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CD Reviews
Submitted by sramser on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 21:51.
Record Label: www.kathleentaylormusic.com Everything about this debut by Austin-based Florida transplant Kathleen Taylor — from its strikingly original songs and production to the battalion of marching frogs on its cover — is an exhilarating breath of fresh air. Taylor’s voice as both a writer and singer is steeped in richly poetic whimsy; but the production and arrangements here, rife with instrumental flourishes like tuba, vibraphone, banjo, musical saw and cricket chirps, transform her music into something truly extraordinary.
Submitted by sramser on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 21:52.
Record Label: Kiachia Productions Austin is stuffed to the gills with aspiring songwriters, but Nakia isn’t one of them. Sure, he can write a tune, but like Ruthie Foster and Malford Milligan, he’s first and foremost a gifted singer who just wants to sing the hell out of a great song. The soulful Alabama transplant wrote or co-wrote four songs on Water to Wine, including the rafter-shaking title track; but he really goes to town on the six contributions by Michael Fracasso — most notably on “There Goes the Neighborhood,” a slyly phrased but searing comment on prejudices.
Submitted by sramser on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 21:54.
Album: Simpler Times A-Wastin' Record Label: www.myspace.com/dcbloom In a former life, D.C. Bloom was a Washington, D.C.-based speechwriter, plying his trade for, among others, the FBI. But he also moonlighted as the frontman of a band of goofball folkies called the Dog Waggers, and it’s that lighter side of Bloom that’s showcased on his debut solo album, his first recording since moving to San Antonio in 2005. Simpler Times A-Wastin’ might not win over serious folk Nazis, but it takes a cold, cold heart not to grin and dig it for the fun-loving time it is.
Submitted by sramser on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 21:54.
Record Label: www.jamesmichaeltaylor.com When James Michael Taylor finds a topic that interests him, he doesn’t just a write a song; he records a concept album filled with autobiographical songs that are piercing, startling, occasionally off-putting, rarely commercial and often brilliant. The prolific Taylor has released a dozen of these albums since 2001, and Red Dirt Diary proves his brain remains as fertile and funky as ever. Red Dirt’s 14 songs examine his elderly father’s life and the changing cultures the old man has experienced in almost a century on Earth.
Submitted by sramser on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 21:55.
Album: All is Wild, All is Silent Record Label: Western Vinyl With last year’s exceptional River’s Arms, Balmorhea asserted itself as the best instrumental outfit birthed by Austin since Explosions in the Sky. But while Explosions fires behind guitar pyrotechnics, Balmorhea crests in more ambient, classically influenced waves.
Submitted by sramser on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 21:57.
Album: Keep Your Soul: A Tribute to Doug Sahm It’s surprising that it took the 10th anniversary of Doug Sahm’s 1999 death to inspire a tribute album, but what matters is whether they got it right. And the answer is a definite yes.
Submitted by sramser on Thu, 04/16/2009 - 22:01.
Album: The Crow: New Songs for the 5-String Banjo Record Label: 40 Share Productions Yes, it’s that Steve Martin. But no, this isn’t a joke. The Waco-born wild and crazy guy might be best remembered for his arrow-through-the-head-while-strumming-a-banjo routine, but on The Crow, he takes his instrument seriously. Aside from a few up-tempo novelties and vocal numbers with guests like Dolly Parton and Tim O’Brien, this is a mostly instrumental crop of bluegrass that serves to showcase Martin’s formidable chops (alongside some of the finest pickers on the planet, including Tony Trischka and the legendary Earl Scruggs).
Submitted by sramser on Sun, 01/11/2009 - 18:21.
It’s 2009, and the arrival of a new Flatlanders album just isn’t quite the event it was back at the beginning of the decade. And that’s a good thing. Their 2002 reunion album Now Again was a fun, anything-goes affair that found Lubbock expats Butch Hancock, Jimmie Dale Gilmore and Joe Ely doing their best to sound unburdened by the weight of 30 years’ worth of “more-a-legend-than-a-band” mystique.
Submitted by sramser on Sun, 01/11/2009 - 18:19.
 There’s always at least one song on every Gourds album that’s an earworm you can’t get out of your head (and don’t want to). And on Haymaker! it comes at the very start, with the infectious backwoods bopper “Country Love.” And then the bohemian country-folk innovators follow it with 13 more tracks that have just as much alluring appeal, making their 11th album their finest since their stunning 1997 debut, Dem’s Good Beeble.
Submitted by sramser on Sun, 01/11/2009 - 14:16.
Record Label: Star Apple Kingdom  After 2007’s eponymous double album, you’d think Future Clouds & Radar’s Robert Harrison would be out of things to say. Think again. With Peoria, Harrison goes in a new direction, but not so far adrift that it’s unfamiliar. There’s still the catchy hooks, driving guitars and Lennonesque vocals, but now they’re delivered in a larger-than-life, cinematic presentation.
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