OK music fans. It’s that time of year again when we are all looking for that perfect stocking stuffer for that special person in our lives. Since we are all part of this thing we call the greater-Boston/New England music scene, I suggest we give our loved ones CDs from all of our favorite artists. Several CDs for the last several months stand out. A few older ones too.
I’ll start with Boston’s Laura Vecchione’s latest disc Love Lead. Vecchione’s immense talents shine through from the first track to last. She does some singer-songwriter stuff. She belts out rockers. She sings bluesy and sultry on R&B material. Her voice is a force of nature, one fined tuned to please the ear at every twist and turn in her lyrical explorations.
Connecticut singer-songwriter Kala Farnham’s Samadhi: Home Is Where You Are CD will make anyone’s day. Another singer-songwriter with towering talent, Farnham released one that could make several Best CD Of The Year lists. Her songs and arrangements for acoustic instruments showcase abilities far beyond her age.
While we are in the singer-songwriter genre, Dan and Faith Senie of Western Massachusetts fame have recently released their latest Dan and Faith CD, Seeking. It’s a charming, winsome album that utilizes more folk idioms than most of today’s current singer-songwriters. When this husband and wife trade off on vocals, it becomes a magical build up of intrigue in their lyrics and music.
Singer-songwriter Jon McAuliffe, of Metro West Massachusetts, had released his Old School Moderne in recent weeks. It’s loaded with a variety of approaches and influences that he cleverly uses as a palette of colors to flesh out his lyrical and musical vision. Everything from classic rock to ragtime can found within his songwriting patterns.
South Shore singer-songwriter Ilene Springer released in recent months her album, Got To Be Brave. This disc is a fine gathering of acoustic guitar driven ballads with an adept backing band behind each. Vocal and melodic beauty are highlighted throughout as Springer maintains a strong, engaging presence.
Greater-Lowell area singer-songwriter Ed Thomas, who records and plays out as Rockin’ Ed Thomas, offered his witty, ear-catching Not My Job CD a few months back. Quirky but meaningful storytelling dominate the artistic vision of this disc and the talent caliber keeps it very enjoyable.
New Hampshire’s Celtic fiddler-composer-arranger Jordan Tirrell-Wysocki and his band The Jordan Tirrrell-Wysocki Trio came up with this year’s fine assembly of centuries old music from across the seas with modern original music inspired by the traditional works. For a taste of fine acoustic music, fiddle virtuosity, and gloriously inspired old world melodies purchase this disc and drop it into the Christmas stocking of any lover of this genre. You’ll find that person dancing a jig around the Christmas tree.
For engaging folk rock, do yourself a favor and check out Young Frontier’s debut eponymous disc. Acoustic guitar, electric guitar, and cello have never sounded so beautifully rootsie. The solid song structures here surround ambitious talent and allow larger than life vocal and instrumental expression loom large in the listener’s imagination. Portsmouth, New Hampshire singer-songwriter Joe Young fronts this augmented trio as he makes one feel there is something big brewing with this boiling pot of potential.
Local Boston area producer Michael Dinallo produced a tribute album in Memphis he titled Feel Like Going Home: The Songs Of Charlie Rich. Using his uncanny ear for roots music, Dinallo included several local musicians, throughout this recording, like his wife, songbird Juliette Simmons Dinallo. It should go over well with any fan of blues, roots, and oldies rock and roll. And, Charlie Rich fans too.
Speaking of tribute albums, last summer saw the release of a Roslindale, Massachusetts project’s tribute to The Rolling Stones. You Can’t Always Want What You Want – A Low Budget Tribute To The Rolling Stones gives us an introduction to that Boston neighborhood’s quirkiest, most interesting bands. All thirty four of these songs will make the hair on the back of your neck tingle with excitement.
Anybody who hasn’t heard of Boston’s flaming arrow toward fame vocalist and songwriter Ruby Rose Fox by now is probably living in a cave in some primitive land. Fox’s Domestic album set the local New England scene alight with talk of this young lady becoming an international superstar. There is no denying her powerhouse vocal, highly skilled backing vocalists and support players, and songs written like few songs ever have been. Put Ruby Rose Fox’s Domestic album in someone’s Christmas stocking and you’ll be invited to stay for eggnog while you and your companion mull over the greatness coming out of the stereo speakers.
Diving into the blues category, we find an unusually high amount of releases for what some consider to be New England’s smallest niche market. Conrad Warre’s outfit Bees Deluxe released an outstanding live album last summer. Recorded at Arlington Center For The Arts in Arlington, Massachusetts, Bluesapocalypse welds blues with classic rock, fusion jazz, prog, and even 1960s psychodelic. Warre and his band mates serve up a full, hot plate of music that jumps right out of the stereo speakers with a mind blowing, three dimensional sound.
