Pi Jacobs Soldier On Blackbird Record Label Digging Deep To Turn a Lot of Personal Experiences Into Alt. Country Songs With a Bluesy Tinge As soon as I received this album I recognised Pi Jacob’s name and her 2020 release TWO TRUTH’S and a LIE, which made it into that year’s Top 20 albums list, and still gets the occasional run out in the car. It appears a lot has happened in Ms Jacob’s life over the last few years, and she’s dug deep here to turn a lot of personal experiences into songs; and not just any old songs; but ones that will resonate with even the most casual of listeners. “Halleluj ..read more

Henry Luther Live Vol VI Self Release Quirky 60’s Coffee Shop Drenched Insurgent Folk Music We liked and reviewed Henry Luther’s last album; LIVE AT FRESH BREWED in 2023, as we (not including Mrs Magpie btw) really liked the rawness of it, as well as some well-written and thoughtful songs. Perhaps I was too gushing in my praise as its follow-up seems to be unnaturally quick off the marks! While he’s previously recorded studio albums; I certainly get the feeling that Luther ‘comes alive’ on stage and capturing that ‘magic’ in the studio is historically difficult, as the opening song Hallucinog ..read more

Heather Little By Now Need To Know Music Crisp, Astute, Articulate and Always Worth Your Time and Effort to Listen And Absorb The first thing that caught my attention with this release was the artist’s name – Heather Little, which is the same as my favorite Sister in Law who sadly died 10 or so years ago and is still missed today. This Heather Little appears to be a completely different proposition all together! Texas Heather is what is known as a ‘songwriters songwriter’ with only one album from 2013 to her name; but several hits from top-shelf acts that you hear regularly on the radio; to h ..read more

Anthony Geraci Tears in My Eyes Blue Heart Records Gloriously Understated Blues Piano and a Dusky Voice that Fits Like a Well Worn Velvet Glove. There are times when I research musicians that I think (realise) that I know nothing about music at all. Obviously when you see a picture of Anthony Geraci you realise he’s not in the first flush of youth; but nothing prepared me for the amount of albums that he’s previously released under his own name and various guises too, but alongside legends like Sugaray Rayford, Otis Grand and Ronnie Earl as well as guesting on far too many albums to list here ..read more

Mary Gauthier & Jaimee Harris Jumpin’ Hot Club, Gosforth Civic Theatre Newcastle 19th April 2023 It really shouldn’t have been a surprise after all of these years. Still, it was a surprise all around that the venue tonight was sold out with 195 tickets being sold and more whining on Social Media that they too wanted tickets to see Mary Gauthier in Newcastle for the first time since way before Covid became popular. There was an air of expectancy in the hall even before support act Jaimee Harris made her entrance … and when I say entrance I mean ….. ENTRANCE! Dressed in an outstanding pink ..read more

Annie Dressner The White Room, Stanley, Co. Durham 18th April 2024 This was a joy on two very separate levels for me. After getting married 45 years ago I left the ex-mining, market town of Stanley to set up a home 8 miles away, and we still have lots of family living in the surrounding villages. So with that in mind, I was staggered to find an artist of the standing that Anne Dressner; whom I’d never seen play before, was playing a gig there in the White Room, a venue I’d not heard of. A tiny bit of research on FB shows a couple of friends are regular visitors and the coffee shop has been pr ..read more

Noel McKay You Only Live Always McKay Records Occasionally Humorous and Always Insightful Snapshots of Contemporary America Where do you start on describing the multitude talents of West Texas-born and raised singer-songwriter, Noel McKay, known to many through his work with Brennan Leigh, many’s the night and festival I’ve enjoyed seeing and listening to the duo and their albums too. McKay’s descriptive story lines, often as not, decorated with informed humour are ‘always’ worth a listen. McKay is one of the privileged songwriters around these days, as he not only got to write with the lat ..read more

Ben Glover And The Sun Breaks Through the Sky Goldrush Records Another Quality Album From the Songwriter’s Songwriter. As someone who’s known as a ‘songwriter’s songwriter’ (the likes of Mary Gauthier, Gretchen Peters and Kim Richey are fans and collaborators) it’s always good to have new material from Ben Glover himself – and this one has been a while in gestation – it’s six years since 2018’s award-winning “Shorebound”. The first words on the album go to Mr G himself – “It seems that life is largely about discovering one’s way back home. Home, of course, isn’t necessarily a physical locatio ..read more

Mavis Staples Have a Little Faith Alligator Records A Game Changing 20 Year Old Release That’s Every Inch As Relevant Today As I said yesterday I normally dismiss anything specifically released for Record Store Day, as for me ‘music is for life’ and not just Vinyl Fetishists with more money than is good for them. But, this re-release on 2-LP silver vinyl, set in a deluxe gatefold package, with the two 12” records spinning at 45rpm from 2004 is just too good to miss; especially as a CD version is available too. Obviously Mavis Staples has been releasing music for most of my adult life; but it ..read more

Andrea & Mud Institutionalized Self-Release Imagine The Ghost of Johnny Cash Fronting The Mavericks With Duane Eddy and Ashley McBryde as the Bar Band in a Tarantino re-make of The Wild Bunch. I’d never heard of Andrea & Mud aka Andrea Colburn and Kyle “Mud” Moseley; before receiving this; which appears to be their third LP, but their name and the frankly disturbing cover artwork, caught my attention, then when I played it for the first time, their combined voices and amazing style of playing knocked me six ways sideways! Like so many other albums being released these d ..read more