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Now Spinning – Blue Grass Get Together
The Charles River Valley Boys are a largely forgotten band in the history of bluegrass, despite having a significant impact during their all-too-brief 1960’s heyday. As students at Harvard, the members of the Charles River Valley Boys hardly fit the typical rural bluegrass demographics, but word of their impressive skill spread, reaching the ear of […]
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Rosanne Cash & Ry Cooder Honor the Man in Black
Rosanne Cash & Ry Cooder performing a set of Johnny Cash songs together sounds like an imaginary collaborative set out of dreams, but for a series of five shows wrapping up last week at The Met Philadelphia, Ry convinced Rosanne to visit her father’s colossal catalog. During between-song banter, Rosanne admitted that it did take […]
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Now Spinning: John Mayall – USA Union
Once John Mayall’s latest guitar hero departed for the Rolling Stones, Mayall risked sharing a legacy much like The Yardbirds: more famous for the guitarists he employed than his own talents, as Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor graduated from Mayall’s blues school on their way to classic rock titans. But instead of fading […]
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Now Spinning: James Talley – Got No Bread, No Milk, No Money, But We Sure Got a Lot of Love
The browning leaves and cooling temperatures of fall bring to mind The Band’s famed self-titled’Brown Album’ for me, which, along with Music From Big Pink and The Basement Tapes is widely considered a cornerstone of the rootsy and rural rock ‘n’ roll offshoot that has become known as Americana in the years since. Much like […]
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Now Spinning: Juke Boy Bonner
One of the first suggestions I’d offer to any collectors of old blues records – always buy Arhoolie Records releases. Arhoolie Records was formed by a young blues aficionado Chris Strachwitz, who traveled to Texas as a young man to record Lightnin’ Hopkins, Mance Lipscomb and many more, beginning with simple field recordings. From those […]
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Now Spinning: Gary U.S. Bonds – On The Line
Gary U.S. Bonds threatened to fade into obscurity after a brief run of hits in the early ’60s before Bruce Springsteen resuscitated Bonds’ career twenty years after its heyday by pairing him with the E Street Band. The E Street Band was firing on all cylinders when they went into the studio with Bonds and […]
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Now Spinning: Live at Bill Graham’s Fillmore West
Recorded live during the height of the San Francisco rock scene at the historic Fillmore West, this album captures the magical collaborative spirit that represents the best of the late sixties San Francisco scene. Starting with the front cover, no specific artist is credited, with all the musicians who performed listed along with concert photos […]
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Now Spinning: Bonnie Bramlett – It’s Time
After Delaney & Bonnie ended their marriage and band in 1973, Bonnie Bramlett launched an all too short-lived solo career that despite a lack of attention or acclaim, produced three albums culminating with this sorely overlooked southern soul classic, It’s Time. Fairly or not, Delaney & Bonnie are often best remembered for who joined their […]