Double Banjo Bluegrass Spectacular marks acclaimed banjo innovator Tony Trischka’s return to acoustic bluegrass terrain - with a unique twist. Joined by a luminous roster of fellow five-stringers, Trischka travels down the rarely-explored avenue of full-band two-banjo bluegrass. Trischka’s innate gifts as a musician and arranger, coupled with his unrivaled knowledge of banjo history […]
After a five-year absence, Apples in Stereo have returned with a sprawling and lush masterpiece. Their founding principle of the DIY approach to recording has remained in place, but the nearly 15 years of technological progress has made such ways of working yield significantly more robust sounds. Robert Schneider’s songs have always harked back […]
Jesse Sykes is hard to pin down–and that’s a good thing indeed. She overlaps with current trends, but is completely her own artist. There are elements of alt-country, psych-folk, and singer-songwriter-troubadour, but also others that add alluring breadth to her sound, most notably in the band’s penchant for drawing upon the best aspects of […]
In the short time since their first CD release, Soweto Gospel Choir has become one of the most celebrated world music groups performing today. Their releases have hit the Top Ten of the Billboard World Music Charts and their coast-to-coast tours have electrified audiences across the country. They have been featured on The Tonight […]
On the heels of his acclaimed recording, Songs from the Labyrinth, Sting furthers his fascination with Elizabethan composer John Dowland (1563-1626) on The Journey and the Labyrinth: The Music of John Dowland. This new DVD/CD package includes an extended version of Sting’s first-ever PBS special from Thirteen/WNET New York’s Great Performances (airing February […]
The rumors were true. Van Halen will reunite with original singer David Lee Roth for a summer tour of North America.
“I am very excited to get back to the core of what made Van Halen,” guitarist Eddie Van Halen said in a statement posted Friday on the band’s Web site announcing a 40 city […]
Last year, sibling trio Hanson spent time lecturing performance and entertainment law students in college about its bumpy five-year arc of major-label heartache, chronicled in the documentary “Strong Enough to Break.”
But this year, fans can expect talking, walking and rocking from the band in the form of a new album, “The Walk,” as well […]
Something extraordinary is afoot in Albuquerque. The Shins’ first big-time record, Oh, Inverted World, combines mysterious narratives with golden song structures, resulting in lavish and opulent indie pop. Touches of Neutral Milk Hotel’s lyrical majesty and the nostalgic swirl of Echo and the Bunnymen abound. But the Shins’ music–rich with acoustic guitars, flickering rhythms, […]
To gauge the magnitude of Israel Kamakawiwo’ole’s popularity in his native Hawaii, consider this: following his death in 1997 (at age 38, attributed to his profound obesity), Kamakawiwo’ole’s body lay in state in the state capitol, only the second person to receive such an honor. Kamakawiwo’ole’s appeal lies in his love for prestatehood, precondominium […]
In 2006, Danger Mouse is King Midas of the music world. He has an uncanny knack for creating jagged, dense, frenzied beats and odd, eerie, vivid soundscapes that never compromise the music’s natural flow. Meanwhile, rapper and singer Cee-Lo, a veteran of Atlanta’s Dirty South scene, has never been one to be constrained by […]
Norah Jones blew everybody away with her jazzy, country-tinged, Grammy-winning debut CD, Come Away with Me. On this recording, Jones doesn’t mess with her trademark formula. Under Arif Mardin’s cozy coproduction, Jones is supported by her writing partners, her Handsome Band, and some special guests (country legend Dolly Parton, Levon Helm and Garth Hudson […]
Bob Seger has racked up a lot of worthy tracks over the years, but it took until 1994 for a greatest hits package to appear. Voilà. The bad news: We’re missing an awful lot of songs here. Night Moves is Seger’s crit-pick album, and a great place to start if you don’t have any […]
Second only to Riverdance as an international Irish showbiz phenomenon, previous installments of this Platinum-selling extravaganza have become beloved PBS standards. The original buxom quartet of female singers, Lisa, Maev, Orla, and Chloe, have duly been joined by Hayley and are, as usual, backed by a full symphony orchestra and choir, plus enough traditional […]
Katharine McPhee has a cloudless voice and a warm, wide-eyed Alice in Wonderland quality that won her swarms of fans on American Idol’s fifth season–if Simon Cowell had a ready antonym for “ghastly,” there’s little room for doubt about which contestant he would have applied it to. While debates over whether McPhee’s considerable grace […]
