LeToya - LeToya

Capitol/EMI

LeToya has already enjoyed fame, riches and celebrity as a part of Destiny's Child. A first solo release is always a challenge for artists, especially when they are already associated with other groups. LeToya's sound is much less defined as a solo artist, without the accompaniment of the other members of Destiny's Child. Her self-titled debut is much flatter sounding that her previous works.
LeToya obviously has greatness in her, with her co-written songs such as "Say My Name" as a part of Destiny's Child. If more of that unique sounding R&B made it's way into this release, it would be a much prettier picture. Some of that emotion is evident with tracks like "All Eyes On Me" and "Obvious." In the end, LeToya's voice lacks backup power.

Nouvelle Vague - Bande A Part

V2/Artemis

Nouvelle Vague is a fan of post-punk and contemporary rock. However, if you are not familiar with the songs that they cover, one might never know. Just listening to them for themselves, they can appear to be acoustic rock, bossanova or various types of carribean roots music.
On "Bande A Part" they cover songs from "The Buzzcocks" ("Ever Fallen In Love?") to "Blondie" (House Of Glass), "Billy Idol" ("Dancing With Myself"), "U2" ("Pride") and "The Cramps" ("Human Fly"). The covers are sometimes familiar; and, at other times, the difference is so great that the only link between the two are the lyrics. Somehow, Nouvelle Vague gets away with being a cover band (no easy task), to join the ranks of Me First and The Gimme Gimmes; although completely different stylistically. The draw comes from the way in which they can interpret hit songs completely differently from the original recordings.

Jerry Lee Lewis - Last Man Standing

Shangri-La/ADA (Release Date: 9-26-06)

I played the Jerry Lee Lewis album last night. "Last Man Standing" is so great that I couldn't go to sleep until the sun was rising. I wish I could remember everything that went through my heart and soul. I needed aspirin to make my body calm down and stop hurting so bad; and I say that in a positive way. I was born in New York CIty in 1943 and when I heard Bill Haley, Chuck Berry, Little Richard, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis and Elvis in the mid-50s I was genuinely saved.
Coming from a truly dysfunctional family, rock and roll really saved my soul. It gave me the freedom to be the little punk kid, to hang out with other punks, stay out all night, smoke, spit, drink, chase girls and hang out with black and latin kids. It's saved my soul to this day. That Jerry Lee Lewis shows off his power to sing with guys like Mick Jagger, Neil Young and all the other cats such as B.B. King, Bruce Springsteen, John Fogerty, Merle Haggard, Rod Stewart, George Jones, Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton and Little Richard on "Last Man Standing," 71 years after his birth, and I hate to say it, but sing and play his piano and steal the show should give us all heart and soul to do whatever we want. The album is so special that it makes me laugh and cry.

The Baby Loves Jazz Band - Go Baby Go

Verve/Universal

This album is a double edged sword for me. The musicians who recorded these classic kids songs are very talented and experienced jazz musicians; Briggan Krauss on saxophone, John Mediski on Keyboards, Ben Perowsky on Drums, and Brad Jones/Lonnie Plaxico on Bass. However, the songs featured are the likes of "Happy And You Know It," "ABCs" and "Old MacDonald."
So, on the one hand, I hear extremely competent jazz musicians doing some really great sounding things while getting childrens songs stuck in my head. One thing I can say is: if I were to have children this probably is one of the least obnoxious childrens albums, and, at times, very enjoyable. For example, I would not be embarrassed in the slightest to be caught listening to "Ten Little Mokeys."

Jeff Foxworthy, Larry The Cable Guy, Bill Engvall & Ron White - Blue Collar Comedy Tour: One For the Road

(2 Disc Set) Warner Bros

I come upon this album with mixed feelings. I love standup comedy, and I like all types of comedy. But, I just have very different views about... everything. Well, just about everything. There is a great piece by Ron White about the absolute uselessness of Homeland Security and the color code system. However, there are other pieces that are just bigoted and dumb. No excuse.
But, to my surprise Ron White and Bill Engvall were very cool and funny guys. Jeff Foxworthy has a new gig doing "Fashion Tips" for rednecks. Not my gig, but funny enough.

The Waybacks - From The Pasture To The Future

Compass

The Waybacks, as always, are stellar string players and can create pretty mean jams and solos when just messing around. Their performances are legendary for the people who have been able to see them. With mandolins, dobros, guitars, fiddles, bass, 12-strings and generally accompanied by non-intrusive drumming, The Waybacks have mastered layering and harmonization of stringed instruments.
The title song, "From The Pasture To The Future," is arguably one of the most impressive. The majority of the song features various instruments in perfect step with each other. The appeal of The Waybacks is most definitely in their fun and creative approach to string band styles; not in their singing or lyrical capabilities. Their music is always stunning. I always look forward to hearing what they come up with.

