Bloggerhythms

While it may have only reached #136 on Billboard's top 200 albums chart Buddy Guy's most famous release,  Damn Right, I've Got The Blues , is considered his commercial comeback after almost a decade away from the studio. It won a Grammy in 1992 for Best Contemporary Blues Album. Let it be said that these ten songs make a "damn" fine album that is typical of Guy. He doesn't offer listeners anything fresh or innovative - just his always great singing and axe work - and for me that is good enough.  Even though the album is a star-studded affair with Mark Knopfler, Jeff Beck, and Eric Clapton all joining the blues legend on various tracks Guy dominates the sessions - as he should - it's his record. The classic rockers are simply supporting players who blend in as sidemen. If they were replaced by studio players I couldn't tell the difference. The drummer is the late Richie Hayward, a longtime member of Little Feat who lays down a solid groove for Guy to w...

Much has been written about Paul McCartney (born June 18, 1942) and Brian Wilson (June 20, 1942) - two of the more important and enduring legends of the pop and rock world - so saluting them today may be redundant. But, even though I'm a little late to the party both icons have meant so much to me that I couldn't let their milestone 80th birthdays pass without acknowledging the occasion. Growing up, the lives of these two boys couldn't have been more different. One was raised in a suburban, middle class environment near a Pacific Ocean beach while the other one lived in government housing in Liverpool, England. One had two loving, devoted, parents and the other one barely survived a very troubled household with an abusive father. While both men often took part in the excesses of the 1960s one emerged from the decade relatively unscathed while the other one suffered long term health and mental problems that he is still fighting today. Despite those differences, McCartney and...

As part two of a three part series originally posted here in February 2008 I wrote about my all time top ten guilty pleasures with a statement that my number one choice would be receiving its own separate post. I'm bringing it back today - inspired by a tweet I stumbled upon by "Morning Joe" Scarborough that you can see below. The original article and links to the other posts in this series follow immediately after the tweet. This album reminds me of my parents more than any other. I listened to it countless times in my mom & dad’s car. One of many reasons I love this album and was just never cool enough to think the Carpenters were uncool. Always loved them. Always will❤️ pic.twitter.com/Q3DsRcTb2I — Joe Scarborough (@JoeNBC) June 7, 2022 One of the Twentieth Century’s most beautiful female singing voices belonged to the late, golden-voiced, balladeer Karen Carpenter. She was the more famous half of The Carpenters , the brother and sister duo who had a...

Jonathan Foster was featured on Bloggerhythms just a little over a year ago with a discussion of his fifth full length album, Lantern Shade . While readers may disagree, I wrote in that post that Foster is more of a singer-songwriter than a folk musician because there is a little bit of pop and rock in his music. However, he jettisoned those influences completely while making "The Mountain Echo," his quite satisfying brand new single and video. Previously, Foster always recorded with the intent of releasing an entire album, but he's doing things differently this time around. When asked if a new album is forthcoming the Californian explained,  "For now, this is a stand alone single that has come out of a new batch of songs I've been working on. The hope will be to continue to work on new songs individually for the rest of the year while touring, and with any luck a new album will get developed as a result for a release next year. This is a change in approach from ...

On the cover to her third album,  Seven Year Ache , Rosanne Cash looks more like a rock star - or Linda Ronstadt's younger sister - than one of the most respected country artists on the scene today. I know this has nothing to do with the discussion that follows but I just thought it's an interesting little tidbit I'd throw in to begin this post. Cash has always had a beautiful alto voice that helped her become an absolute powerhouse on the country music charts. She enjoyed ten #1 singles, but this album contained the only one that ever reached Billboard's Hot 100 where its title song peaked at #22 in 1981. It also went to #6 on the Adult Contemporary survey. "Seven Year Ache" sounds more like a 70s soft-rock record made by Laurel Canyon singer-songwriters than a country tune, and maybe that accounts for its crossover appeal. It was Cash's commercial breakthrough and became her most famous song. It's also the only one she m...