Elton JohnHonky Chateau-50th Anniversary Edition(UMe)5 out of 5 stars By any measure, it was an incredible run. Elton John’s first US release, his self-titled second album from 1970 (the previous year’s Empty Sky didn’t make it stateside until later), started the ball rolling. From there he was fire, churning out a classic each year through More

Peter CaseDoctor Moan(Sunset Blvd. Records)3 1/2 out of 5 stars And now for something completely different. At least concerning Peter Case. The one-time punk (The Nerves) and power pop (The Plimsouls) frontman has been a hard-core folk/blues/roots rock troubadour since his still stunning 1986 solo debut. Sixteen albums and one pandemic later, he’s still at More

Nick WaterhouseThe Fooler(Innovative Leisure/PRES)3 1/2 out of 5 stars To paraphrase Brian Wilson, Nick Waterhouse just wasn’t made for these times. As if to confirm that, this new album, his sixth in a decade-long career, is recorded in mono. But the cool, jazz/bluesy/pop and lushly orchestrated music featured on Promenade Blue (2021) is replaced on More

Wilder WoodsFEVER/SKY(Dualtone)3 out of 5 stars NEEDTOBREATHE frontman Bear Rinehart used the COVID lockdown to take a few extra breaths and resuscitate his Wilder Woods side project. That band, titled after the first names of two of his sons Wilder and Woods (he has another child named Water, keeping the “w” thing going), released its More

Ally VenableReal Gone(Ruf)4 out of 5 stars Sisters are doing it for themselves once sang The Eurythmics. And nowhere is that more obvious than in blues with the emergence of powerful female guitarists in a genre that has typically favored men. From Ana Popovic and Susan Tedeschi to Samantha Fish, Joanne Shaw Taylor, Joanna Connor, More

The Cold StaresVoices(Mascot Records)4 out of 5 stars Chris Tapp loves his riffs. The guitarist/keyboardist/singer/songwriter and overall auteur for Nashville’s The Cold Stares fires them as incessantly as an AR-15 on this, the band’s sixth full-length. On the face of it, little has changed in Tapps’ overall direction. He and drummer Brian Mullins still grind More

The War and TreatyLover’s Game(Mercury Nashville)3 out of 5 stars There aren’t many acts based out of Nashville that have made more fans and friends in the short time they have been there than Tanya and Michael Trotter Jr. The married couple, originally based in Albion, Michigan, took the somewhat unusual pseudonym of The War More

The Nude PartyRides On(New West)4 out of 5 stars The pride of Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina (where they formed), The Nude Party’s third album continues the outfit’s multi-hyphenated musical evolution. The sextet’s combination, some may say collision, of blues, swamp, and twang are once again dragged into the garage, dusted with Todd More