self-released
San Francisco-based blues rock quartet The Stone Foxes aren’t out to please the masses — thankfully. They’re doing their own thing, taking pointers from groups like Led Zeppelin, the Rolling Stones, Faces, Black Crowes and North Mississippi Allstars, mixing it all together, kneading it, rolling it out and throwing it in the oven to see what happens.
Masterworks
The Derek Trucks Band is on hiatus for 2010, but they’re releasing this double-disc 2009 concert recording to tide fans over. Heavy on material from the last album, “Already Free,” it improves on 2004’s “Live at Georgia Theatre” not only in terms of sonic quality but also with the addition of a horn section, lending it a more soulful feel à la The Band’s classic live “Rock of Ages.”
Bumstead
Discovering the Blue Shadows is like stumbling upon buried treasure. How could it be that a roots-rock band this good put out two fantastic albums, in 1993 and 1995, and failed to show up on most people’s radar?
SCI Fidelity
There’s been no shortage of jam bands in the post-Grateful Dead era: Blues Traveler, Phish, moe., String Cheese Incident, Umphrey’s McGee and Widespread Panic, as well as countless “newgrass” groups including Railroad Earth, Yonder Mountain String Band and Blueground Undergrass.
