Texas ’51
Van Wilks’ first new studio album in 10 years is a solid set of blues-rock boasting some of the finest guitar tone ever put on wax, easily holding a candle to efforts by more-recognizable names such as Kenny Wayne Shepherd, the Fabulous Thunderbirds and Joe Bonamassa.
Rhino
Looks like Jazz Is Dead finally has some competition in the subgenre of “instrumental interpretations of Grateful Dead songs” — sort of.
Alive Naturalsound
Picture a warehouse full of mellow West Coast country-rock LPs from the 1970s. Imagine all those records being loaded into a gigantic “Star Trek”-style transporter and beamed to Alive Naturalsound Records in Burbank — where a malfunction causes them to rematerialize as a single platter called “Pacific Surf Line,” by a new group called GospelbeacH.
Liaison
Ever since the collaboration between Jon Anderson and Jean-Luc Ponty was announced as a Kickstarter project last summer, prog and fusion fans have been anxious to hear how these icons would sound together. The end result far and away exceeds anyone’s expectations.
Landslide
Slide guitar has more of a presence on “Mississippi Moderne” than on Webb Wilder’s other albums — perhaps because Nashville session player Bob Williams, who’s been co-guitarist since 2007 but played on just three songs off 2009’s “More Like Me,” is fully incorporated this time around.
