Music & More

Lily Elise Update: Soul-Pop artist Lily Elise has released her fourth single "I Don't Know Why" on both video and MP3. When we last wrote about Lily in March of 2015, she had released three singles so far, "Generator", "Suitcases", and "Taken". Those singles plus two additional tracks were set for an EP called Taken to be released later in 2015. One of those remaining tracks, "I Don't Know Why", has become Elise's fourth single. Watch "I Don't Know Why" Buy at Amazon Buy at iTunes Stream on Spotify "I Don't Know Why" was written by Lily Elise with Rosina “Soaky” Russell & Daniel Nigro. Daniel Nigro played all instruments, produced, and engineered the track. On "I Don't Know Why" the music supports some well written lyrics which deal with a relationship gone wrong. The song bubbles with tension but never breaks loose. The still unreleased EP has been retitled Oliver...

Amy LaVere played the World Cafe Live (upstairs) on Wednesday, March 2nd as an opening act for Luther Dickinson . She played upright bass and sang, accompanied by husband Will Sexton on acoustic guitar. The all acoustic set was very different, but no less enjoyable, than times I've seen her perform in a power trio setting with drums and electric guitar. The first time I saw Amy LaVere she was playing at Antone's, a legendary blues club in Austin, Texas as part of SXSW 2008. She is the only female singer-songwriter musician I can think of who performs playing upright bass. She has an easy rapport with the crowd and her stories add quite a bit to her uniquely endearing songwriting. Her acoustic set mirrors the direction she took on her latest album, Hallelujah I'm a Dreamer, which she said was produced by Jim Dickinson with help from Luther. As much as I loved the guitar work of Steve Selvidge in Amy's electric band, I was completely knocked out by Sexton...

Luther Dickinson played the World Cafe Live, upstairs venue, on Wednesday March 2nd. Luther is touring behind his latest solo album, Blues & Ballads. That album is extraordinary. And as good as it is, Luther uses it as a jumping off point. His performance is so good that the difference between live and the album is the reason that I will always keep coming out to see live music. He plays the blues so well that I sat there thinking that I could listen to him play the guitar all night. And I thought the same about his vocals. That thought was rewarded with an unusually long show, his set lasted at least two hours. Watch "Let It Roll" Watch more video from the show: A Stone's Throw Bang Bang LuLu Yard Man Up Over Yonder Sharde Thomas Backing him on drums, vocals, and fife was Sharde Thomas and it was great seeing her; her excellent drumming is only exceeded by the quality of her vocals. Joining this pair on stage were Amy LaVere on upright bass and...

SiriusXM's The Bridge bills itself as playing mellow rock and folk/rock from the 70s. Even though I mostly prefer SiriusXM's moderated music channels (with DJs), The Bridge was always one of their more listenable automated channels. It used to be that they played mostly soft rock singles from the 70s. It used to be that you couldn't listen too long or too often because you were bound to hear repeats. I'm happy to report that sometime in the last six months or so lots of great tracks have been added to The Bridge, and not just singles but album tracks too. A Friday morning listen was quite enjoyable for over three hours with no songs repeated. There were repeat artists, such as Simon & Garfunkel, John Lennon, and Joni Mitchell. Having not listened to The Bridge for awhile, even the expected songs sounded good, songs like "Deacon Blues" by Steely Dan, "New Kid In Town" by the Eagles, and "Ventura Highway" by America. More exciting ...

Carrie Rodriguez released her fifth solo album, Lola, on February 19th. I took an immediate liking to it as I listened for the first time. The vocals were immediately appealing, the violin too, and the guitar work struck me as falling somewhere between jazz and country; clearly this was something special. This genre-bending music is decidedly Tex-Mex influenced country with elements of folk, jazz, and pop. A couple of other thoughts occurred to me during that first listen. This seemed to be an album that Vin Scelsa would have played on his Idiot's Delight program (SiriusXM or WFUV) had he not retired about a year ago. I wasn't recalling any special connection with Vin, this just sounded like a record that he would have pulled from the new release pile and played two or three tracks; I do miss that show. The other thought that occurred to me was that this would be at the top of my list to see if I were going to Austin for SXSW this year. Carrie Rodriguez is a Mexican-Amer...