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Gig review: SOUTH OF SALEM – Thekla, Bristol, 27 March 2025
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Tag Archives: roots
Quick plays: BRUCE COCKBURN, A BLUE FLAME, MORNING STAR

BRUCE COCKBURN Bone On Bone True North Records [Release date 15.09.17] Sounds like a name I ought to know, but maybe I’m thinking about ‘Rooster’. But, in reality, Canadian singer songwriter Bruce Cockburn sounds more like a cross between Mark … Continue reading
Album review: CIARA SIDINE – Unbroken Line

[Release date 06.10.17] The follow up to Dublin-based singer songwriter Ciara Sidine’s excellent debut Shadow Road Shining (2011) has been a while coming. Unbroken Line follows the same pattern in featuring a self-written set, with the exception of a haunting … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Americana, Ciara Sidine, review, rock, roots, singer, songwriter, Unbroken Line
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Album review: ANTHONY ROSANO AND THE CONQUEROOS – Anthony Rosano And The Conqueroos

Self release [Release date 11.04.17] Anthony Rosano & The Conqueroos hail from Virginia, so presumably the decision to hook up with producer/guitarist Mike Zito and high profile engineer David Ferrell and record in New Orleans was in the hope that … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Americana, Anders Osborne, Anthony Rosano, Anthony Rosano & The Conqueroos, blues, David Ferrell, funk, Jeremy JB Bustillos, Johnny Sansone, Michael Harvey, Mike Zito, Paul Warren, review, rock, roots, Scott Smith, southern rock, The Band, The Rolling Stones
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Quick plays: MATISYAHU, DAVID RAMIREZ, MATTHEW LOGAN VASQUEZ

MATISYAHU Undercurrent Fallen Sparks/Thirty Tigers [Release date 19.05.17] Reggae, hip hop, rap and beatboxing. Four musical styles I’d cross the road to avoid. Period. Add in Orthodox Jewish themes, and Matisyahu should be a big no, no, no, no, NO. … Continue reading
Album review: SUSAN CATTANEO – The Hammer & The Heart

Jersey Girl Music [Release date 25.08.17] Now that’s something you don’t see many of these days – a double album! Although, in truth The Hammer and The Heart (the two ‘albums’) would have fitted on a single CD!! Cattaneo’s fifth … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Americana, country, review, rock, roots, singer, songwriter, Susan Cattaneo, The Hammer & The Heart
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Quick plays: UNDERHILL ROSE, STEVE MAYONE

UNDERHILL ROSE Live [Release date 30.06.17] Recorded in North Carolina in September 2016, Live finds Underhill Rose Eleanor Underhill (vocals/banjo/harmonica), Molly Rose Reed (vocals/guitar) and Salley Williamson (vocals and upright bass) delivering a stripped back ‘best of’ set culled from … Continue reading
Album review: RICH HOPKINS AND LUMINARIOS – My Way Or The Highway

Blue Rose [Release date 27.01.17] You can tell a ‘serious’ musician when their album credits lists both the guitars and amplifiers they use, but Tuscon guitar slinger and songwriter Rich Hopkins comes across as one laid back dude. He might … Continue reading
Album review: MALCOLM HOLCOMBE – Pretty Little Troubles

Gypsy Eyes Music [Release date 26.05.17] As a co-reviewer pointed out to me, I have previously reviewed an album by ‘old soul and modern day southern blues poet’ Malcolm Holcombe back in 2011 (To Drink To The Rain). But, falling … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, blues, country, folk, Malcolm Holcombe, Pretty Little Troubles, review, roots, singer, songwriter
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Quick plays: HARROW FAIR, OH SUSANNA

HARROW FAIR Call To Arms Roraing Girl Records [Release date 19.05.17] Deploying that now familiar White Stripes, unaccompanied two piece modus operandi, Canadian duo Miranda Mulholland and Andrew Penner let loose a kick drum fuelled debut laced with rootsy guitar … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged A Girl In Teen City, acoustic, album, Call To Arms, country, folk, Harrow Fair, Oh Susanna, pop, review, rock, roots, singer, songwriter, Suzie Ungerleider
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Album review: TIM GRIMM AND THE FAMILY BAND – A Stranger In This Time

Cavalier Recordings [Release date 03.03.17] As the billing suggests, multi-talented folk/country singer/songwriter and actor (the TV series Reasonable Doubts, and films including Clear And Present Danger with Harrison Ford) Tim Grimm’s latest release is something of a family affair ‘supported … Continue reading
Album review: JIM LAUDERDALE – London Southern

Proper Records [Release date 03.02.17] Jim Lauderdale recently won a lifetime achievement award from the US Amerciana Honors & Awards and is widely respected amongst his contemporaries. He has written songs with George Strait, Elvis Costello, Buddy Miller and John … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Americana, Jim Lauderdale, John Oates, London Southern, NICK LOWE, review, roots
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Quick plays: MIKE GROGAN, PELE, THE MOST UGLY CHILD

