(Blues, Folk/Country) CD

(Blues, Folk/Country) LP, Vinyl record album

(Soul, Folk/Country) LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

Music from Hobart Smith, Etta Baker, Bone Reid, Edd Presnell, Richard Chase, and Lacey Phillips. 20 tracks in all. CD

An album from the 80s, but one that echoes a much older tradition of folk and blues – with a vibe that hardly fits the dated spelling of the duo's name! Serious Bizness is the team of Jaribu and Ngoma Hill – who harmonize together on some very message-oriented music, in a way that was often a bit overlooked in the generation of beatboxes and keyboards, but which has all the pride and power of acoustic sessions from the Civil Rights generation! Instrumentation is just acoustic guitar on most numbers, but Jaribu and Ngoma have a way of really making the songs ring out with a great deal of power – on titles that include "High Tech", "Southern Shame", "Down Underground In A Company Town", "Stolen Dreams", "Stop The Bosses", and "Malcolm Lives". (Blues, Folk/Country) CD

A really fantastic little package – one that's put together in collaboration between Island and Transatlantic Records, to document the hippest Brit folk and folk rock of the late 60s and early 70s. Features gems by Fairport Convention, Roy Harper, John Martyn, Pentangle, Ralph McTell, Martin Carthy, John Renbourn, Bert Jansch, Davey Graham, Jackson C Frank, Marc Brierley, Gryphon, Hedgehog Pie, Young Tradition, Shirley Collins, Mr Fox, Lindisfarne, Jack The Lad, and many others! LP, Vinyl record album

Hard to believe this excellent series is hitting its ninth volume – and this time around, Ryley Walker is at the helm – making excellent musical choices that really keep things fresh! As with previous volumes, the focus is on the most creative talents of the acoustic underground – usually heard here in a solo setting, but sometimes with light additional instrumentation – pushing forward that tradition of music that Tompkins Square has been so essential in capturing in recent years – almost as if the label has become the Takoma Records of the 21st Century! Walker makes some great choices here, and focuses on some overlooked and up-and-coming talents, including a few from our hometown of Chicago. Tracks include "Wooden Waltz" by Eli Winter, "Leicester Hwy" by Shane Parish, "Boat Ride" by Kendra Amalie, "World Of Objects (guitar edit)" by Fire Toolz, "Knots Where Never Was" by Lucas Brode, "Seedlings" by Dave Miller, "Variations On Themes For Blind Dogs" by Pete Fosco, and "I Used To Sing" by Matthew Rolin. CD

A great and rare solo guitar record by Lena Hughes – issued here by Tompkins Square – a label that's put out some of the best fingerstyle guitar folk releases in recent memory – in both the contemporary and archival realms! Queen Of The Flat Top Guitar is an archival release in their Long Gone Sound Series – and it's one of best yet! Lena, born in 1904, was rural Missourian amateur guitarist and mainstay at Ozarks area folk festivals. This record is her one-and-only known album – and though she's also remembered as a fine fiddler and banjo player, it finds her focusing on flat top guitar in the tradition of 19th century parlor music. Warm and wonderful stuff – as inviting as anything we've heard on Tompkins Square. Includes "Pearly Dew", "Under The Double Eagle", "Letter Edged In Black", "Blue Heaven", "Galloway Bay", "You Are The Only Star Of My Blue Heaven", "Spanish Fan-Dango", "Kentucky Moon Waltz", "Silver Treads Among The Gold", "What A Friend We Have In Jesus" and"Cedar Brook Waltz". CD

The legendary debut of Dwight Yoakam – a honky tonk classic delivered with inimitable swagger! It's not only one of the finest country albums of its decade, we'd honestly rank Guitars Cadillacs Etc Etc up there with best country albums ever. Really! The mid 80s isn't one of the best remembered eras in country music – even hardscrabble heroes like Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard and Willie Nelson were fumbling around for the right balance of traditionalism and modernism at the dawn of the CD era – so there's no overstating what a huge breath of fresh air Yoakam was at time. He pays heartfelt homage to roots rock and honky tonk tradition, but he honed his craft in the LA club scene of the early 80s, giving his way with a classic sound an edge like no others at the time. A masterpiece. Titles include "South Of Cincinnati", "Bury Me", "Guitars Cadillacs", his killer version of Cash's "Ring Of Fire", "I'll Be Gone", "Miner's Prayer" and more. LP, Vinyl record album

