Bluegrass star Ron Block has just come out with a new album called Walking Song…
I discovered Ron Block’s music when I discovered Alison Krauss and Union Station (AKUS), a band that has made bluegrass stylish. Ever since the hit 2000 film O Brother Where Art Thou?, with its very bluegrass inspired soundtrack, more and more people are listening to bluegrass and its hybrids. Ron Block is a singer, songwriter, banjo player, producer, and […]
Artist: Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears
Album: Daffy’s Elixir
… But then there’s her reaction the first time she heard Bryan Scary and the Shredding Tears: amused disbelief. “Are you listening to this on purpose?” {I was} “… It’s so cheesy! And ’70s!” Now, rather than sniping about an INXS fan calling anyone’s music “cheesy”, I will take the high road and concede her points. *If*, by cheesy, we mean that Bryan Scary albums are full of extravagant pop […]
Artist: Extra Life
Album: Dream Seeds
Musically, Extra Life spent their first two records inventing a style I’d wished would exist for years. On the one hand, the guitar and drums were fierce. In a measured way, heavy enough to make full-throttle speed impossible, just as Sherman tanks can’t outrace cheetahs. But that gives time enough to think, to feint, to surprise (if someone clever and ruthless is driving the tank, you might bet against the cheetah’s […]