Bloggerhythms

Last week Bob Dylan introduced us to his band's new guitar player. Joel Paterson is a very talented electric and acoustic axman who specializes in releasing concept albums that show off his unquestionable versatility playing instrumental covers of  rockabilly, country,  jazz, blues, and  western swing. On his own, Paterson has recorded two Christmas records, an album of original, acoustic blues, and  two albums of Beatles' classics. I first discovered Paterson last year playing lead and steel guitar on an album starring upcoming singer-songwriter Annie Dolan with whom he shares equal billing on a set of tunes that emphasizes her fine vocals on a bunch of old pop, rock, and country standards mostly from the fifties and sixties. Let It Be Guitar! was originally released in 2019 and again in 2023 as a digital only album. Paterson's choices are mostly from The Beatles' touring years, and that could be because th...

Newcomer Annie Dolan is a singer-songwriter and guitarist who recently released her debut album,  Atta Boy Girl , in the fall of 2024. It consists of nine cover songs plus the instrumental, "Fussbudget," the collection's only original composition. She's in the midst of recording a full-length, self-written, pop-rock release, but in the interim she's issued this very fine set of throwback tunes. Dolan gets a lot of help from lead guitar player and mentor  Joel Paterson who produced the sessions for her. Even though he's new to me Paterson is a highly regarded axman from Chicago who has recorded several albums of acoustic and electric guitar instrumentals. He's very much worth listening to, and it seems I've been missing out on his very cool chops. Dolan's album blends both country and rock with the artist's innate pop sensibilities and her strong, very pleasing, vocals. Rockabilly immediately comes to mind, but even ...