Magnolia Keshi

The state of Mississippi is the undisputed home of the blues - the single most important source of modern popular music. From the towering influence of Delta legends Charley Patton and Son House to the guitar intricacy of Skip James and Mississippi John Hurt, this collection highlights the remarkable blues legacy of the Magnolia State through these seminal early recordings.

This is a 61-track, three-CD set that encompasses a complete chronological run of Patton's recorded output. All of his solo sides are here, his duets with Bertha Lee and Henry Sims and his backup work behind both of them. All previous incarnations of this material don't sound near as good as they do on these three volumes, all of them given the full deluxe Cedarization noise reduction treatment from the Document folks.

With 1970's Workingman's Dead, the Grateful Dead went through an overnight metamorphosis, turning abruptly from tripped-out free-form rock toward sublime acoustic folk and Americana. Taking notes on vocal harmonies from friends Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, the Dead used the softer statements of their fourth studio album as a subtle but moving reflection on the turmoil, heaviness, and hope America's youth was facing as the idealistic '60s ended. American Beauty was recorded just a few months after its predecessor, both expanding and improving on the bluegrass, folk, and psychedelic country explorations of Workingman's Dead with some of the band's most brilliant compositions. The songs here have a noticeably more relaxed and joyous feel.

A full 25 favorites from this institution of a singer-songwriter, whose songs have been borrowed by Clapton, Santana, Skynyrd and so many others. You get Cocaine; After Midnight; Lies; Call Me the Breeze; Sensitive Kind; Magnolia; Crazy Mama; Cajun Moon, and more!

J.J. Cale's 20th Century Masters: The Millennium Collection gathers a dozen of his best-known songs, including "Magnolia," "Crazy Mama," and "Call Me the Breeze," as well as "Cocaine" and "After Midnight." The collection focuses on his '70s work, featuring not only singles, but album tracks from Naturally, Really, 5, and Okie, among others. Though it's not as extensive a collection as Anyway the Wind Blows: The Anthology or The Very Best of J.J. Cale, this compilation does provide a good, concise primer on Cale's influential mix of earthy blues-rock and finely crafted songwriting.

It might be tempting to dismiss this Ralph Towner effort as New Age fluff, but the music is so gorgeous that any such considerations fall to the wayside. Yet the wayside is precisely where Towner sets his sights, which is to say that his interest lies in edges where musical idioms meet. He explores these lines, not unlike the blotted cover, with an ease of diction at the fret board that is recognizable and comforting. Drummer Peter Erskine shares the bill, but Towner adds a few synth touches for broader effect, as in “The Sigh,” which opens the session in a cleft of fluid energy.

A killer 2CD set – one that features 4 full albums from the country duo of Porter Wagoner and Dolly Parton! First up is We Found It – a gem of a record from the glory days of the Porter Wagoner/Dolly Parton partnership on record – a set that's overflowing with original material penned by each of the singers, which gives the whole thing a way of feeling a lot more personal and pointed than most other country duo albums! Porter and Dolly really share the vocal chores equally – and maybe break off less into the separate modes of some of their earlier records, but in a good way – on titles that include "Love City", "I've Been Married", "Satan's River", "I Am Always Waiting", "That's When Love Will Mean The Most", and "How Close They Must Be".