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Hank KaletFeaturesThe Ramones: An AppreciationThe Sex Pistols would sing of 'no future' with rage and desperation, wearing their fury against adult culture and the failing English economy as a badge; the Ramones turned their alienation into a joke. [23 September 2004] Ray Charles: An American GeniusRay Charles took nothing from no one, staking his claim to the world, thriving despite his blindness to become one of a handful of truly legendary and groundbreaking artists in the history of music. Rest in peace, Brother Ray. [22 June 2004] A Very Country ChristmasThe intersection of Christmas songs and country singers might at first blush, seem a natural. The genres share a traditional worldview rooted in family and faith and an often tender, nostalgic view of the past. [19 December 2003] Reconsidering Let It BeOne of the things that strikes me about this album 33 years after its release and nearly 35 after its recording is that despite it being one of the weaker Beatle efforts, it stands above so much else recorded by so many other lesser bands across the years. [24 November 2003] The Man in BlackIt would be too easy to call him an everyman, too cliché, too trite. And yet, that is what he was, an everyman, a singer and songwriter who plumbed our souls and made each of us real and alive in his music. Johnny Cash, country icon and rock and roll founder, died Friday of complications from diabetes, leaving behind nearly 50 years of remarkable music and a legacy of innovation. [15 September 2003] Reviews
Radney Foster: This World We Live InLike both Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle, Foster's music is stripped down with a southern twang that more tightly ties it to the country camp than country-rock bands like The Eagles or alt.country poster boy Ryan Adams. [22 May 2006] 
Reckless Kelly: Wicked Twisted RoadReckless Kelly proves to be a fine-tuned precision machine, with all parts working in tandem to produce a solid, often breathtaking, piece of alt-country beauty. [20 May 2005] 
Bruce Springsteen: Devils & DustIt is, by turns, a country record, a folk record and even a bit of a rock record. It is thick with atmosphere, awash in violence and a shadowy mythology redolent of the Old West. [25 April 2005] 
Magic Circles: The Beatles in Dream and History by Devin McKinneyMcKinney sets out to re-place the greatest band in rock and roll history within the context of the volatile time in which the band exploded into the public consciousness, changing the band, its four members and everyone forever. [22 March 2005] 
Various Artists: Give ‘Em the Boot IVHit-and-miss punk compilation often chooses empty aggression over the grace and commitment of the genre's hallmarks. [14 March 2005] 
Charlie Robison: Good TimesCharlie Robison's gritty, heartbreaking music stands apart from the country-radio crowd. [16 February 2005] 
Chuck Prophet and the Mission Express: Turn the Pigeons LooseShows Prophet in fine form and in full command of his mix of blues, country, folk, and whatever else the West Coast musician feels like tossing in. [4 February 2005] R.E.M.reaffirms relevance. [16 November 2004] 
Steve Earle: The Revolution Starts… NowThe release of this record two and a half months before we have to enter the voting booths should offer solace and inspiration to those ready to act. [1 September 2004]
Jim Croce: Have You Heard: Jim Croce Live [DVD]Jim Croce was one of those troubadours, a storyteller in the old-fashioned sense who toiled in a series of blue-collar jobs until he hit it big. [8 March 2004] 
Bob Dylan: Highway 61 RevisitedThis is an album of brutality and innocence, an album that could only have been produced by an artist at the height of his powers, with a war raging overseas in the shadow of a presidential assassination. [7 February 2004]
Ultimate Punishment: A Lawyer’s Reflections on Dealing with the Death Penalty by Scott TurowUltimately, to Turow, the issue is one of moral proportion. The perpetrators of the most violent crimes, the most depraved of the depraved, would seem to warrant the most extreme of penalties. [2 December 2003] 
Joe Strummer: StreetcoreStreetcore, is a tragic testament to Strummer’s gifts as a songwriter and musician, a political and spiritual disc, a great rock-and-roll record that questions the state of the world and somehow simultaneously looks both forward and backward. [21 November 2003] |
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