Jack Williams - Laughing In the Face of The Blues

Folk Era/Wind River

Jack Williams is an extremely interesting musician. His voice is also very distinct and with a great range, especially for a folk singer. He has a unique and beautiful way he plays his guitar. His style on guitar is a dramatic and accentuated fingerpicking style.
Williams lyrics and voice is just as seasoned as his guitar work. With interesting and enveloping songs like "Meet Me Mama," "Laughing In The Face Of The Blues" and "Count on Me." "Laughing In The Face Of The Blues" is refreshing and great sounding acoustic folk.

Maria Muldaur - Heart of Mine: Sings Love Songs of Bob Dylan

Telarc

Maria Muldaur's covers of Bob Dylan songs are pleasant, to be kind. But they are what I would call watered-down, or spineless. Not that they are unlistenable, they just cannot compare to the original works. When I listen to these soft rock versions of classic songs of legendary proportions, it makes me sad, and want to listen to the originals. 'Tis no good.
(Editor's Note: Maria Muldaur can sing and talk to me any time she wants, and I will follow her all over the world. I love her dearly.)
***Shelton's Single of Week: "You're Gonna Make Me Lonesome When You Go"***

Lostprophets - Liberation Transmission

Columbia/Sony BMG

The Lostprophets are a Welsh band who do little to stand apart from the crowd. They play timid, already-been-done pop-alt-rock. From the slow, droning fuzz guitar sound to the whiny lead vocals, the Lostprophets seem to be doing their best to sound like every cliche of what pop rock is supposed to sound like and it numbs the mind. Like they say themselves in "Can't Catch Tomorrow", "I'm sure I've seen this look before, done a thousand time and a million more."

Jake Owen - Startin' With Me

RCA Nashville

Pretty boy is just one of the things that comes to mind when I listen to Jake Owen. Owen has the voice for this style of pop country music: baritone and not much else. His songs are perfect for his style--a song about a regretful old man, pickin' up chicks with big trucks at the rodeo, bar fights and alcoholism. Beside the obvious commercial appeal, Jake Owen does not have any particular draw from the last country flavor of the month.

Nick Moss and The Flip Tops - Live At Chan's

Blue Bella/Burnside

Nick Moss and The Flip Tops play Chicago styled blues the way it was meant to be heard. They play off each other's cues and mistakes, as well, to create what the blues is all about: the feeling of the music. The band is stellar and all are clearly masterful at their respective instruments.
The passion that this group plays their instruments with is what every blues act and musician should strive to do. To try and make music that comes from the soul not the mind. The 76-minute set showcases Moss' strengths as bandleader, musician and songwriter.

The Roger Kelloway Trio - Remembering Bobby Darin

IPO/Allegro

Roger Kelloway was a composer and pianist for Bobby Darin throughout Bobby's career. Kelloway, for this album, gathered a guitar-bass-piano trio which is the alternate form of the drums-bass-piano trio. For this arrangement the guitar often plays the time-keeping role but also allows more accompanying melodies.
Without the lyrics of Bobby Darin's songs to obstruct the flow of the instruments, Roger Kelloway uses that to his full advantage by using Darin's songs as a base for some great studio jam session work. Kelloway is one of the premier jazz piano musicians in jazz music today.

Steve Earle - Live At Montreux 2005

Eagle

Steve Earle has had an extremely varied career as well as a very interesting life. His song selection spans a great cross section of his career. Old hits such as "The Devil's Right Hand" and "Copperhead Road" made their way to the stage that evening, as well as some newer politically motivated songs such as "Condi Condi," "Jerusalem" and "The Revolution Starts Now." Earle doesn't talk to much on stage; he lets his songs do the storytelling for him.
One of the most biting commentaries on the album is "Rich Man's War." It is a description of what happens anytime there is a war which needs fresh bodies. But the most humorous cut by far is "Condi Condi," a love song addressed to our secretary of state, "Sweet and dandy pretty as can be/You be the flower and I'll be the bumble bee /Oh she loves me oops she loves me not/People say you're cold but I think you're hot." Earle shows that his focus has definitely been concentrated in recent years to his political views on war, peace, capital punishment and capitalism.

Cinder - House Full of No Trust

Rock Ridge

Cinder was signed to Geffen and toured with Sevendust and Creed. That was indeed the appropriate market for them. Apparently, after being thoroughly disillusioned with the major record label industry they got signed with Rock Ridge. However, it seems that the problem may not have been the record company, but the band itself.
Cinder is neither slow nor fast; loud or soft. They simply create rock styled music that sounds like all the other rock styled music... like for example Sevendust or Creed. The lyrics are simple, short and unremarkable. Cinder is the mediocre rock band that opens for larger mediocre rock bands.

