The Upland Almanac From Winter 2015

The original queen of crossover country-pop and the world s best-selling female country artist of all time, Shania Twain, stars in her spectacular show Shania: Still The One . This groundbreaking residency show was filmed live at The Colosseum at Caesars Palace, Las Vegas where it began its run on December 1st, 2012.

Hard rocking blues, featuring Andy Watts' virtuoso guitar, Dov Hammer's soulful harmonica and vocals and some unique original songwriting. The Blues Rebels began in 2012 as a one-time friendly jam between two veteran Blues artists – guitarist Andy Watts and singer/harmonica player Dov Hammer – but the immediate chemistry between the two and the powerful stage show that resulted was undeniable. The Blues Rebels soon became one of the hottest Blues bands on the scene, playing with world-class Blues artists such as Joe Louis Walker, Lucky Peterson and Bernard Allison. The band was also chosen to open for the legendary Johnny Winter, who told the band how impressed he was by their performance.

A decade after they delivered Okie Dokie It's the Orb on Kompakt on…Kompakt, Alex Paterson and Thomas Fehlmann return to the stalwart Cologne label with an album bearing a less sportive title and it sounds like serious sci-fi business. The standard edition consists of four tracks, each one between nine and 15 minutes in length. Not one of them is humorously titled "Captain Korma" or "Komplikation," unless "God's Mirrorball" triggers a recollection of the first Tad album. Unlike Okie Dokie, this is all new, not an amalgamation of tweaked, previously released tracks and new material. Lest this be seen as the Orb's "most mature work to date," within seconds of the opener, a mild-mannered voice from a colorful documentary about Sumerian gods intones, "If you believe in evil, then you probably need a whack on the back of the neck with a big fucking stick." After four-and-a-half minutes of ambience that intensifies in gradual fashion, a fluid, sturdy beat and light chime-like accents enter to set the tone for the remainder of the 50-minute program.

NORTHWINDS is a Doom Rock/Metal band, formed in 1987 in France. Some line-up changes delayed some of their recordings over the years, especially between 2005 and 2012. They are back now with “Eternal Winter” as their fifth, full-length album, containing seven tracks…