THE GRAHAMS AND FRIENDS Live In Studio
When we reviewed husband and wife Americana duo Alyssa and Doug Graham’s studio album Glory Bound last year – a ‘good time’ release that retraced the railroad lines that created the Americana musical landscape, a simultaneous release was Rattle The Hocks – a documentary and live album which chronicled their train bound excursions tracing their Americana roots.
Live in The Studio (with friends) revisits those releases – live in the studio, with some of the finest talents in folk/Americana, including Sara and Sean Watkins (The Watkins Family), Cody and Luther Dickinson (North Mississippi Allstars), and John C Stubblefield and Rick Steff (Lucero).
Breathing fresh life into such recently recorded material seems unusual, but there’s a freshness, immediacy, and vibrancy to the recordings, unquestionably enriched by the ‘friends’ contributions over a five day studio free for all. ‘Tender Annabelle’ featuring the vocals of John Fullbright is particularly noteworthy.
Like Glory Bound, Live In The Studio, covers the gamut of country rock, blues, honky-tonk, country, folk and gospel, and The Grahams will be in the UK to promote it in February-March 2017. ***
Review by Pete Whalley
CHRIS MURPHY The Tinker’s Dream
An album of original Irish fiddle music wouldn’t normally get within a cat’s whisker of a GRTR! review.
So what’s different about the latest offering from Chris Murphy? Well, for a start, Chris isn’t Irish. But he does have Irish blood in his veins – born into an Irish-Italian family near New York City.
And he was influenced by ‘rockers’ such as Lou Reed, Ry Cooder, Bob Dylan, Richard Thompson and Jackson Browne’s fiddle and lap steel player David Lindley. That’s as well as absorbing local music as eclectic as Italian-mandolin music, bluegrass, folk, and Latin music.
With 25 years recording under his belt, The Tinker’s Dream is what you might call ‘traditional’ fare – reels, jigs and waltzes with a couple of songs thrown in for good measure with plenty of violins, mandolins, bodhrain, bouzoukis and uilleann pipes on hand.
Some of the moodier pieces – the air ‘Union Of The Seven Brothers’ and the slow air ‘Gibraltar 1988′ for example – are quite lovely and wouldn’t be out of place in a Capercaillie set, or even a Poldark soundtrack.
But for the most part, there are no ‘crossover’ aspects and The Tinker’s Dream is one for purists. And for that reason, from a GRTR! perspective, I’m only able to award it. **1/2
Review by Pete Whalley
Featured Artist: JOSH TAERK
Since early 2020 Josh has been entertaining us with exclusive monthly live sessions, streamed via Facebook.
Next session: Sunday 19 January
Check out videos here: https://www.facebook.com/getreadytorockradio
David Randall presents a weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio, Sundays at 22:00 GMT, repeated on Mondays and Fridays), when he invites listeners to ‘Assume The Position’. The show signposts forthcoming gigs and tours and latest additions at getreadytorock.com. First broadcast on 1 December 2024.
UK Blues Broadcaster of the Year (2020 and 2021 Finalist) Pete Feenstra presents his weekly Rock & Blues Show on Tuesday at 19:00 GMT as part of a five hour blues rock marathon “Tuesday is Bluesday at GRTR!”. The show is repeated on Wednesdays at 22:00, Fridays at 20:00). This show was first broadcast 3 December 2024.
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More information and links at our radio website where you can listen again to shows via the presenter pages: getreadytorockradio.com
Power Plays w/c 9 December 2024
In this sequence we play ‘The Best of 2024′ GRTR! reviewer selections
Featured Albums w/c 9 December 2024
09:00-12:00 The Best of 2024 (Melodic Rock)
12:00-13:00 The Best of 2003-2024 (Melodic Hard Rock)
14:00-16:00 The Best of 2024 (Singer Songwriter)
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