Tombstone Every Mile
Artist: Bill Kirchen & Too Much

This first Black Top release by honky tonker Bill Kirchen is an Americana roots-music vault of valuables. With plenty of traditional C&W riffs underscored by the brilliant pedal steel of one-time Ernest Tubb steel player Buddy Charleton and the powerful piano of Mitch Collins, this project is more than mere buried treasure that contemporary... Read More

Sugar Town
Artist: The Iguanas

This latest disc from the New Orleans group extends their hold as one of the most innovative and diversified groups around. Here they mix good old rock & roll with Tex-Mex rhythms, Latin beats and some Salsa thrown in for the sake of variance. This disc is filled with an infectious sound that makes you want to get up and dance. There is a great... Read More

The Pawn Shop Years
Artist: Buick MacKane

Under the guise of Buick MacKane (the name drawn from a T.Rex song), Alexandro Escovedo and co-conspirators Joe Eddy Hines, Glenn Benavides, and David Fairchild kick out the jams on a set of primal rock that finds Austin roots music infected with spores of Motor City Madness via the New York Dolls and Mott the Hoople. In this setting, Escovedo's... Read More

Working Class
Artist: Pete Anderson

Before moving to California and beginning his successful association with country singer Dwight Yoakam, Pete Anderson cut his musical teeth in Detroit playing rock & roll and R&B. It comes as no surprise then that on his first solo outing he would stray from the signature country string-bending style that had become his trademark. From the... Read More

Super Ball
Artist: The Iguanas

The Iguanas' third outing finds them in an exuberant, uptempo mood as they charge through a mixture of styles that zooms from goofy rock ("Rock Star," awith Dave Alvin guesting on guitar) to conjunto to sad ballads. Bonafide tune to hum: "Benny's Cadillac," a chipper tune about the things that happen to the title vehicle. Somewhat overproduced,... Read More

Do Right Man
Artist: Dan Penn

If James Brown is Soul Brother Number One, you can make a very credible case for Dan Penn being number two. The Alabama native has had a hand in writing a fair number of classic soul songs, and here he commits his versions of them to tape for the first time, recording, of course, in Muscle Shoals, with their fabulous house band, and a horn... Read More

Going Public
Artist: Newsboys
Community Score: 7.05

For the most part, Going Public is a first-rate pop/rock album from this Australian-based band. Although there are traces of dogma in the lyrics, there is enough variety, depth, and cleverness both musically and lyrically to make the album a winner. The first two numbers, "Real Good Thing" (with a great thumping bassline) and "Shine," are... Read More

Thirteen Years
Artist: Alejandro Escovedo

The Austin singer-songwriter reaches deep once again, adding triple violins, harp, and cello to his palette of movingly introspective material. Overall, the expanded lineup provides for plenty of tonal space. Before the mood ever gets maudlin, Escovedo cranks up the volume with guest guitarist Charlie Sexton for "Losing Your Touch," and a... Read More

Annunciation
Artist: The Subdudes
Community Score: 8.45

After three years without a recording contract, the Subdudes reappeared with this beautiful collection of soulful, gorgeous, funkily "subdued" music. It's another example of why the band was so popular with those who were exposed to them, and why they were often mentioned as one of the bands most deserving of wider recognition. The lyrics here... Read More

Right Here Right Now
Artist: Russ Taff

In addition to owning a powerful, affecting voice, Russ Taff is among CCM's most versatile performers. Right Here Right Now is among his more introspective efforts, exploring issues of strength, frailty, and the trials and joys of maintaining strong religious faith in the face of human imperfection. Taff is more confessional than many of his CCM... Read More