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Maura WalzReviews
Ben Sollee: Learning to BendLearning to Bend uses spare but inventive arrangements in a refreshingly cool exploration of the open spaces between genres and between instruments, but stumbles in its over-earnest lyricism. [4 December 2008] 
Pictures and Sound: Pictures and SoundFor his first solo project after Blue Merle, Luke Reynolds brings familiar musical elements to his even more familiar-sounding voice. [4 September 2008] 
Frank Carillo and the Bandoleros: SomedayFrank Carillo takes the lessons learned from three decades supporting rock luminaries and makes an album that sounds like a synthesis of the music of three decades of rock luminaries. [21 August 2008] 
Johnny Flynn: A LarumLest us Yankee folkies get lost in the woods of the Appalachians, Johnny Flynn is here to remind us of Americana’s roots in pastoral British folk. [12 August 2008] 
Portland Cello Project: Portland Cello ProjectPortland collective takes an all-cello approach to everything from Bach to Balkan to Britney. [11 August 2008] 
Greg Laswell: Three Flights from Alto NidoFor devotees of piano balladeers and yearning strivers, Greg Laswell serves up a pleasantly melodic hour. But for those who long to find something substantive and new behind the album’s echoes of Coldplay, it can only prompt to keep searching. [6 August 2008] 
The Old Believers: Eight Golden GreatsAs if two singers stepped out of Greil Marcus’ Old Weird America and, trying to reconcile it with the real America they find around them, have created a world that is at once strange and utterly familiar. [31 July 2008] 
Reckless Kelly: BulletproofReckless Kelly might not yet be reckless enough to knock down the walls of their country-rock roadhouse, but their raw devotion to the ruffian lifestyle makes for music that’s satisfyingly rough around the edges. [23 July 2008] 
The Incredible Vickers Brothers: GallimaufryThe Incredible Vickers Brothers is as Vaudevillian an act as their name would suggest, and with Gallimaufry, the “brothers” act as ringleaders of their own three-ring musical circus. [11 July 2008] 
Alejandro Escovedo: Real AnimalA poetic country-gone-glam gem, the latest in Alejandro Escovedo's legendary alt-country career finds him chronicling the stories and characters of his past as a way to live in the present. [25 June 2008] 
Ryan Auffenberg: MarigoldsIt’s a wistful, shimmer-laden, summer-afternoon album from a young singer-songwriter -- not the first or last time you’ll hear something like it, but evocative and engaging nonetheless. [23 June 2008] 
Griffin House: Flying Upside DownGriffin House recruits two of Tom Petty’s Heartbreakers to help him channel Ryan Adam’s Heartbreaker but fails to break any hearts on his disappointingly middlebrow recording. [19 June 2008] 
Kris Delmhorst: Shotgun SingerSinger/songwriter invites listeners to be freedivers into an aural pool with unexpected depth. [18 June 2008] 
Joshua James: The Sun Is Always BrighterJoshua James’ quietly devastating meditations on confusion, addiction, and loss remind the listener that the sun is always brighter. [30 May 2008] 
Camphor: Drawn to DustCamphor’s debut album will sound better in the fall, when its autumnal feeling matches the weather -- but don’t let that stop you from listening now. [28 May 2008] 
Fayssoux: EarlyEmmylou Harris’ one-time harmony singer takes on her own melodies with earnest heart but little energy. [23 May 2008] 
Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow Quartet: Abigail Washburn and the Sparrow QuartetBluegrass masters journey from Appalachia to Asia and back, often in the course of a single tune. [22 May 2008] 
Bravo Johnson: The Crooked and the StraightIt’s pretty bold for a band to release a two-hour-long double album as their sophomore album. Bravo Johnson does, and somehow manages to avoid getting mired in all the jangle. [21 May 2008] 
The Proclaimers: Life with YouYou may already think of them as just an early ‘90s one-hit wonder, and with their new album, the Proclaimers will probably not prove you wrong. [13 May 2008] 
Jay Clifford: Driving BlindFormer Jump, Little Children frontman forges on with ethereal, lyrical pop melodies. [8 May 2008] 
Kristen Ward: Drive AwayThe unexpectedly rich soil for roots musicians in Seattle yields another rich and gritty vocal talent. [1 May 2008] 
Brian Connell: The SordidDarkly humorous opening song gives way to largely derivative tour of American folk, pop, and rock in Connell’s only somewhat-sordid debut. [28 April 2008] 
She & Him: Volume OneIt's all great fun, but spending so much time flitting from one role to another seems to prevent Deschanel from finding her own voice, and together the band rarely transcends the cloak of their influences. [18 April 2008] 
Devon Sproule: Keep Your Silver ShinedVirginia folk singer writes love songs to country built on jazz and swing. [25 March 2008] |
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