Retro CD Review: Joel Cage’s debut Last Hard Road proves a powerful portrait of the artist as a young man
I’m on a kick for writing Retro CD Reviews: Joel Cage’s 1995 debut album Last Hard Road is still bursting with energy from his aggressive vocal rasp and his gritty acoustic guitar assertions. The entire album is a masterwork as well as an accurate portrait of the artist as a young man. Playing all instruments […]
Retro CD Review: Singer-songwriter Karen Grenier soared on 2011’s Crazy Love
It’s that time again, folks. I’m going back in time to write a retro CD Review of a local artist released years ago, Karen Grenier’s 2011 release Crazy Love. On this album Grenier, a New Hampshire to Somerville, Massachusetts singer-songwriter spawns numerous romantic tales with a fine texture of country music idioms and acoustic instruments […]
Atlantic Thrills hammers out fun punk songs on Atlantic Thrills III
Rhode Island’s punk rock trio Atlantic Thrills is releasing its punchy third album soon. On this disc, Atlantic Thrills III, the trio create a sound that represents the way people have to kick, scratch, and claw their way through their daily lives. It’s a jungle out there folks, and Atlantic Thrills show what it takes […]
Alan Arena makes his mark with plenty of class on Deceived
Many in the area blues community know guitarist-vocalist Alan Arena from his work with Hugs For Lizbeth, an offshoot of his role as caregiver for a friend and veteran struck by Huntington’s Disease. Yet, those who follow Arena closely know that he’s also a solid blues musician. Arena’s new album Deceived may be his classiest […]
Molly Pinto Madigan, with daring musical expressions, looks unflinchingly at relationships in Romeo & Juliet In The City
Molly Pinto Madigan is at it again. After releasing an epic tale, progressive folk album a few years back, she now jumps headlong into Romeo & Juliet In The City, an album that takes an unflinching look at relationships, attraction, and loss with every song story told with layers of fine songwriting ideas. “Pilgrims” opens […]
Linda Marks reaches even greater artistic heights on The Silence Of The Stars
Linda Marks continues to rise to new heights as an artist. Like her previous album, A Recipe Of Hope, Silence Of The Stars shows an artist whose talents are converging into something taller, wider, and more in depth. Each song on Stars shine like a gem under a jeweler’s lens. Opening cut “Be The Change” […]
The Greg Sherrod Music Company showcases talents on Modern Sounds In The Blues
Taking inspiration from Ray Charles’s Modern Sounds in Country and Western album, Connecticut’s blues (and other genres) singer Greg Sherrod examines his own genre with Modern Sounds In The Blues. This eight song album shows what Connecticut’s gigantic singer tweaking blues idioms to see how far he can stretch them while remaining true to essence. […]
The Greg Sherrod Music Company show good Providence with new album
The Greg Sherrod Music Company is Sherrod’s band for the Connecticut singer to play out in Rhode Island. He also records with them and his new album titled Providence offers plenty of solid songs. Combing blues, R&B, and soul with the edge of rock and roll proves a winning formula for the giant sized performer. […]
Dan & Faith create a flavorful masterpiece with Who We Are
Fans of Dan and Faith Senie, commonly known as Dan and Faith in the folk scene and in the singer-songwriter scene, will soon have their family of fans dancing a jig or jumping for joy to their new Who We Are album. The entire album is packed with deliciously good folk idioms. It’s probably going […]
Gamma Rage impress with intense debut album
Rhode Island’s hard rocking glam band Gamma Rage recently emerged from the studio with this frenzied, energetic eponymous debut album. Singer Malyssa BellaRosa’s beautiful and terrifying vocal opens the album with “Gloom,” a song part classic rock, part goth, and part whatever this band’s creativity reaches out toward and pulls in. BellaRosa burns through this […]
