Janiva Magness

After Janiva Magness added a 2016 Grammy nomination to her 27 Blues Music Award nominations - with seven wins, including Entertainer of the Year - she might have taken at least a short rest on her laurels. Instead, one of the preeminent voices in contemporary American roots music has raised the bar for herself. Magness' fourteenth album, Love Is an Army, is a brilliantly crafted bridge between the past and present, blending the echoes of classic soul and country music with timeless themes of love and the very contemporary sound of protest.

A direct descendant from the traveling bundled artist packages of the '60s right down to its retro "hatch show"-styled cover art, Tommy Castro and his band play host to a relatively diverse assortment of high-energy blues and soul acts. The concept originated on the yearly Legendary Rhythm & Blues Cruise where such musical collaborations are typical. Castro's concept was to take that concept on the road, resulting in this dozen-track live album cherrypicked from various tour stops. It's a rollicking, very plugged-in affair, perhaps not surprisingly geared toward some of Castro's current crop of Alligator labelmates such as Janiva Magness, guitarist Michael Burks, and ex-Little Charlie & the Nightcats frontman-gone-solo Rick Estrin…

Formed by world reknown keyboardist Jim Alfredson (organissimo, Dirty Fingers, Janiva Magness, Greg Nagy Band, Root Doctor) Theo harkens back to the keyboard-centric superbands of the 1970s like Yes, Genesis, and Emerson Lake and Palmer, but with a distinctly modern and bold approach. Theo also represents a return to the concept of the keyboardist as a vital and irreplaceable part of the group, rather than a mere sideman. The intrepid and dynamic music is paired with auspicious lyrical themes of corporatization, consumerism, loss of innocence, exile, and the obsession with celebrity. Lead vocals are handled by Alfredson himself. Usually relegated to background duties, Alfredson's surprisingly flexible baritone voice shifts from soaring muscularity to intimate falsetto and everything between. The eponymous debut album features six tracks including an epic three song opening suite comprising 24 minutes.