Ann Savich

Fred James & Mary-Ann Brandon are the real deal. If you like southern roots Americana and blue eyed soul music, you’ll love the sound these two journeyman performers conjure up. Their new CD release on SPV Records showcases their exceptional song-writing and musicianship. Their harmony blend is all their own but harkens back to the classic duet sounds of Delaney & Bonnie, Billy Vera & Judy Clay and Bonnie Raitt & Delbert McClinton. It’s a sound that is timeless. This record has wound up being a loose chronicle of their life together. It's a love story with all its twists and turns. Their life together has not always been easy. They have lived, loved, fought and played with passion. For this album they went back to record some of the music from the early days and dug into their country and R&B roots to bring you a southern stew pot of blue eyed soul. This is, in fact, a record that has been a quarter of a century in the making.

The connection between Wales and the harp is a long-standing one, and Mathias's part in it began 12 years before his Harp Concerto was written, with Improvisations for harp solo; even a Welshman has to learn how to cope with such an idiosyncratic instrument. He learned his lessons well—even using semitone pedal glissandos in the second movement, and he keeps the harp audible by alternating its solo passages with orchestral ones or, when the two are working together treating the orchestra with a light touch (the celesta is used as a particularly effective companion to the harp), at other times resorting to the more familiar across-the-strings sweep. Two movements have declared Welsh associations: the first juxtaposes but does not develop three themes the second is a 'bardic' elegy; the last is simply ''joyful and rhythmic''. The whole makes pleasing listening appealing to the emotions and imagination rather than the intellect.

Lee Ann Womack began recording a sequel for MCA Nashville after 2008's Call Me Crazy, but none of its advance singles stuck, leading the singer to shift direction for her seventh studio album. This album didn't appear until 2014, not on Universal but on Sugar Hill/Welk, who picked up The Way I'm Livin', an album that effectively reboots her career. Produced by Frank Liddell – Womack's husband but more notably the producer behind recent hit records by Miranda Lambert, Pistol Annies, David Nail, and the Eli Young Band – The Way I'm Livin' finds the veteran singer intentionally abandoning the chart race for deeply felt intimacy. Womack didn't write any of the songs on The Way I'm Livin' – a collection of writers ranging from Bruce Robison, Kenny Price, Julie Miller, and Mindy Smith to Hayes Carll and Neil Young bear credits – but the material is so carefully selected, the album plays personally.

With Fierce Bliss, the legendary Rock And Roll Hall of Fame inductee Ann Wilson -recognized as one of the greatest singers of all time and co-founder of multi-platinum stars Heart- has created a supremely lavish, warm and seductive slice of rock ‘n’ roll which provides an instant soundtrack whether on the freeway or in front of the fireplace. Recorded between Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals, AL and Power Station, Waterford, CT, Wilson got together with famed Nashville session guitarist Tom Bukovac and invited several friends (including Warren Haynes, Kenny Wayne Shepherd and Vince Gill) to help fashion an album which carries the glow of an ochre sunset and the pristine vocals of a rock legend who still has every single unique octave at her fingertips.

Heart's Ann Wilson is releasing a new record with Tripsitter, 'Another Door'. Prior to starting the 2023 tour, Ann Wilson and her band Tripsitter finished 'Another Door', a record of all-original material, which marks the first time since the '70s that Ann has written a full-length album collectively with a band. Tripsitter features Tony Lucido (bass), Ryan Wariner (guitars), Sean T. Lane (drums), and Paul Moak (guitars and keyboards). Tom Bukovac (guitars) was also a primary contributor.

It is a truism that the organ, like no other instrument (even the piano), determines the impact of a piece of music which is played upon it. Conversely, however, the fact that not every work is suitable for every organ, is anything but trivial. For this immediately leads to questions around the connection between the instrument’s disposition and the compositional style, and what influence the choice of a specific instrument might have on the design of a programme.