Hal Horowitz

Hal Horowitz

Hal Horowitz

Hal has been a professional music journalist since 1994, writing predominately about country, blues, Americana, roots rock and singer/songwriter genres for a variety of publications. He won the prestigious Keeping the Blues Alive award for journalism in 2009.

Latest from Hal

Elton John GettyImages-86136698

Review: The 50th Anniversary Edition of Elton John’s ‘Honky Chateau’ Displays His Enthusiasm and Creativity

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

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Peter Case (Photo by Ekevara Kitpowsong/ The Aperturist)

Review: Peter Case Shifts to Piano Man For ‘Doctor Moan’

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

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Wilder Woods

Review: Bear Rinehart Expands His Solo Reach on Wilder Woods

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

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The Temptations GettyImages-73909183

Behind the Song: Ball of Confusion by The Temptations

The Temptations’ 1970 classic “Ball of Confusion (That’s What the World Is Today)” was, and remains, one of the archetypes of a genre dubbed psychedelic soul.  What is Psychedelic Soul? The style became popular in the late ’60s as a collusion between rock, R&B, and the drug culture which had already embraced the mind-expanding dynamic More

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Blood-Brothers-Hi-Res-PR-Photo-1-by-Norma-Touchette

Review: Unrelated ‘Blood Brothers’ Mike Zito and Albert Castiglia Deliver the Blues Rocking Goods

Mike Zito/Albert CastigliaBlood Brothers(Gulf Coast Records)4 out of 5 stars What’s better than one veteran blues-rocking guitarist working at the peak of their powers? How about two of them? That’s the deal as Mike Zito and road warrior buddy Albert Castiglia, both headliners in their genre, join for this debut as musical collaborators. The album’s More

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The Cold Stares 2

The Cold Stares Adds Another Musical Voice To Their Explosive Blues Rock

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

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The Nude Party

Review: More Mature But Still Playful, The Nude Party ‘Rides On’

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

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