Blue 11

Classy debut album of horizon-scanning but intimate chamber compositions by Elori Saxl, seamlessly weaving a range of classical orchestration with field recordings and electronics.

The Blue Boys were Jim Reeves road band and at differing times had various personnel. Initially, Reeves called his band the Wagon Masters, but to avoid confusion in Nashville with Porter Wagoner, he renamed it in 1958, after his hit Blue Boy. The band initially comprised Billy Harlan (bass), Royce Morgan (guitar), Jimmy Day (steel guitar) and Pee Wee Kershaw (drums). Until shortly before the new name, Leo Jackson was Reeves lead guitarist but at the time of the formation, he was doing military service and Morgan was deputizing.

2012 album from the French singer/songwriter. With My God is Blue S‚bastien seeks to unify his 'followers' (fans) under the blanket of his message; love. With the production aid of none other than Ed Banger's Mr Flash, S‚bastien guides his listener through an expansive sonic space, defined by classic Tellier synth textures alongside a newly realized stadium ready grandeur. Following suit with his transcendence to sacrosancticity, a strong choral overtone presides over his expected funk hooks. Think midnight mass at the discotheque, a new breed of holy.

Del McCoury's love affair with the blues is never more explicit than on A Deeper Shade of Blue, a classic from the word go, where songs with the titles like "Cheek to Cheek with the Blues," "A Deeper Shade of Blue," and "The Bluest Man in Town" are the order of the day. Never a purist when it comes to songs, McCoury covers Kevin Welch's "True Love Never Dies," Willie Nelson's "Man with the Blues," and the Jerry Lee Lewis hit "What Made Milwaukee Famous." His version of Lefty Frizzell's "If You've Got the Money Honey" is downright piercing.

One of the last and most popular in a long line of traditional male vocalists who emerged before the rock-dominated 1960s, Johnny Mathis concentrated on romantic readings of jazz and pop standards for the ever-shrinking adult contemporary audience of the '60s and '70s. Though he debuted with a flurry of singles chart activity, Mathis later made it big in the album market, where a dozen of his LPs hit gold or platinum and over 60 made the charts. While he originally concentrated on theme-oriented albums of show tunes and traditional favorites, from the '70s onward Mathis began incorporating more varied styles of music into his recordings, including soft rock, R&B, and country. This stylistic eclecticism, combined with ubiquitous vocal chops, helped Mathis remain a popular concert attraction well into the 21st century.