Hyperbolium

• Artist:
  Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women
• Album:
  Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women
• Track:
  Nana and Jimi

Having debuted this all-female backing lineup at San Francisco's Hardly Strictly Bluegrass festival in 2008, Dave Alvin and his estrogen-packing band have waxed a gem. Christy McWilson and Amy Farris' harmonies and duets prove compelling partners to Alvin's baritone on an album of blues, rock, folk and a few surprises. Chief among the surprises is the Cajun fiddle and pedal steel arrangement of...

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• Artist:
  Michelle Shocked
• Album:
  Soul of My Soul
• Track:
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  Love's Song

After the artistic bonanza of 2005's CD triple-shot (the eclectic Don't Ask Don't Tell, the Disney covers Got No Strings and the Latin-influenced Mexican Standoff), Michelle Shocked returns with a passionate album of rock, folk and a touch of soul. Aside from her theme albums, the mood here is among the most focused of her catalog, nicely summed by the quote in her album's press: "I think the m...

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• Artist:
  Gary Lewis & the Playboys
• Album:
  The Complete Liberty Singles

Despite major commercial success in 1965 and 1966, including a chart-topping debut, five top-five and ten top-twenty singles, Gary Lewis' music career was all but over two years after it began. His 1967 induction into the army left his label to release stockpiled tracks and record Lewis on occasional leaves; by the time of his discharge a phalanx of bubblegum bands had taken his place in the he...

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• Artist:
  Red Stick Ramblers
• Album:
  My Suitcase Is Always Packed
• Track:
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  Drinkin' to You

The Ramblers fifth album, their second for Sugar Hill, continues to masterfully mix fiddle-led country and blues, Hot Club-styled jazz and galloping western swing. As the band's evolved from imitation to influence, so too have they moved from albums stocked with covers to nearly all original material. [...]Original Story

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• Artist:
  Trainwreck Riders
• Album:
  The Perch
• Track:
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  Safety of a Back

This San Francisco trio travels the same circles as lo-fi minimalists Two Gallants, but the Riders country leanings take them closer to 1980s bands like Blood on the Saddle, Rank and File, the Meat Puppets, and Replacements. [...]Original Story

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• Artist:
  King Wilkie
• Album:
  King Wilkie Presents: The Wilkie Family Singers
• Track:
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  Hey Old Man

If you caught King Wilkie's bluegrass debut Broke, and somehow managed to miss their break with orthodoxy on 2007's Low Country Suite, you're in for a really big surprise. With the original group disbanded, and founding member Reid Burgess relocated to New York City, the band's name has been redeployed as the front for this stylistically zig-zagging concept album. The Wilkie Family Singers are ...

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• Artist:
  David Serby
• Album:
  Honkytonk and Vine
• Track:
  I Only Smoke When I'm Drinking

Though he grew up in Illinois with adoptive parents, Serby's a bona fide throwback to the throwback sounds of mid-80s Los Angeles. Ironically, he was born in Los Angeles to a biological father, only recently discovered, who was also a country musician. Serby's honky-tonk swells from the same roots as the Blasters, but with a deeper helping of the country twang and two-step rhythms Dwight Yoakam...

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• Artist:
  Eilen Jewell
• Album:
  Sea of Tears
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  Sea of Tears

Jewell's third album retains the 30s jazz phrasings of her vocals, but the folk and country sounds of 2007's Letters From Sinners & Saints give way to electric guitars that twang like slow-motion rockabilly. [...]Original Story

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• Artist:
  Isaac Hayes
• Album:
  Stax: The Soul of Hip Hop
• Track:
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  Hung Up on My Baby

The usual exercise one enjoys with hip-hop and other sample-based music is to work backward from the collage to its sources. Sample-crazy DJs such as Girl Talk's Greg Gillis are often the subject of lengthy crowd-sourced lists that deconstruct the construction, and the releases themselves sometimes include an official list. Some samples, such as Clyde Stubblefield's performance on "Funky Drumme...

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• Artist:
  Collin Raye
• Album:
  Never Going Back
• Track:
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  She's with Me

Raye came out blazing in 1991, reeling off four straight million selling albums and a string of hit country singles. He waxed a compelling catalog that mixed standard Nashville topics with more daring message songs, but his commercial success tailed at decade's end. Freed from his contract with Epic, Raye's gone the indie route with a live disc and a series of studio albums that rekindle the me...

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• Artist:
  Sonny Landreth
• Album:
  Levee Town (Expanded Edition)
• Track:
  For Who We Are (The Night Bird Sings)

Originally released in 2000 by Sugar Hill, Landreth's album is augmented on this reissue with five tracks from the same era. As on last year's From the Reach, Landreth proves himself a guitar hero whose music runs deeper than his incomparable slide work. [...]Original Story

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• Artist:
  Slaid Cleaves
• Album:
  Everything You Love Will Be Taken Away
• Track:
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  Cry

Austin singer-songwriter Slaid Cleaves returns with an album of Americana whose quiet beauty belies lyrics of deep resignation. Just as Springsteen's anthems can obscure his bite, Cleaves presents his songs with an offhandedness that, on the surface, offsets the despondency of his words. [...]Original Story

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• Artist:
  The Wanteds
• Album:
  Failure Looks So Good
• Track:
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  Ladysmith

This Portland band was originally a one-man project of singer-songwriter-guitarist Tommy Harrington. His debut, 2004's Let Go Afterglow led to extended solo touring, but unexpected fatherhood and a regression into drugs shelved the project until Harrington was able to get clean and refocus. [...]Original Story: http://www.hyperbolium.com/2009/04/19/the-wanteds...

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• Artist:
  Bobby Darin
• Album:
  If I Were a Carpenter: The Very Best of Bobby Darin: 1966-1969
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  Don't Make Promises

I'm sure there are other examples, but I was surprised to find so many good covers of Tim Hardin's "Don't Make Promises" were out there.The original by Tim Hardin. Covers by Gary Puckett, Three Dog Night, Helen Reddy, Paul Weller, Chris Smither. There are many more, including a fine rendition by Bobby Darin, all worth hearing.Oh, and what made me think of it in the first place: there's a new ve...

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