The Bloodthirsty Lovers is a nearly-unimaginable assemblage of virtuosity. Just consider the lineup of this genuine Memphis supergroup and let it sink in deep. First and foremost (in every way), there is Dave Shouse, the multifaceted musician and songwriter from indie stalwarts the Grifters and critical darlings Those Bastard Souls. Add to the mix Jason […]

Best known around these parts for his soaring sacred-steel guitar on The Word, last year’s instrumental gospel collaboration with local boys the North Mississippi Allstars and jazzman John Medeski, New Jersey’s Robert Randolph has gone from church-playing prodigy to something of a cause célèbre in the last year. Randolph’s penchant for spiking his sacred-steel runs […]

In the mid-’60s, with his now-iconic Rickenbacker 12-string, a whole bunch of Dylan covers, and his bandmates in the Byrds, Roger McGuinn invented “folk-rock.” These days the rarely seen Rock-and-Roll Hall of Famer seems devoted to folk without the rock catalyst. McGuinn’s latest record, last year’s Grammy-nominated Treasures From The Folk Den, is an acoustic […]

The current garage-rock revival may not have paid commercial dividends just yet, but it’s sprouting good bands all over the place. Detroit’s White Stripes may be the best and most well-known of the bunch, but from New York’s Mooney Suzuki to our own Reigning Sound, there are plenty of young bands giving the electric white-boy […]