The Jerry Douglas Band: What If
Dobro wizard Jerry Douglas returns with a virtuosic septet in tow on the jaw-dropping, highly enjoyable What If.
John Paul
John is a Michigan-based musician and writer. His work has appeared in PopMatters, Spectrum Culture, Cover Me Songs, Hagerty magazine and more. Follow him at @john_r_paul
Various Artists: Inner Peace – Rare Spiritual Funk and Jazz Gems
Collecting rarities from the vaults of Mainstream Records, Inner Peace acts as both a fine showcase for the label’s founder and producer Bob Shad, as well as a shag-carpeted aural time capsule.
Dent May: Across the Multiverse
With his fourth full-length, tunesmith Dent May finally settles into a persona well-suited to his particular brand of technicolor retro-pop, resulting in one of the best pop albums of 2017.
‘The Many Lives of Catwoman’ Captures the Many Influences of This Multifaceted Superhero
Author and comic book historian Tim Hanley explores the far more than nine lives of DC’s Catwoman in this thoroughly in-depth biography/cultural contextualization.
Books Like Chuck Klosterman’s ‘X’ May Represent a New Kind of History Lesson
Pop cultural savant Chuck Klosterman’s X collects his many disparate musings on all things otherwise inconsequential and in so doing creates a pop culture roadmap.
‘Printer’s Error’ Is a Hilarious Romp Through Publishing History
Rare book specialists (and Pawn Stars consultants) J.P. and Rebecca Romney craft an amusing narrative full of spite, blood, and the world’s first (pre)internet troll.
Dave Chisholm’s Wildly Imaginative Audio/visual Experience, ‘Instrumental’
An allegorical exploration of the idea of just how far some musicians will go to “make it”, Dave Chisholm’s Instrumental takes things to the extreme.
Rev. Sekou: In Times Like These
A blistering batch of gospel blues, In Times Like These offers up social and political sentiments more relevant now perhaps than ever from that rare artist who truly practices what he preaches.
Perennial Underdogs, Dion and Norton Prove a Perfect Pairing
Norton Records co-founder Miriam Linna talks with PopMatters about the origins of their new, until-now unreleased lost Dion album recorded in 1965, which shows Dion to have been at the vanguard of the forthcoming folk rock boom.
The Ed Palermo Big Band: The Great Un-American Songbook: Volumes I & II
Zappa-indebted big band leader Ed Palermo carries his singular vision across the pond, taking on the British Invasion and more in strikingly original fashion.
Harry Taussig and Max Ochs: The Music of Harry Taussig and Max Ochs
A pair of overlooked solo acoustic guitarists reunites 50 years after appearing together on John Fahey’s legendary 1967 Takoma sampler LP for a fine, succinct program of that for which they are each best known.
Art Pepper: Presents “West Coast Sessions” Volumes 3 and 4
These late-career Art Pepper reissues offer the chance to reevaluate the genius of the troubled saxophonist’s remarkable final years.