Country Living Usa October 2016

Tom Russell is perhaps the only living American songwriter who could get away with describing his album as "Jack Kerouac meets Johnny Cash…in Bakersfield." It may read like conceit, but his work over the last 45 years has earned him that claim. Russell is a renaissance man: He writes songs that have been covered by Cash, Ian Tyson, Doug Sahm, Iris DeMent, and more; he is also a fine painter, poet, essayist, and author.

"Olivia" is the second album by the singer Olivia Newton-John. Two of its songs were released as singles ("What Is Life" and "My Old Man's Got a Gun"). In its initial release, it was not issued in the United States, though it was sold there as an import. Not released in the United States, "Olivia" contains 14 tracks, including covers of Bread's "Everything I Own", George Harrison's "What Is Life" (US #34 Adult Contemporary, Billboard) and "Behind That Locked Door", and Merrilee Rush's "Angel of the Morning".

The Fabulous Rhinestones were one of the best-loved bands in the Northeast, but due to the fortunes of the music business never secured the commericial success they deserved. The founding members Kal David (formerly played around Chicago with the likes of Paul Cotton and Peter Cetera), Marty Grebb (The Buckinghams) and Harvey Brooks (Electric Flag and consumate sideman for Bob Dylan, Miles Davis and many others), created a terrific blues-based body of original tunes.

The new album Badlands, from North Dakota Blues-Rock artist Jennifer Lyn, couldn’t come at a better time. As a new generation takes the reins, keeping Blues-based music alive is needed more than ever to remind us of our own history and preserve the love of this genre for generations to come.

Angela Brown personifies the ideal soprano: sheer vocal power; luxurious finesse; and shimmering, high pianissimos. With a charming personality larger than life, she unites opera, pops, and gospel in one sensational voice. A featured artist on the two-time Grammy Award® winning recording “Ask Your Mama,” Angela’s international reputation continues to grow.

Bay Area pianist Myra Melford – whom the New Yorker called “a stalwart of the new-jazz movement” – has spent the last three decades making brilliant original music, in equal parts challenging and engaging. She has explored an array of formats, from dynamic solo-piano recitals to deeply interactive small groups and even the swinging grandeur of the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra. But it’s her quintet Snowy Egret that best defines her artistry in 2018: “I really feel like it’s the vehicle that expresses where I am as a composer, performer and bandleader right now,” she says. Firehouse 12 Records will release The Other Side of Air, this ensemble’s new album, on November 12.

Hitting a career milestone with album number ten, Arizona emo-rock stalwarts Jimmy Eat World defy late-era stagnation with the balanced, advanced Surviving. Like 2016's Integrity Blues, Surviving continues the band's sonic evolution with maturity and confidence, taking the glimmers of moody experimentation from its predecessor and cranking up the urgency. Dealing with depression, alcohol abuse recovery, and self-acceptance, the cleverly titled set isn't just about getting through this life, but about truly living.