Bloggerhythms

The American LP cover on Sail Records Much has been written about the troubles of guitarist Peter Green, the founder of Fleetwood Mac. After leaving the band in 1970 Green spent most of the decade either in jail or in hospitals due to mental illness that was heavily fueled by his unfortunate usage of LSD. If you want to read all of the sordid details about the personal problems that still haunt him today you can find them in Wikipedia and All Music . Regardless, Green was considered one of the premier blues-rock guitarists of the classic rock era and many considered him the equal of Eric Clapton, the man he replaced in John Mayall's Bluesbreakers. Green released one poorly received solo album, The End of the Game , not long after he left the Mac but it took another nine years until he issued In the Skies , quite possibly the best work he's done outside of his famous band...

In 2005 Cream, the legendary blues power trio, played four shows together for the first time in almost 40 years at London's equally legendary concert hall. Unfortunately, in this group's case, absence did not make the heart grow fonder. Eric Clapton, Jack Bruce, and Ginger Baker managed to make most of the songs from their classic repertoire sound indistinguishable from one another and the length of this double CD set made listening to the whole affair even more tedious than it needed to be. Surprisingly, Clapton played with no fire. His solos were all by rote and sounded identical. We all know that "God" still has the goods but not during the week he played with Bruce and Baker. Bruce can no longer hit the high notes and Clapton's still fine voice was forced to save him on numerous occasions. Baker's drum work often included fills that were identical to how they were recorded on the studio originals. In fact, the concert promoters could have taken...

Brandi Carlile is all grown up now even though she's still young at age 31. However, on her new CD, Bear Creek , she's already reflecting back on her childhood ("Keep Your Heart Young" and "Just Kids"). She fondly remembers her youth and hints that we should hold onto it for as long as we can even while we enjoy the increased wisdom that comes with growing older. Carlile is also beginning to show a bit of a spiritual side. There are religious references in the CD's liner notes and in the lyrics to the mighty rocker "Raise Hell," the sweet sounding "That Wasn't Me," and the cerebral "100". Not only have Carlile's songs grown even more introspective over time Bear Creek sounds gorgeous too. Her always pleasing vocals are as powerful as ever, and her sense of melody is even more pronounced, perhaps because the new disc is more country influenced, offering less rock than all three of her previous studio efforts...

Beaucoup Blue is the unlikely father and son duo of David Mowry, 65 and Adrian Mowry, 41. David plays dobro, acoustic, and excellent slide guitar while Adrian accompanies him on six and twelve string guitar. Both men share lead and harmony vocals. They occasionally use a sideman but usually it's just the two of them together in the studio and on the road. Beaucoup Blue mostly play acoustic folk-blues. However, because they also include some R&B, country, and a little jazz in their repertoire they describe their music as "Americana," the term often used whenever anyone playing roots music can't fit their songs into a narrow, descriptive mold. Beaucoup Blue's debut CD, Out of The Woodwork , released independently in 2003 is a twelve track journey through all kinds of American music. They cover John Lee Hooker's "Come Back, Baby," Leadbelly's, "C.C. Rider," and two Bob Dylan songs: "Corrina, Corrina," and "It T...