Bloggerhythms

For the sixth consecutive year my wife and I volunteered at The Appel Farms Arts & Music Festival in Elmer, NJ where we have witnessed some great music. In the past Appel Farms top notch lineups have included Mary Chapin Carpenter in 2000, Jackson Browne in 2002, and Los Lonely Boys last year. In return for volunteering admission is free for the all day lineup of musical events. Our shift schedule and the weather have often prevented us from participating in the full day of concerts but this year we saw more music than ever before. The weather was on our side. The first concert we had the pleasure of seeing was a solo acoustic performance by folk singer John Gorka , someone we both have seen at least five times before. Gorka is one of the few folky troubadours I really enjoy and that is because of his deep golden baritone and his imaginative lyrics. Because Gorka possesses a truly great singing voice his songs are far more melodic than most singer-songwriters and therefore imm...

BETTER LATE THAN NEVER!! 1. Black 47 - New York Town This CD was in a close race with #2 but Black 47 wins out because of the emotional content of some of the songs, especially "Orphans Of The Storm" in which the subject dies in the World Trade Center. Larry Kirwan said this is his love letter to his adopted home town. 2. Madeleine Peyroux - Careless Love Speaking of better late than never, in 2004 Peyroux released only her second CD, a long EIGHT YEARS after her debut. The good news is that it's even better than her first one! Peyroux is a great singer, with great arrangements. She ranks among the best interpreters of other people's songs and she makes excellent choices with her cover material while co-writing only one of her own tunes. Some of this stuff isn't really "pure" jazz but it all works well. 3. Nellie McKay - Get Away From Me This CD is hard to describe but the assessment that McKay is "a cross between Doris Day & Eminem" is...

Live In Galway , released in 2004, is The Saw Doctors first live album and their latest to be available in America. The Doctors are one of the great Irish rock bands, second in popularity in Ireland only to U2, yet they remain virtually unknown in America except to hardcore fans of Celtic music. Because vintage Saw Doctors music is not easily available stateside you may view Live In Galway as a tempting first purchase, but please do yourself a favor and don't rush out to buy this CD unless you are already a fan of their first two releases If This Is Rock & Roll I Want My Old Job Back and their followup All The Way From Tuam . If you are not familiar with those CDs Live In Galway will be an unfullfilling experience because most of the songs do not have the high quality production of their excellent studio recordings. The melody and lead guitar are washed out of the songs due to the imperfect live mix and therefore the songs all tend to sound the same. When I finally heard the...