MIKE GROGAN Too Many Ghosts Poacher Records [Release date 10.02.17] Having paid his dues in the punk explosion of the 70′s, and a six piece Springsteen-esque band in the 80′s, South of England based multi-instrumentalist Mike Grogan has settled into … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Quick Plays, Reissues
Tagged album, Copper And Lace, Fireworks, folk, Mike Grogan, Pele, pop, review, rock, roots, singer, songwriter, The Most Ugly Child, Too Many Ghosts, Torgeir Waldemar
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Gig review: CAMBRIDGE FOLK FESTIVAL, 28-31 July 2016

Yet again CFF has come up with an intriguing and eclectic mix of artists that pulls from many eras and styles of folk and world music, included in this are enough big names to entice people. This helped to yet … Continue reading
Posted in ALL POSTS, GIG REVIEWS
Tagged 28-31 July 2016, Americana, Cambridge Folk Festival, Christy Moore, Eliza Carthy, festival, folk, gig, Imelda May, Kate Rusby, review, rock, roots
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Quick plays: ANNA ELIZABETH LAUBE, THE O’s

ANNA ELIZABETH LAUBE Tree Ahh…Pockets! Records [Release date 21.10.16] Her last album – Anna Laube (2015) may have taken five years to complete, but the fourth album from Seattle-based Anna Elizabeth Laube has followed in just over 12 months. But … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS, Quick Plays
Tagged acoustic, album, Anna Elizabeth Laube, Honeycomb, review, roots, singer, songwriter, The O's, Tree
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Album review: SESSION AMERICANA with Jefferson Hamer – Great Shakes

[Release date 14.10.16] Session Americana are a Boston area collective formed in 2003 with six previous releases and a significant number of local area nominations and awards. And while guitarist/ singer Jefferson Hamer has been an integral part of the … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Americana, folk, Great Shakes, Jefferson Hamer, review, rock, roots, Session Americana
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News: The Great British R&B Festival, Colne, Lancashire 26-29 August 2016 – win tickets!

In his weekly show on Get Ready to ROCK! Radio on Sunday 24 July, David Randall previewed some of the acts appearing at this year’s Great British R&B Festival. (10:39) The 27th Great British R&B Festival takes place Bank Holiday … Continue reading
Posted in Competitions, Festivals & Large Events, NEWS
Tagged 26-29 August 2016, Bernie Marsden, blues, blues rock, Colne, competition, Connie Lush, Dave Edmunds, Devon Allman, Great British R&B Festival, Lancashire, NINE BELOW ZERO, Rebecca Downes, Roadhouse, roots, Wilko Johnson, WILLIE & THE BANDITS
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Album review: LARKIN POE – Reskinned

RH Music [Release date 08.07.16] We rather liked Larkin Poe’s last release – Kin (2014), a move by sisters Rebecca and Megan Poe towards a more pop/mainstream orientated style, albeit laced with their blues, rock and folk/country influences. Two years … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Larkin Poe, pop, Reskinned, review, rock, roots
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Quick plays: DANA IMMANUEL, EVE SELIS

DANA IMMANUEL & THE STOLEN BAND Come With Me [Release date 05.08.16] A curious release, coming reasonably hot on the heels of banjo-toting, whiskey-drinking north London based singer-songwriter Dana Immanuel’s last album Dotted Lines which attracted a 4 star GRTR! … Continue reading
Album review: THE SLAMBOVIAN CIRCUS OF DREAMS – A Box Of Everything

Red River [Release date 16.06.16] Who? And where the hell is Slambovia? Not another Eastern European bloc state looking to dig its snout into the EU feeding trough? No, it’s a state of mind of a New York indie outfit … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged A Box Of Everything, album, compilation, psych, psychedelic, review, rock, roots, The Slambovian Circus Of Dreams
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Quick plays: MICHAEL McDERMOTT, ANNIE KEATING, MISS RABBIT

MICHAEL McDERMOTT Willow Springs Having only just reviewed The Westies – Six On The Out, a vehicle for singer songwriter Michael McDermott, it was something of a surprise to find his 10th solo album land a matter of only weeks … Continue reading
Album review: JON KENZIE – From Wanderlust

Membran [Release date 01.07.16] Way back in 2009 I reviewed the eponymous debut by Beggar Joe a promising Manchester quintet that fell into the blues jazz genre, tempered by a side salad of rock and soul. A ‘late night/early hours’ … Continue reading
Posted in ALBUM REVIEWS, ALBUM REVIEWS (Mobile), ALL POSTS
Tagged album, Beggar Joe, blues, From Wanderlust, Jon Kenzie, review, rock, roots, singer, songwriter
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