Tijuana Bible
Underworld
His curriculum vitae now consists of five studio albums, two collaborations and a “best of,” as well as three discs with George Thorogood and the Destroyers, yet Suhler remains a relative unknown.
Reviews
The Nighthawks
American Landscape
Powerhouse
A white-boy-blues album as delicately balanced as “American Landscape” would be hard to find. Ten well-chosen covers and two originals, running the gamut from R&B to rock to jazz to soul to country, are tied together so neatly that one wishes it were Friday night at the local no-cover-charge watering hole in perpetuity.
Reviews
The Derek Trucks Band
Already Free
Victor
With each album, the Derek Trucks Band just keeps on truckin’ — not only in terms of evolution but also each disc’s uniqueness: the improvisational jazz/blues of their self-titled debut; the Southern folk/blues bent of “Out of the Madness”; the Latin and fusion forays and expanded Indian influence on “Joyful Noise”; the mostly jazz leaning of “Soul Serenade”; and the melting-pot maturity of “Songlines.”
Reviews
Fontaine Brown
Tales From the Fence Line
Manatee
Talk about a well-kept secret: Brown has gone from recording a fluke single for Checker Records to fronting Doug Brown & the Omens (who counted Bob Seger among their ranks) to engineering the Righteous Brothers to producing Del Shannon to being a member of country-rock outfit Southwind (along with Moon Martin and which almost had an Apple Records deal) to fronting Fast Fontaine to chillin’ for about 20 years in Laguna Beach just writing songs.
Reviews
The Explorers Club
Freedom Wind
Dead Oceans
OK, so it came out six months ago. But this secret needs to be let out of the bag: These Beach (Boy) combers from the coastal town of Charleston, S.C., are happening! Forget what the label’s press release says about traces of ELO, Apples in Stereo, McCartney, etc. The Explorers Club draws comparisons to those bands because those bands were influenced by the Beach Boys!
