alt-rock world since the mid-1980s when he signed on as chief guitar-slinger for a great alt-country ensemble, Green on Red. Since then Prophet has managed to stay self-employed as a solo artist, session man, producer, and songwriter.

Listen: The Harrow & The Harvest

Friday, February 3, 2012
Listen: The Harrow & The Harvest
The Harrow & The HarvestGillian Welch (Acony Records, 2011)Gillian Welch has described the 10 songs on The Harrow & The Harvest as “10 kinds of miserable.” And that’s pretty accurate.

Listen: Working in Tennessee

Tuesday, December 13, 2011
Listen: Working in Tennessee
Working in TennesseeMerle Haggard (Vanguard Records, 2011)Merle Haggard has been a monument of American culture for almost 50 years. His life story is the stuff of myth. He really did grow up dirt poor in a home his father made from an old boxcar. He really did do hard time in San Quentin prison for armed robbery.

Listen: A Dreamer's Christmas

Monday, December 12, 2011
Listen: A Dreamer's Christmas
A Dreamer's ChristmasBy John Zorn (Tzadik, 2011)If Christmas has something to do with wonder and the joy of the unexpected then news of John Zorn making a Christmas album should stir inordinate Christmas spirit. After all, what could be more unexpected than an avant-garde jazz musician known for discordant noise foraying into that most conventional of musical genres, the Christmas album?

The King of In Between

Sunday, August 14, 2011
The King of In Between
Garland Jeffreys (Luna Park Records, 2011)OK, so the guy’s 68 years old, and it’s been about 15 years since his last record. And his sound is still anchored to a guitar-centered rock/reggae/soul amalgam he forged 37 years ago. “So?” as they would have said in Garland Jeffreys’ old Brooklyn neighborhood, “You wanna make something of it?

Hard Bargain

Monday, July 11, 2011
Hard Bargain
Hard BargainEmmylou Harris (Nonesuch Records, 2011)Emmylou Harris’ Hard Bargain is the joyous, bittersweet album that a 64-year-old country-rock legend should make.

Collapse into Now

Thursday, May 26, 2011
Collapse into Now
    Collapse into nowR.E.M. (Nonesuch Records, 2011)

KMAG YOYO

Monday, May 23, 2011
KMAG YOYO
    KMAG YOYOHayes Carll (Lost High, 2011)

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