WFHB ADDS AUGUST 7
DATE: 8.7.06ARTIST: Ani DiFranco
TITLE: Reprieve (Righteous Babe)
GENRE: FOLK S/S
GRADE: A
REVIEW: No paparazzi lens could snap a more revealing picture than the one DiFranco willingly offers with each annual studio album (16 in as many years). With the unforced intimacy that has won her legions of fans, "Reprieve" tackles the usual DiFranco topics: the ugliness of love, the improprieties of the ruling class, the polarity of womanhood and an ever-shifting view of self. It might sound heady, but she's got the gift of lyrical precision—nothing cuts to the core quite like the resolution of a DiFranco rhyme. Musically, the album is more languid than earlier efforts without sacrificing the urgency of her patented guitar pluck-strum. And "Half-Assed," a mature woman's plea for an evasive moment of truth, is one of her most fully realized songs to date. —Kerri Mason
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 4, 6, 9, 11
REVIEWER: billboard.com
DATE: 8.7.06
ARTIST: Will Kimbrough
TITLE: Americanitis
GENRE: FOLK/SS
GRADE: A
REVIEW: Producer of some of Nashville's finest acts (Todd Snider, Adrienne Young), Kimbrough has a gift for folk-pop protest. His latest volley is an often witty, worried blast at everything wrong with society. Kimbrough has a particular talent for derisively speaking out of the mouths of fat cats ("I Lie," "Act Like Nothing's Wrong"). He's on less-sure ground when channeling early Dylan-style, free-associative cultural rants. Plus, there's blistering guitar, some touching love songs and as much self-criticism as there is of those with whom Kimbrough disagrees. Even conservatives may find something to like here — maybe.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 4, 9, 11, 14
REVIEWER: LA DAILY NEWS
DATE: 8.7.06
ARTIST: Greg Brown
TITLE: The Evening Call (Red House)
GENRE: FOLK S/S
GRADE: A+
REVIEW: After 30 years and 22 albums, a new recording from this sublime prairie poet is a significant, welcome event.
Far, far past the notion of the garden-variety folkie, Brown (with the aid of his extraordinary wing-man, guitarist/producer Bo Ramsey) long has been expanding the perceived boundaries of the form with the precision of Greg Maddux expertly stretching the strike zone. Brown's signature glass-rattling baritone remains a powerful vehicle, but on this muscular, wide-ranging set, he seems to be taking more chances than ever with his delivery, using an assortment of inflections, phrasings, muttered asides and barely-controlled vocal crack-ups to imbue the proceedings with self-deprecating humor and nuance. Recorded at Memphis' fabled Ardent Studios with the crackerjack crew of Ramsey, bassist Rick Cicalo, drummer Steve Hayes and keyboardist Ricky Peterson, "The Evening Call" presents Brown's most evolved, transcendent merger of folk and country-blues to date, with Ramsey's vaunted, slinky-cool swamp guitar a stone marvel. There are too many treasures to list, but Brown's hilarious, sad-sack phrasing on the title cut is a beer-snorker, and the relaxed R&B strut of the Tony Joe White-styled "Cold & Dark & Wet" is an all-timer, as is the Knopfler-esque glide of "Coneville Slough." Yet another beauty from the master ... what's new?
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 2, 3, 5, 8, 9, 10
FCC #7
REVIEWER: Jim Musser Go Iowa City
DATE: 8.7.06
ARTIST: Jason Wilber
TITLE: Lazy Afternoon Wilbertone
GENRE: LOCAL FOLK S/S
GRADE: A+
REVIEW: Another cool studio album from local guy Jason Wilber. Great guitar, great storytelling, great musicians, great production. Dig in!
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 2, 5, 7, 8 (all tracks are just fine, really)
REVIEWER: Jim Manion/WFHB
DATE: 8.7.06
ARTIST: Kelly Joe Phelps
TITLE: Tunesmith Retrofit (Rounder)
GENRE: FOLK/SS
GRADE: A+
REVIEW: A year and a half after his remarkable live album, Tap the Red Cane Whirlwind, Kelly Joe Phelps returns to the studio with his restless, searing, intimate vision and remarkable skills as both an instrumentalist and a songwriter. While Phelps employs several musicians from his past, such as guitarist Steve Dawson, fiddler Jesse Zubot, and keyboardist Chris Gestrin (all of whom played on 1983's Slingshot Professionals), there's nothing here that's reminiscent of that set. First and foremost, Phelps is a songwriter here. Phelps looks at his subjects, such as the lover in "Spanish Hands," from the side. He communicates directly while peeling back the layers of appearance, and describes her as both "a gentle bell" and "a cat's eye." This is the songwriter as poet, heard over and again as the subtly shaded instrumental backdrops caress his words lovingly, letting them roll out unencumbered. In the opener, "Crow's Nest," his acoustic guitar is unassuming as he trots out the words "Come along to the riverside, sit down now/I just want to hear somebody else whine/If you've got tomorrow, I've got a blade/We can dig a hole into an old book/We can keep our secrets there." He allows the truth of desperation, love, and the willingness of other possibilities all to emerge before Zubot floats his way in and adorns that guitar with some lonesome balladry of his own. On "The Anvil," Wallace Stevens' ghost comes to visit in Phelps imagery, metaphors, and similes, accompanied by a shuffling snare and a pump organ as he sings "There is an eye walking curiously/By the campground, the bedside night stand/My leg bones feel weary yet walk on they will/Holding for wheels and gravy/On a plate full of nothing but shaking my head/With a side bowl of nothing to do." His rhymes touch the inside, looking at difficulty and confusion from a nearly wistful place, longing for he knows not what. But it's Phelps use of the banjo on Tunesmith Retrofit that is the album's biggest surprise. (Before recording this set, he hadn't played one in 20 years.) He doesn't try to play bluegrass, nor does he try to haunt the ghosts of those players who have gone before.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10
REVIEWER: ALLMUSICGUIDE.COM
DATE: 8.7.06
ARTIST: Tommy Emmanuel
TITLE: The Mystery
GENRE: FOLK/SS/GUITAR INSTRUMENTAL
GRADE: A+
REVIEW: - Blessed with an innate genius, Australian virtuoso Tommy Emmanuel plays the guitar with the ease of a first language. Never formally trained, this musician has mastered the intricate art of “finger picking,” in which the guitarist uses all 10 fingers, in a piano-playing approach to the guitar. Plucking his first set of strings at the tender age of 4, Emmanuel embarked on a career spanning over 3 decades. The latest installment in his extensive music collection, “Mystery” continues to astound fans and peers with equal intensity. Dominated by heartfelt instrumentals such as the fiery, Spanish-inspired “Cantina Senese,” the Western romp, “Game show Rag/Cannonball” and the meditative “Digger’s Waltz” the album also features a tender duet “Walls.” Emmanuel, also a skilled percussionist, had played for the “Queen of Rock & Roll,” Tina Turner, and with legends like Eric Clapton and John Denver. A musical experience not to be missed.
RECOMMENDED TRACKS: 1, 2, 4, 7, 10, 12
REVIEWER: thecelebritycafe.com
Paul Burch East to West Bloodshot
The Sleepy Jackson Personality Astralwerks
Midlake The Trials of Van Occupanther Bella Union
Luca Sick of Love Funzalo
posted by WFHB Music @ 3:19:00 PM
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