Lead With Heart in Mind

Heart Over Mind is the third studio album by American singer Jennifer Rush. It was released in 1987 and featured the hits "I Come Undone", "Flames of Paradise" (a duet with Elton John) and "Heart Over Mind"…

New England blues guitarist Ronnie Earl has spent his recording career, which began in 1979 when he replaced Duke Robillard in Roomful of Blues, flirting with his own hybrid brand of blues/jazz/R&B, and his elegant solos on guitar always seem on the edge of breaking out into a whole new category, although they never quite do, and he remains an excellent guitar player who suggests possibilities more than he actually reaches them. This isn't necessarily a bad thing, as this collection of tracks drawn from his solo work at the Black Top, Bullseye, Telarc, and Stony Plain labels clearly shows. Spanning 1983 to 2005, The Best of Ronnie Earl brims with joyful guitar leads that remind us that the blues is really more about freedom, deliverance, and breaking loose from problems of constraint than it is about moaning and groaning and waking up in the morning with trouble in mind…

Johnny Hartman's album debut is a set of tender ballads, each word of which is treasured by Hartman's expansive, evocative voice. The ballads appear not only especially chosen, but practically written with Hartman in mind. He shines on highlights like "I Fall in Love Too Easily," "We'll Be Together Again," "Moonlight in Vermont," and "I See Your Face Before Me," often transforming midtempo songs into completely downtempo ballads and shifting the emphasis on different beats with his phrasing. The backing - from drummer Ralph Sharon, trumpeter Howard McGhee, bassist Jay Cave, and drummer Christy Febbo - is soft, spare, and completely supportive. A CD reissue by Bethlehem Archives adds six bonus tracks, alternate takes of tracks from the original LP.