Engine 145 - A Roots Music Publication

Two decades after his last solo record, Joe Walsh utilizes the opportunity to reflect a little on where he’s been on new album Analog Man. For the casual fan, Walsh is easily best known for his slide guitar work and occasional vocals with the mega-huge band, the Eagles. His distinctive style of singing at the top [...]

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Listen to the radio for any length of time and you’d think country fans are all in a state of extended adolescence, what with middle-aged men celebrating keg party plasticware and lyrics like “Girl, you make my speakers go boom boom” serving as deep expressions of love. Thankfully, we’ve still got Don Williams, who’s got [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Don Williams — And So It Goes"

Whether you spend Sunday mornings in a church pew or in a Waffle House booth self-medicating a hangover, Elizabeth Cook’s got a record for you. Inspired by a 2011 performance at the Strawberry Music Festival’s gospel brunch and influenced by the recent passing of her father, the subject matter of her new spiritual EP is [...]

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After album after album of simple, intelligent country music that stands the test of time, it would be easy to phone in a review of the latest Alan Jackson record. It’ll be authentic. It’ll be spare, but heavy on the steel guitar. It’ll have a handful of self-penned songs that speak to his roles as [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Alan Jackson — Thirty Miles West"

With the success of Jason Aldean, Brantley Gilbert, Eric Church and the like, it was only a matter of time before new outlaws would start to pop up. Kip Moore represents Version 2.0 of the Outlaw Movement (3.0 if you want to go all the way back to the Willie/Waylon Era). The rough edges are [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Kip Moore — Up All Night"

Josh Abbott and the rest of his band find themselves at a crossroads similar to the one at which Jack Ingram, the Eli Young Band, Pat Green and Sunny Sweeney have found themselves. Having made it big in the Texas music scene, they each found themselves at a crossroads. A left turn runs to Nashville [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Josh Abbott Band — Small Town Family Dream"

Mercyland: Hymns for the Rest of Us covers a large swath of musical ground, from the Carolina Chocolate Drops’ raucous string band sound on traditional tune “Lights in the Valley” to Mat Kearney’s sleepy pop to jazz guitarist John Scofield’s gorgeous instrumental version of “Peace in the Valley.” But for all its variety, the Kickstarter-funded [...]

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The first quarter of 2012 has brought a wealth of enjoyable new albums that have filled our ears and emptied our wallets. Special Consensus’ vibrant new record, their sixteenth, might be the best of that bunch. Over the course of its 37 years, Special Consensus has had its share of personnel changes, with several of [...]

Continue reading "Special Consensus — Scratch Gravel Road"

When it comes to Ireland’s national treasures, The Chieftains have to rank right up there with the Blarney Stone and the Guinness brewery in Dublin. There’s nothing wrong with the contemporary acts that have blended Irish music with rock (Flogging Molly, Dropkick Murphys) or New Age easy listening (Enya) – for the most part, at [...]

Continue reading "The Chieftains — Voice of Ages"

When the Cherryholmes family band went their separate musical ways last year, it seemed like it might be a while before we got to hear once more from Cia Cherryholmes, the talented banjo player who wrote a substantial chunk of the group’s material. But, thankfully, she hasn’t stayed gone for long, teaming up with singer-songwriter-guitarist-fly-fishing-guide [...]

Continue reading "Album Review: Stetson & Cia — Stetson & Cia"