Tish Hinojosa - A Heart Wide Open

M2/Valley Entertainment

Tish Hinojosa has always had a knack for seemlessly blending country/folk styles with traditional Mexican styled music. Her blend of musical styles made her standout to the audiences she found in the Southwest. Many albums into her career, Hinojosa has released an album of stories set to melody. Songs, including "The Poet The Painter" and "Blue-Eyed Billy," are lucid and aural portraits of characters who one feels as though one knows personally by the end of the songs. "A Heart Wide Open" is a bilingual, cross-cultural and cross-genre exploration of everyday people and everyday life.
***So Nice, Gotta Do It Up Twice (Created by the Original NYC DJ, Jocko, 1955)***

Jurassic 5 - Feedback

Interscope

Jurassic 5 has always proven their dedication to old school hip hop while remaining creative with the melodies and rhymes, and on top of that they express hip hop in a non gangsta style. They have definite stylistic signatures that are used from album to album and add to their charisma and energy as a group.
J5's use of interesting and classic samples on their cuts give their music a depth that is often not seen in hip hop. It is the use of samples that have a variety of genre styles as well as a variety of instruments that sets J5 apart from the average. "Feedback" is a definite step forward, but it also hails back to the self titled release in many ways.

Hank Williams, Jr. - That's How They Do It In Dixie: The Essential Collection

Curb

Hank Williams, Jr. is one of those artists who have had a career following their parents in their oversized footsteps. While he began his career doing his father's songs he changed all that beginning in the late seventies and continuing until the late '80s with as many 29 top ten singles. Williams, during the peak in his career, associated himself with the outlaw country genre and remained successful until the clean cut new country boys (like Garth Brooks) took over Nashville.
Songs included on Williams' 73rd album are "Whiskey Bent and Hell Bound," "Family Tradition" and "There's A Tear In My Beer." Williams owes as much to his father's pioneering footsteps as to the Rock and Honky Tonk movements. For William's Umpteenth "Essential Collection," it is well worth listening to for all of the hits and it is one of the best introductions to Williams' music.
***Shelton's Second Single of The Week: "A Country Boy Can Survive"***

The Shys - Astoria

Sire/Warner Bros

The Shys are good at being other bands. A composite sketch of some bands such as The Who (in the early days), The White Stripes and Buckcherry would portray this band fairly accurately for the most part. For a spinoff band, The Shys are extremely passionate about what they are doing: loud, shit kickin' rock 'n roll. They do what they do well, and just a bit better than most other rock bands. But, they are cursed with average lyrics, uninteresting riffs and cliche songs, with above average passion.

Laurie Lewis & The Right Hands - The Golden West

HighTone

Laurie Lewis has been releasing records since the mid '80s. But, before that she had already been consistently winning fiddle contests since she was a teenager. The Right Hands are well accomplished musicians and pleasant enough singers. Linda Ronstadt makes a couple of appearances to do duets with Laurie on "Hand to Hold" and "Rank Stranger," with exceptionally enchanting results.
"River Under The Road" is a good low-down, yet quick paced tune with melodious solos and harmonizing vocals that lips whistling and toes tapping. Some other songs were not as good as the ones already mentioned. The first several tracks including "Your Eyes" and "99 Year Blues" are bland and dull. But, as the album progresses, the music improves. "The Golden West" is a great bluegrass album.

Johnny Cash - The Johnny Cash Children's Album

Columbia/Legacy

I am just as convinced that Johnny Cash could sing "I'm A Little Tea Pot" just as stylishly as "Folsom Prison Blues." This album is proof of that. Although Johnny Cash does not sing "I'm A Little Tea Pot," he sings songs such as "Nasty Dan," "Dinosaur Song" and "There's A Bear In The Woods." Whether Johnny Cash is singing about Geese or about killing men just to watch 'em die, I care not. While this "Children's Album" is not what is by any means his best work, it is worth listening to as a relic and quality children's album, back before children's music was dumbed down to mind numbing levels.
(Editor's Note: I was at Radio City Music Hall one night where I saw Waylon Jennings, a true hero of mine, with an imposing baritone voice; and I was in heaven. Then Johnny Cash took the stage, and I will never forget how powerful that man sounded. I will always love them both, but Johnny Cash is a true hero.)

Ike Turner - Risin' With The Blues

Zoho/Allegro

Ike Turner's 2001 release won him a Grammy and seemed to mark a turning point in his life and career. This release, "Risin' With The Blues," may mark a gradual slide in taste for Ike Turner. With terrible synthetic drum and keyboard sound, he sounds as though his soul is stuck in the eighties. However, to give the man credit, he is giving it a great amount of energy at age 70. All history aside, his future seems to lead to second rate album releases.

Artist: Tracy Byrd
Song: Lifestyles of The Not So Rich And Famous