New West/Via
Yoakam, who rekindled the Bakersfield sound in the late 1980s to early ’90s, pays tribute to recently departed mentor and friend Buck Owens with a thoughtful song selection, bolstered by young-gun players and just enough twists to ensure that fans of both country icons will be grinnin’ when they hear the pickin’ and especially the singin’.
Dirt Farmer/Vanguard
Four albums from 1977 to 1982 — that was the extent of Helm’s solo studio output until now. Twenty-five years is a long time, but in the former Band drummer’s case, it was worth the wait.
Blue Bella
Not since Taj Mahal put out his “Giant Step/De Ole Folks at Home” double LP in 1968 has there been a double blues album with one disc electric, one acoustic. In fact, he and Moss may be the genre’s only two artists to hold that distinction.
Inside Out
Michael Sadler knows when to call it a day: After a couple of so-so studio albums and a pair of live releases (the first a fair performance of 1981’s “Worlds Apart” LP, the second an excellent harvesting of all the “Chapter” songs originally strung out across seven nonconsecutive albums), the master of the bombastic vibrato is leaving the Canadian prog-rock group.
