Engine 145 - A Roots Music Publication

Old Yellow Moon is the first official collaboration between country music stalwarts Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell, but the pair have been making music together for forty years. Crowell joined Harris’ Hot Band in the mid 1970s and played on several of her albums before going solo in the 1980s. In addition to playing on [...]

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Sometimes albums break new ground, and sometimes albums are retreats to the tried and true. Russell Moore & IIIrd Tyme Out’s newest certainly breaks no new ground, and the band anchors itself in the safe harbor of classic country and pop music, offering up its own special bluegrass take on the songs. Members of the [...]

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Dale Watson, reigning king of the Texas honky tonk scene, sings about what he knows best on El Rancho Azul: drunks and dancers. Drinking songs make up a good-sized chunk of Watson’s oeuvre, and El Rancho Azul, his first official record with his touring band, the Lonestars, contains some of his best yet, from the [...]

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Buck Owens – Honky Tonk Man: Buck Sings Country Classics Thanks in part to his weekly appearances on Hee Haw, Buck Owens was one of the most visible country musicians of the late 1960s and early 1970s. He’d already well established himself by the mid-1960s, and he and The Buckaroos helped to develop the “California sound”—dominated [...]

Continue reading "Album Reviews: Buck Owens — Honky Tonk Man; Don Rich — Sings George Jones"

James Hand spent most of his career as Texas’ best kept secret. These days, the 60-year old might be one of its best exports. New record Mighty Lonesome Man (his first in three years and first for Hillgrass Bluebilly Records) is another collection of traditional country that sounds as though it dates back decades. Hand, [...]

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From the moment this musical journey begins—with the soaring call-and-response of “I See the Light of the World”—to the closing joyous, Irish reel-inflected shouts of shepherds running through the streets of Bethlehem crying, “The Baby King is born/Heaven’s here on earth,” in “Morning in Bethlehem,” Ulisse’s rapturous and angelic voice soulfully accompanies us on the [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Donna Ulisse — All the Way to Bethlehem"

Listening to the harmonies of Sweetback Sisters Zara Bode and Emily Miller could put a smile on the Grinch’s sour, green face. Country Christmas Singalong Spectacular is the result of the Brooklyn-based band’s annual holiday concerts, which have become increasingly popular over the last few years. Here, the six-person band romps through a collection of [...]

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When Santa Claus comes to town this year, surely his first stop is going to be East Nashville, where the spirit of Christmas shines brightly and where he’ll be able to dance and sing the night away in the midst of a thriving community of immensely gifted musicians. Producers Antonia Cove and Phil Harris have [...]

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If you were sleeping off a pie binge or waiting in line for the chance to buy a discounted flatscreen, you might have missed the release of Omnivore Recordings’ Black Friday country records, available at independent record stores. The four 10″ EPs, featuring “rarities” recorded by Merle Haggard, Wanda Jackson, George Jones, and Buck Owens, preview [...]

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Rosie Flores kicks out the jams on the opening lick of her energetic new album and never lets up until last note of the final track. One of the hardest working guitarists in roots music, Flores cranks up her Fender, her fingers nimbly flying over and around blues bars, country chords, and rock riffs. She delivers [...]

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