Blue Note
Chris Wood (bassist for avant-garde jazz trio Medeski, Martin & Wood) reunites with brother Oliver (singer/songwriter/guitarist for horn-driven blues-funk outfit King Johnson) after 10 years for a toe-tapping collection of acoustic, soulful, sometimes-funky blues-folk.
Vagabond
Two words: acoustic blues, mostly guitar and harmonica, the former provided by baritone singer/songwriter Sprawl — who didn’t name his record label Vagabond for nothing, having experienced the nomadic lifestyle to the point of living out of his van for a couple of years.
Sugar Hill
It’s been a long two and a half years since Lee’s last release, “Heartbreak Hill,” a revisiting of songs by former employer Emmylou Harris. Still, the five-time Guitar Player Magazine best country guitarist is maintaining his improved pace, issuing three studio albums in the last four years; before that, there was a 14-year dry spell.
Western Seeds
For several years, I See Hawks in L.A. have been filling the void left in the Los Angeles country-rock scene by (the hopefully only hibernating) Beachwood Sparks.
Virgin
Harper’s albums, with the exception of his 1994 debut, “Welcome to the Cruel World,” have been all over the map musically. This one’s no different, but this time the singer/songwriter/slide guitarist takes a CD’s worth of songs and organizes them into two shorter discs: one that rocks and one that’s mellow.
