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Tom Hambridge | Boom!

Black Rose Records (2011)
Roots rock is the new country and ex-Bostonian Tom Hambridge is the style's current MPV.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | August 23, 2011

Sony (2011)
This steaming pile of songs is emblematic of the state of mainstream country music — all artifice, no heart, calculated anthems written to formula and meant, like the film itself, to do no more than capitalize on the genre's current success and rob its undiscriminating fans.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | January 11, 2011

Marc Ribot | Silent Movies

Pi (2010)
This exceptional, eccentric guitarist has traced a slow evolution from screamer to dreamer.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | November 02, 2010

In memoriam: Solomon Burke, 1940 — 2010

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | October 11, 2010

Review: Ronnie Earl and the Broadcasters | Spread the Love

Stony Plain Music (2010)
Boston-based blues-guitar virtuoso Ronnie Earl seems to be considering his past on his 23rd album as a leader.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | September 07, 2010

Sun days

No dust on Sonny Burgess
Sonny Burgess had his first hit for Sun Records in 1956 — two minutes and 26 seconds of howling wild-ass stomp called "We Wanna Boogie."

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | July 06, 2010

Salif Keita | La Différence

Emarcy (2010)
If you don't speak Malian French, you might not grasp that this is a concept album about separatism and the triumph of the human spirit inspired by Keita's experiences growing up as an albino outcast in his native land. But that doesn't matter.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | June 16, 2010

Matthew Stubbs | Medford & Main

Blue Bella (2010)
Boston-based roots guitarist Stubbs has a wicked way with a groove and an ability to conjure vintage tones.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | May 04, 2010

Dick 50 | Late Show

Dick 50 Music (2010)
Nothing jells like a band who play constantly.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | April 27, 2010

Ten Foot Polecats | I Get Blamed For Everything I Do

Hillgrass Bluebilly (2010)
There ain’t a lotta scrappy-ass electric juke-joint blues comin’ outta Allston, but this dirty trio’s first full-length album makes it seems that the Charles River is a direct tributary of the Mississippi.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | April 21, 2010

Peter Wolf | Midnight Souvenirs

Verve/UME (2010)
This Boston music legend’s metamorphosis from party animal to monster songwriter became complete with his previous solo album.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | March 30, 2010

Old man riffer

T-Model Ford turns 90 . . . or thereabouts
Bluesman James "T-Model" Ford is a survivor, and has been for a very long time.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | February 25, 2010

Rickie Lee Jones | Balm in Gilead

Fantasy (2009)
It’s astonishing to think that Rickie Lee Jones would turn out an album this organic and free of cynicism 30 years after her debut with the star-making, retro-hipster hit “Chuck E.’s in Love.” Particularly since her songwriting has always been so acutely self-aware.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | December 02, 2009

Mystic muso

The erudition of Robert Palmer
“America’s Pre-eminent Music Writer Dead at 52” was the headline on Robert Palmer’s obituary in Rolling Stone after his liver failed in 1997.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | November 04, 2009

Brendan Hogan | Long Night Coming

Self-released (2009)
Self-released (2009)

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | October 21, 2009

Darrell Nulisch | Just For You

Severn (2009)
This Boston-based blues and soul singer’s seventh album might seem an update of the elegantly funky Stax sound, with its deep grooves and smartly harmonized horns.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | October 22, 2009

Review: Tom Russell | Blood and Candle Smoke

Shout! Factory (2009)
This LA-born troubadour with a Dustbowl voice works voodoo on his 24th studio album, conjuring ghosts of the ’60s and ’70s along with apocalyptic visions as he relates tales of gun-toting madmen and dark rifts of the heart.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | September 22, 2009

Taking care of business

Digging for gold in the roots and world-music scene
Boston is one of the healthiest markets for live roots music in the country. Here are the 10 roots shows we don't want to miss this fall.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | September 14, 2009

Review: The Dynamites featuring Charles Walker | Burn It Down

OuttaSight (2009)
These Nashville-based high ministers of retro-groove — known for their muscular live sermons — broaden their gospel on CD #2.

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | September 09, 2009

Woody Guthrie | My Dusty Road

Rounder (2009)
The agit-pop songwriter of "This Land Is Your Land," "Going Down the Road," "Pretty Boy Floyd," "Philadelphia Lawyer," and a passel of other bedrock American folk classics carried a business card that identified him as "Woody, Th' Dustiest of the Dustbowlers."

By: TED DROZDOWSKI | August 19, 2009

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[ 02/17 ] Festival Ballet Providence presents UP CLOSE ON HOPE @ Black Box Theater

[ 02/17 ] "Dana Levin: A Classical Realist In the 21st Century," an exhibit of paintings @ Bert Gallery

[ 02/17 ] Mary Poppins @ Providence Performing Arts Center

BLOG POSTS BY TED DROZDOWSKI

In Memoriam: Solomon Burke, 1940 - 2010

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