Mdou Moctar Mourns with Sadness on ‘Tears of Injustice’
Mdou Moctar’s Tears of Injustice is cause for mourning and melancholy. It makes time for lamentation, knowing there is more to sustaining resistance than fighting with fire.
blues
Lonnie Johnson’s Guitar Genius Is the Star on ‘Blues & Ballads’
The re-release of Lonnie Johnson in 2025 suggests that audiences can still draw inspiration from the painful past with hope for the present and future.
When “Hocus Pocus” Guitar God Jan Akkerman Went Kind of Blue
Jan Akkerman’s discography is vast and ranges from rock to jazz to classical works, several including solo performances on the guitar forerunner, the lute.
Ollee Owens Protects Us When There Is ‘Nowhere to Hide’
Ollee Owen expresses that quintessential blues vibe of “we are all in this together” no matter what troubles come down the road.
Samantha Fish Fires Up the Fillmore on a Magical Night
Samantha Fish and her quartet pour gasoline on the sonic campfire with an electrifying sound that mixes more rock into the blues power stew.
Arlen Roth Plays Lively Folk Pop Acoustic Guitar Standards
Arlen Roth’s Playing Out the String is a blissful treat. The master guitarist delightfully picks and strums his way through well-known 20th-century songs.
Finding a Home with Tom Waits
When the light hits the music just right, Tom Waits’ body of work unlocks and reveals itself: to be at home anywhere is to be at home nowhere at all.
Albert King’s ‘In Session’ Offers a Master Class in Mutual Respect
In Session documents the night a one-time blues jam between guitarists Albert King and Stevie Ray Vaughan turned into a legendary moment.
How Bob Dylan Reinvented the Blues Highway for Contemporary America
Bob Dylan’s “Highway 61 Revisited” captures America at the peak of the civil rights struggle when African Americans were forced to fight for a country that had left them impoverished and disenfranchised.
Kenny Wayne Shepherd Pays Tribute to Rock
Blues artist Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s Dirt on My Diamonds -Vol. 2 is a tribute to rock music, an epistle from a proud disciple to his beatified masters.
Amadou & Mariam Merge Tradition with Innovation
Malian blues duo Amadou & Mariam just dropped a greatest hits album while noting how they’re intrigued by the sounds of Billie Eilish.
Bo Ramsey Revisits the Past in the ‘Sidetrack’ Lounge
In a world full of shredders, Bo Ramsey reveals the splendor of simplicity in his blues-laden Sidetrack EP. He lets this guitar do most of the talking.