Memory of the Future
Artist: Eric Andersen

This is Andersen's first solo album in nine years, but that doesn't mean he's been inactive. On the contrary, as the liner notes point out, the decade leading up to this release was among his most productive. He delivered a pair of terrific trio albums with the Band's Rick Danko and Norwegian guitarist Jonas Fjeld; contributed to Jack Kerouac... Read More

Lipstick, Lies & Gasoline
Artist: Fred Eaglesmith
Community Score: 10.00

Eaglesmith strips the sound down for this one, building a lot out of relentless rhythm tracks that beat at the frontal lobes until things give way. Eaglesmith's songs have an intimate relationship with force and fury, all carried through in the arrangement and delivery, providing a sense of menace to each tune. This is album noir from end to... Read More

Last Rights: The Life & Times of Townes Van Zandt
Artist: Townes Van Zandt
Wandering Home
Artist: Maura O'Connell

Wandering Home is an apt title for Maura O'Connell's first all-Irish album since leaving the Old Sod. The players are a who's who of modern Celtic music -- among them guitarist Arty McGlynn, fiddler Ciaran Tourish (of Altan), and bouzouki player Donal Lunny -- and the tunes are mostly traditional, if not always rendered in a strictly traditional... Read More

The Long Way Around (Acoustic Collection)
Artist: Tom Russell

Tom Russell has been releasing terrific records without pause since the mid-'70s, and this acoustic, mostly live retrospective package may be the best of the bunch. In fact, after listening to its 17 tracks -- which include duets with Nanci Griffith, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, and others -- the only remaining question about Russell is: Why isn't this... Read More

Wrong-Eyed Jesus (Mysterious Tale of How I Shouted)
Artist: Jim White

Jim White's debut album is a cinematic collection of Appalachia-inspired country-folk rendered with a Gothic sensibility and junkyard atmospherics (the inclusion of Tom Waits collaborator Ralph Carney on several tracks lends the record a distinctly Waitsian veneer). Drawing on his bizarre life experiences and troubled Pentecostal upbringing,... Read More

Rough Sketches
Artist: John Stewart

Stewart's voice is as rough as his pencil sketches and worn as Route 66 itself. It speaks of lonely, distant places with more than just words. This is brought further to light through the contrast with his sweet voiced wife Buffy Ford in "Interview With an Angel." Another Folk Era album, Live at the Turf Inn, Scotland, presents the two together.... Read More

Moonpie Dreams
Artist: Kate Campbell

Moonpie Dreams follows through on the promise of Kate Campbell's debut, Songs from the Levee, offering 12 well-crafted, superbly performed country and folk-rock songs that are teeming with emotions, melodies and rich performances. ~ Thom Owens, All Music Guide Read More

Hunger
Artist: Brenda Kahn

Brenda Kahn's fifth album, but the first released on her own Rocket 99 label, Hunger is an all acoustic and spoken-word record, with only Ernie Adzentoivich's upright bass and Kahn's guitar as instrumentation, a reflection of their live show. The album was, not coincidentally, recorded in three days, mostly live, and the three spoken-word pieces... Read More