American Heroes

This album comprised the first full-length work by Johnny Cash and Waylon Jennings as a duo, though they had previously worked together as part of the Highwaymen, the existence of whose three LPs may account for the relative neglect that Heroes has received. And it is one of the most obscure records in either artist's output, a fact that's astonishing, given the quality of the music, the singing, and the overall production. Co-produced by Chips Moman, and with Cash and Jennings at the top of their game (and so good at what they do that they make it sound easy), there's not a weak point anywhere here.

Shannon McNally follows up her aesthetic and critical breakthrough, Geronimo, with a live record on Backporch. First off, the title is interesting in how it relates to the set itself. Basically, she's reliving her own ghosts with five tunes from the aforementioned recording and two from her major-label debut, Jukebox Sparrows. In fact, she opens with a raw, completely supercharged reading of "Bolder Than Paradise," singing it with a rasp and burning guitars, pulling it out of the past and putting it in front of a crowd as something that has been shape-shifted out from under the production team's hands.

Albert Lee occupies an odd niche in music – British by birth and upbringing, he spent the mid-'60s as a top R&B guitarist, but in the 1970s became one of the top rockabilly guitarists in the world, and no slouch in country music either. In England he's a been household name, and in Nashville and Los Angeles he's been one of the most in-demand session guitarists there is; but outside of professional music circles in America, he's one of those vaguely recognizable names, and occasionally misidentified with his similar-sounding contemporary, ex-Ten Years After guitarist Alvin Lee (with whom he did share a berth once, in Jerry Lee Lewis's band on the latter's London Sessions album) – but where Alvin was a hero of Woodstock and a flashy guitarist, in the manner of British blues extroverts Jimmy Page and Jeff Beck, Albert is much more likely to be found playing in the background, behind the Everly Brothers or alongside Eric Clapton.

Various Artists - The Rough Guide To Unsung Heroes Of Country Blues (2015) {World Music Network RGNET1334CD rec 1926-35}
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© 1926-35, 2015 World Music Network / Music Rough Guides | RGNET1334CD
Blues / Country Blues / Pre-War Blues / Early American Blues

On this excellent release from the World Music Network's ever-reliable Rough Guide series, a host of unknown early blues artists get their due. While Robert Johnson, Son House, and a handful of other greats from the 1920s and '30s have become widely recognized icons of the pre-war blues era, so many lesser-known, though no less talented, players have slipped through the cracks. Opening with Henry Thomas' spirited "Fishing Blues" (complete with a pan flute solo), The Rough Guide to Unsung Heroes of Country Blues winds its way through a series of wonderful and obscure country-blues gems.

Steve Morse (guitar) and T Lavitz (keyboards), the creative foundation of the Dixie Dregs, produced an outstanding record with this effort. Joined by Rod Morgenstein (drums), Andy West (bass). and Alan Sloan (violin), they finally released a studio recording of Cruise Control, a regular show closer for the band to this day. Kat Food is another outstanding track. Carefully arranged and tightly rehearsed, this album represents a tour de force for the band, both in performance and composition. Day 444 is a hidden gem, dedicated to the American hostages held in the US Embassy in Tehran, Iran, for 444 days. This piece is a beautiful ballad that the band rarely performs. This composition alone makes the album worth getting. The band's blend of jazz, rock, country, and western classical music remains as satisfying to listen to as it did when this was released.

Featuring iconic songs from some of the meanest axemen to ever strap on a guitar, Pure… Guitar Heroes takes listeners on a journey through some of classic rock's greatest guitar moments…