A wonderful set from the early 70s – a record that has John Fahey opening up even more than before, on three very long tracks that really extend his ideas into a much more open space! The territory is maybe a bit more in the mode of Robbie Basho or Sandy Bull – and the pieces themselves are dedicated to Fahey's guru, Swami Satchidananda – with some of the Eastern elements you might expect! Yet John's longstanding tradition to reworking an American idiom is still strongly in place – maybe just inflected with a new spirit breathed into the nation in the late 60s – and opened up with wonderful interplay on the strings of the guitar. Titles include "When The Fire & Rose Are One", "Thus Krishna On The Battlefield", and "Fare Forward Voyagers". CD

Weird work from the Wicker Man generation – that moment in British music where it often seemed like the spookiest sounds could come from the past – as you'll hear here in a huge batch of music from the acid folk revival years! Instrumentation on these tracks is mostly acoustic, but basslines and guitar parts can sometimes be electric – and both arrangements and production amplify some of the elements of the tunes in ways that really bring out eerie currents, even when the lyrics might seem more innocent! There's lots of music here we'd never heard before, mixed with surprising contributions from bigger names, all wrapped together with the genius ear for song selection that always makes these collections from the Grapefruit label so great. The 3CD set features 60 tracks in all, complete with a big booklet of notes on the artists – a great lineup that features cuts by Magnet, Third Ear Band, Parameter, Carolanne Pegg, Dry Heart, Amber, The Young Tradition, Kevin Coyne, Gallery, Lal Waterson, The Sallyangie, Horden Raikes, Chimera, Comus, JP Sunshine, Oberon, Simon Finn, Jan Dukes De Graye, Shirley Kent, Spriguns Of Tolgus, Sweeny's Men, Green Man, Parke, Archie Fisher, Pentangle, Stone Angel, Celebrated Ratliffe Stout Band, Folkal Point, Mr Fox, Heather Adrian & John, Marc Bolan, and many more. (Rock, Folk/Country) CD

(Japanese, Folk/Country) LP, Vinyl record album

... CD

Music from Alva Greene, Jerry Holland, Buddy Thomas, Jim Woodward, Jim Herd, Roger Cooper, Ray Hilt, Joe Cormier, Violet Hensley, Dwight Lamb, Ray Curbow, Alton Jones, Bob Holt and more. CD

... CD

Includes music by Coro Santo Nino, Coro de San Jose, Gregorio Ruiz, Charles Aguilar, Los Reyes de Albuquerque, Mercedes Lopez, and Johnny Florez – 26 tracks total. (Latin, Folk/Country) CD

Vintage recordings by Texas Troubadours, Roanoke Jug Band, Roanoke Entertainers, Johnnie Autrey, Dixie Playboys, Wanderers Of The Wasteland, Roy Hall & The Blue Ridge Entertainers, and Tommy Magness & The Orange Blossom Boys. LP, Vinyl record album

A pair of wonderful albums from the great John Fahey – back to back on a single CD! First up is Rivers & Religion – a really unique album by John Fahey – issued during a short stretch of initial mainstream approval, and a brief time of recording for Warner Brothers! Some of the album's quite different than the spare, solo Fahey you might know – and mixes his legendary guitar work with more elaborate elements than usual – additional instrumentation that includes bass, banjo, clarinet, piano, trombone, and fiddle – but all used at a level that really supports John's presence, not occludes it. Other tracks return to spare acoustic steel string guitar – creating an evocative balance that's mighty nice. Titles include "Funeral Song For Mississippi John Hurt", "Texas & Pacific Blues", "Dixie Pig Bar B Q Blues", "Lord Have Mercy Song", and "Deep River". After The Ball is a set with a disco ball on the cover, but a record that fits right in with the best early 20th century aesthetic in the work of John Fahey – particularly his way of reiimagining older musical traditions! There's a bit of added instrumentation on the record – two tracks that have some slight trad jazz flourishes – but overall, the album's mostly a solo effort with loads of wonderful guitar work from John – still as creative and as complicated as in his best recordings for Takoma! Other added instrumentation sometimes expands the sound with mandolin or banjo, but again in very sensitive ways – and titles include "Bucktown Stomp", "Om Shanthi Norris", "Beverly", and "Horses". CD

