Steve Horowitz

1 week ago | popmatters.com | Steve Horowitz

World on Fire Xenon Sometimes the hardest music to play well is the simplest stuff. That’s especially true of the blues and why masters of the one-note style (B.B. King), the unpretentious verse (Mississippi John Hurt), and the unsophisticated melody (Reverand Gary Davis) are the most revered. These great artists understood that the humblest song can have the most significant impact through its very guilelessness.

2 weeks ago | popmatters.com | Steve Horowitz

Wild and Clear and Blue Rounder I’m With Her is a folk/Americana supergroup. The all-female trio (Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, and Sara Watkins) have won several Grammy Awards individually and collectively and been nominated for dozens more. Their sophomore album, Wild and Clear and Blue, will win them even more honors. The three singer-songwriters penned all 11 lilting and literate songs together. They are all listed as written by “Sarah Jarosz, Aoife O’Donovan, Sara Watkins“.

2 weeks ago | popmatters.com | Steve Horowitz

Gee Whiz: The Get Away From Me Demos Omnivore Recordings Twenty-one years ago, the 21-year-old Nellie McKay released her debut album Get Away From Me to much critical acclaim. Reviewers from the New York Times to Pitchfork and PopMatters praised its eclectic mix of musical styles from Tin Pan Alley to hip-hop, cabaret jazz to spoken word, blues to Broadway, singer-songwriter to rock, and its unclassifiable singularity.

2 weeks ago | popmatters.com | Steve Horowitz

We're All Gonna Live Blue Corn Music Do you remember that suicide poem, “Resumé” by Dorothy Parker? The narrator lists the various ways one might kill oneself and concludes they are all too messy, unpleasant, or just plain dull. “You might as well live”, the speaker wearily concludes. Tony Kamel’s new album features a host of songs about death and dying, but unlike Parker, he deduces, “We’re All Gonna Live”, so we should enjoy it.

3 weeks ago | popmatters.com | Steve Horowitz

Long After the Fire Label 51 Recordings Nothing comes from nothing, especially in music. Every song has its roots in something that came before it. That said, the magic of a great new track is found in how creatively interesting the artist tweaks an older formula and turns it into something fresh. Rock and roll may not have improved since Chuck Berry first started laying down licks (and even he owes a debt to Louis Jordan, Al Jolson, and many others, but it has evolved into many forms.