“Texas Twist”
Roy Clark
The Lightning Fingers of Roy Clark
1962
Razor & Tie
It is very difficult to find a quality, start-to-finish, example of just how great of a musician Roy Clark was. Anything with strings on it was Clark’s domain but he was at his best on the guitar. It blows my mind that no one pinned him down for a high quality recording of him sharing his talent. This album isn’t the greatest album but it is about as good of a capture of what Clark can do as there is out there.

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“Beautiful Flowers”
Watchhouse
Watchhouse
2021
Tiptoe Tiger Music
Let’s get it out of the way up front. If you didn’t know, Mandolin Orange changed their name to Watchhouse and everyone is talking about it. OK, moving on. I caught them at an outdoor concert at The Botanical Gardens in Boise, Idaho back in August. They were a 6-piece and delivered like they always do. Andrew Marlin was his typical [ahem] ball of excitement at the helm and Emily Frantz the steady co-pilot. They stayed close to the new, nine-song self-titled release, but added previous Mandolin Orange material as well. It was a fabulous night!



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“Shaking as it Turns”
Lula Wiles
What Will We Do
2019
Smithsonian Folkways
Eleanor Buckland, Mali Obomsawin, and Isa Burke collectively form the Boston based folk trio of Lula Wiles. Their name formed from a twist on a Carter Family tune, the trio found themselves on the Smithsonian Folkways label for What Will We Do, their second album. “Shaking As It Turns” adds percussion and a hint of amplification to form a slick and muscular, pop-tinged, folk tunes about the dichotomies of the world and the power that those opposites fuel.

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“Adeline”
The Dip
The Dip Delivers
2019
Released independently
A Seattle septet, The Dip offers up modern soul and R&B. The Dip Delivers was released without the constraints of a label, just open and free to deliver what one wishes. And deliver they do! The album includes ten tracks that never leave the aforementioned modern soul and R&B, but at times, feels awfully close. Big rhythm and horns push the up front organ and guitar to provide the groove to the songs of love found, love slipping and love just completely lost.

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“You’ll Get Yours Aplenty”
Blaze Foley
Duct Tape Messiah
2011
Eliterecords
I am a huge fan of Blaze Foley, his music and the story that is Blaze Foley and this soundtrack is about a fulfilling as any Foley release could be. Well, sort of. It would be better if the Duct Tape Messiah were still with us, but that is beyond our reach. Foley, named the Duct Tape Messiah for his penchant of repairing his shoes with the utility tape, was a troubadour’s troubadour if there ever were one. From Austin, TX and quite possibly the friend of all musicians to stumble out of that songwriter scene from the late 60’s to the mid 80’s. He was a legend in Austin, but due to self-destructive habits, that was about as far as his influence went. Quite unfortunate as he was an great songwriter!

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“Dreamer”
Scott Hirsch, Kelly McFarling
Windless Day
2021
Echo Magic Records

Original founding member of Hiss Golden Messenger, Scott Hirsch offers up a cruiser. One of those tunes you put on, turn up, roll the windows down and head out on the two-lanes. “Dreamer” is a part of a larger effort that is on the way but released as a single. Think a heaping dose of Wilco flavored with a little Gram Parsons.

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“Awful Mean”
Paul Chambers
Go…
1959
Vee Jay records
Acclaimed bassist Paul Chambers welcomes saxophonist Cannonball Adderley and trumpeter Freddie Hubbard to join Wynton Kelly on piano and Philly Joe Jones on drums to round out this 1959 hard bop release. Hubbard was cutting his teeth on the front line of this lineup but the rest of the lineup minus Jones had been the rhythm section for Miles Davis. The original release from 1959 is a great project but if you can find the 1997 reissue, the second disc comes with a bunch of outtakes that includes a lot of amazing solo’s.

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“Nardis”
Marc Johnson
Overpass
2021
ECM Records
Omaha, Nebraska native Marc Johnson loves to experiment with the bass and its role within in a song. When he played with the Bill Evans Trio he would present the bass in the lead role for this Miles Davis cover. So, here he comes with the double bass to revisit the tune, this time, recorded in Sao Paulo, Brazil.

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“Charm School (feat. Billy Strings & Chris Thile)”
Bela Fleck
My Bluegrass Heart
2021
Renew Records
Bela Fleck has played with the very best in acoustic music throughout his career, and there are a lot of those folks appearing on this album. There’s Sam Bush, Jerry Douglas, Stuart Duncan, David Grisman, Edgar Meyer, Bryan Sutton and a whole host of others. On “Charm School,” Fleck shares the space with two of the best progressive musicians in the business in mandolinist Chris Thile and guitarist Billy Strings.
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“Church Street Blues”
The Punch Brothers
Hell On Church Street
2021
Nonesuch Records
The Punch Brothers are heady, out-there musicians. They challenge their ears at every moment which leaves us to keep up and sometimes get lost right beside them. Leave it to these guys to reinterpret the music of guitar legend Tony Rice. Guitarist Chris Eldridge had forged a friendship with Rice and called him “the greatest bluegrass guitar player to ever live.” Yep, this is carnal music but if you hold on tight, it’s a new and fun route around the title cut to Tony Rice’s 1983 release. Written by Norman Blake, “Church Street Blues” was an ode to the area just west of the popular and touristy sections of downtown Nashville. Originally released on Blake’s 1976 Whisky Before Breakfast, it was Tony Rice that brought the song to bluegrass on his album by the same name.

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