A record that really has Fairport Convention knocking it out of the park – making a bold turn towards British traditional music, but in a way that imbues these relics with a whole new life of their own! The album came at a key turning point – after an accident that took one of their members, and which almost saw the group disband – but instead turn towards the past for even deeper inspiration than some of their contemporaries, whom they'd covered on other records – at a level that seems to set Sandy Denny free into this sublime territory of her own! Denny's vocals are incredible – like a thing unlocked from some ancient vault – and they're given this wonderful focus through the growing complexity of Richard Thompson's guitar work, and the understated brilliance of Ashley Hutchings' bass – both of which bring in these modal inflections that are very 60s, and hardly conceived of as accompaniment with the original tunes. The result is tremendous – tunes that are completely transformed, as a touchstone for generations. Titles include "Matty Groves", "Reynardine", "Come All Ye", "The Deserter", "Tam Lin", and "Crazy Man Michael". LP, Vinyl record album

A seminal set from the Sunset Strip scene of the 60s – and just the kind of record that shows why the changes taking place in Cali were so important to the growth of so much other music at the time! A few years before, and The Grass Roots would have been a pop folk combo re-tuning traditional tracks for the coffeehouse scene – but here they're taking off with some post-folk modes that are partly sunshine pop, partly the headier currents that were the darker side of the west coast – all put together with superb production by PF Sloan and Steve Barri – who also penned some of the best tunes on the record. Titles include the great "Where Were You When I Needed You" – plus "Only When You're Lonely", "Look Out Girl", "Ain't That Loving You Baby", "I've Got No More To Say", "I Am A Rock", "Tell Me", and "Mr Jones". (Rock, Folk/Country) LP, Vinyl record album

A nice set from the British folk boom of the mid 60s – a rare one from singer Dorris Henderson and future Pentangle founder John Rensbourn! Florida born, LA raised singer Dorris Henderson moved to London in 1965 and was soon singing London's folk clubs, where she met Rensbourn. A solid mix of traditionals and then contemporary folk songs – stripped down and honest takes on "Saly Free And Easy", "Cotton Eyed Joe", "Mr Tamborine Man", "Going To Memphis", Something Lonesome", "Mist On The Mountain" and more. This edition includes bonus tracks from a rare 45 – "Hangman" and "Leaves That Are Green". CD

Every single song the great Jimmie Rodgers ever recorded! Jimmie Rodgers might be THE forefather of traditional country music, and one of the great hard times poets of the century. Bear Family has gone all out to include his entire recorded history, and if justice served this set would be celebrated in the same manner as Harry Smith's Antholology Of American Folk Music. The recorded history here is every bit as important, if not more so, to the maturation of American music – but even more importantly, it's filled with breathlessly great songs! Everything's here – "The Soldier's Sweetheart", "Sleep, Baby, Sleep", "Ben Dewberry's Final Run", "Mother Was A Lady", "Blue Yodel", "Treasure's Untold", "Mississippi Moon", "You And My Old Guitar", "I'm Lonely And Blue", "My California Sunshine Girl", "Mississippi River Blues", "Nobody Knows But Me", "She Was Happy 'Til She Met You", "For The Sake Of Day's Gone By", "Jimmie's Mean Mama Blues", "In The Jailhouse Now", "T.B. Blues", "Let Me Be Your Sidekick", and tons more. Tuberculosis took Jimmie away while he was still in his 30s, but he left an incredible legacy – unprecedented music that fused old time gospel, blues, and mountain folk into a new American art form. Nearly 150 tracks, including many alternate versions, and a great booklet crammed with biographical information and photos. CD

Speedy West may be the greatest pedal steel slinger in the history of the instrument, and together with ace guitarist Jimmy Bryant they bridged the gap between the 50s Western swing of Bob Wills and the soon to arrive Sun Records sound with their pioneering country-jazz instrumentals. This is essential stuff for fans of traditional country stompers – or sweaty, swaggering boogie in any genre! Tracks include "Stratosphere Boogie", "Blue Bonnet Rag", "Cotton' Picking", "Old Joe Clark", "Slepwalker's Lullaby", "Arkansas Traveler", "The Night Rider", "Speedin' West", "Comin' On", "Bryant's Bounce", "Pickin' Peppers", "Shuffleboard Rag", "Filppin' The Lid" and lots more. CD

