Reviews

LONESOME MEADOW TICKET TO MY NAME No Label No Number After releasing five CDs in six years, Lonesome Meadow seemed to go on a recording hiatus. With their return to recording, this family band (the Jacksons)—bassist Mark, guitarist John, fiddler Anne-Marie, and banjoist Gary—from Ohio has selected a format that has more cover tunes than…

JOHN BOWMAN BEAUTIFUL ASHES Mountain Home MH16442 This isn’t John Bowman’s first solo effort, but it’s his way of making a statement that says he has his own ministry. “This recording is a valuable part of the ministry God has entrusted me with,” Bowman said. “Every song has a special message for every listener whether…

MATT BROWN & GREG REISH SPEED THE PLOW No Label No Number    This is a duet album in the truest sense of the word. Two voices work in concert to bring the listener a compelling experience of such depth and nuance that it can be savored repeatedly. Matt Brown is one of the many younger…

CRICKET TELL THE WEATHER No Label No Number Cricket Tell the Weather is a quartet that dubs itself “a singer-songwriter based acoustic string band out of New York City.” While I wouldn’t normally open a review by quoting from a band’s own website, their online biography helps explain a few things about their debut CD….

MATT LEADBETTER No Label No Number Like father, like son. Phil Leadbetter’s son Matt, a fine resonator guitarist himself, now gets his solo debut turn. Predominantly an instrumentalist by trade, it’s not surprising that Leadbetter programmed five instrumentals among his thirteen tracks. The best of them, and one of the two best tracks here, is…

JESSE MILNES & EMILY MILLER DEEP END SESSIONS, VOLUME II No Label No Number If you like your acoustic music on the stripped down and authentic, old-time edge of the roots spectrum, this album is for you. The first recording Jesse Milnes and Emily Miller have done as a duo is the second in a…