Haunting traditional country-inspired songwriting a la Carter Family, Louvin Brothers, etc from Freakwater – one of their great early 90s albums on Thrill Jockey. The were young-ish and urban-ish at the time, but they are absolutely the real thing. Aching harmonies, dusty melodies and good damn songs. It can't be overstated how unique Freakwater was in an early-to-mid 90s indie rock atmosphere, either. Includes "Crazy Man", "Pale Horse", "My Old Drunk Friend", "Amelia Earhart", "Are You Ready", "Lullaby" and more. CD

A pair of wonderful albums from the great John Fahey – back to back on a single CD! First up is Rivers & Religion – a really unique album by John Fahey – issued during a short stretch of initial mainstream approval, and a brief time of recording for Warner Brothers! Some of the album's quite different than the spare, solo Fahey you might know – and mixes his legendary guitar work with more elaborate elements than usual – additional instrumentation that includes bass, banjo, clarinet, piano, trombone, and fiddle – but all used at a level that really supports John's presence, not occludes it. Other tracks return to spare acoustic steel string guitar – creating an evocative balance that's mighty nice. Titles include "Funeral Song For Mississippi John Hurt", "Texas & Pacific Blues", "Dixie Pig Bar B Q Blues", "Lord Have Mercy Song", and "Deep River". After The Ball is a set with a disco ball on the cover, but a record that fits right in with the best early 20th century aesthetic in the work of John Fahey – particularly his way of reiimagining older musical traditions! There's a bit of added instrumentation on the record – two tracks that have some slight trad jazz flourishes – but overall, the album's mostly a solo effort with loads of wonderful guitar work from John – still as creative and as complicated as in his best recordings for Takoma! Other added instrumentation sometimes expands the sound with mandolin or banjo, but again in very sensitive ways – and titles include "Bucktown Stomp", "Om Shanthi Norris", "Beverly", and "Horses". CD

A record that really has Fairport Convention knocking it out of the park – making a bold turn towards British traditional music, but in a way that imbues these relics with a whole new life of their own! The album came at a key turning point – after an accident that took one of their members, and which almost saw the group disband – but instead turn towards the past for even deeper inspiration than some of their contemporaries, whom they'd covered on other records – at a level that seems to set Sandy Denny free into this sublime territory of her own! Denny's vocals are incredible – like a think unlocked from some ancient vault – and they're given this wonderful focus through the growing complexity of Richard Thompson's guitar work, and the understated brilliance of Ashley Hutchings' bass – both of which bring in these modal inflections that are very 60s, and hardly conceived of as accompaniment with the original tunes. The result is tremendous – tunes that are completely transformed, as a touchstone for generations. This great double CD version includes a bonus disc of alternate studio takes and BBC sessions – 17 tracks on 2CDs! CD

The one and only full LP ever recorded by Harry Taussig – blending folk & blues based solo guitar traditions with his unique style – on this great, private press rarity from 1965, dug up by the folk & roots heroes at Tompkins Square! It's really fine stuff, which should appeal to folks who dig the Fahey & Basho style of primitive guitar, but Taussig brings his own flavor to the pot. The tunes have a bit more rag in them, and a real love of lonely blues guitar, and his playing the right kind of ragged to our ears, giving it a natural and truthful resonance that cuts deeper to our souls than players who go for perfection or prettiness. Very highly recommended! Tracks include Taussig's adaptation of "Baby Let Me Lay It On You/That'll Never Happen No More" by Reverend Gary Davis, plus "Blues For Zone VII", "Rev's Rag", "Sugar Babe, YOur Papa Cares For You", "Rondo To Death", "Dorian Sonata", "Fate Is Only Once" and more. CD

Cash's fourth volume of stark, sparely-arranged studio recordings for producer/set list provider Rick Rubin. As Johnny gets on in the years his always haunting voice, like Bob Dylan's, is weighted by age, but the heavily-breathed delivery only adds to the ghostly quality of the increasingly dark tunes. With this fourth set in the series we're far past being surprised by the choices of material – this time Cash conjures up spiritual takes on Depeche Mode's "Personal Jesus", Trent Reznor's "Hurt", Lennon/McCartney's "In My Life", and more traditional material like Hank Williams' "I'm So Lonesome I Could Cry" and the eternally underrated Marty Robbins' "Big Iron". You can't forget that Cash's pen is still pretty sharp, too, as the really spooky imagery in the title track and others testify. The accompaniment includes the great Randy Scruggs, Beck/Tom Waits guitarist Smokey Hormel, Marty Stuart, Glen Campell, and backing vocals by Nick Cave and Fiona Apple. Another great one from the greatest! LP, Vinyl record album