While not exactly a new album, Steve Morgan And The Kingfish have been gaining renewed traction with Blues In Paradise, their 2013 release. Morgan and his Kingfish had won the Cape Cod Talent Search and The Boston Blues Society’s Blues Challenge, competed in the International Blues Competition in Memphis, and performed at a couple of major blues festivals in greater-Boston. Gaining wider recognition for their band, they’ve also found nice new fans for their CD to go home with.
The Wildcat O’Hallaran Band, born out of the Western, Massachusetts scene, scored big a few months back with their CD That Boy Don’t Play No Blues. O’Halloran takes old classics and forgotten gems from a variety of genres and rearranges them into almost pure blues idioms. Blues fans must listen to what O’Halloran and his band mates do with The Beatles’ “Dr. Robert,” Jackson Five’s “I Wanna Be Where You Are,” “Ain’t No Mountain High Enough,” and many other milestone stones by some of music history’s greatest artists.
North Shore artist Bobby Leger, a veteran blues man stretching back to the 1960s Boston scene, released his first album last fall. Imaginary Dream features a cover photo of Leger playing his guitar in a land of giant mushrooms. That visage speaks to the volume of bold creativity he takes to this recording project. His guitar work is startlingly good on tracks like “Will You Miss Me When I Go,” “Light The Light,” “Dreams Are Hard To Find,” and many others here.
Rhode Island’s Sugar Ray And The Bluetones dropped their Seeing Is Believing disc last summer and the blues community is still raving about it. Monster Mike Welch offers some of his most elegant, tasteful guitar work as Anthony Geraci tinkles the ivories and pumps out the organ chords like nobody’s business. Ray Norcia keeps the top melody lines full of Chicago blues idioms and expression as the regular rhythm section of drummer Neil Gouvin and bassist Michael “Mudcat” Ward keep things moving forward with thumping, bumping momentum.
Speaking of blues, let’s not forget to purchase a copy or a second or third copy of Toni Lynn Washington’s latest disc, I Wanna Dance. Stretching her blues talents a bit into R&B here and there, Boston’s Queen Of The Blues Scene offers several dandies. Her self-written title track, “I Wanna Dance,” finds her boogying her way through several tasteful measures with classy vocal delivery and a self-confident swagger. She finesses Willie Dixon’s “Mellow Down Easy” with a joyful glide, making the song her own. Any fan of blues, female vocalists, and good musicianship would love to find a copy of this CD in their Christmas stocking. The horn players on this album are a couple of guys named Amadee and Gordon. Ever heard of ‘em?
Boston’s national touring act Spiritual Rez released their catchy, infection reggae album Setting In The West last summer, and it’s been delighting fans of the genre ever since. Toft Willingham works his vocal magic over many of those ska backbeats, bulbous horn blasts, and full organ melodies wafting through this work.
Going back in time a couple of years to the Boston prog-rock’s Esthema and it’s 2014 release Long Goodbye, the listener is treated to a fine blend of electric, acoustic, foreign instruments, and some old world melodies. Violin, bouzouki, and cello go mellow before rocking out alongside adventurous electric guitar, feisty bass work, and propulsive drummer. Portsmouth, New Hampshire bass player Tom Martin anchors the low end and turned this reviewer onto his band’s intriguing, exciting sound. Purchase this disc and stuff it into the stocking of any fan of prog and or world music. You’ll soon find that person playing air guitar while the scent of ethnic cooking wafts in from their kitchen.
Turning toward pop-rock New Hampshire style, Pat And The Hats offered Fake It Till You Make It A Hit back in 2014. Gifted songwriter and charismatic front man Patrick Gochez takes the pretty melody-hooky chorus-engaging harmonies genre into his own hands and makes it totally his. Produced by Brian Coombes, this disc jumps out of the stereo speakers with something special in all 13 tracks. Any fan of The Beatles, The Cars, Peter Gabriel, and all of that good stuff will thank you profusely for slipping this disc into their Christmas stocking.
Getting a bit retro here, and I hope they still have enough copies in stock to help my readers with purchasing, listeners need to check out Cheryl Arena’s 2003 release Blues Got Me and Jane Fallon’s 2006 offering City Girl. Both ladies, albeit from different genres, offer wholly realized, fully produced albums.
Arena’s Blues Got Me, produced by Duke Robillard, is a brilliant mix of edgy, original blues and horn embellished jump blues. Arena’s wit is on full display on her title track “Blues Got Me” and another of her originals, “Shave It,” before she proves herself a master musician with her arrangement of a couple of Buddy Johnson classics.
Jane Fallon’s 2006 release, City Girl, is a fine album indeed. Produced by the inestimable Seth Connelly, Fallon’s pristine vocal seems to emanate from the stereo speakers like an angel descending from heaven. Her tune “Forbidden Fruit” is chockfull of insight and wit into the human condition. Her heartfelt song inspired by her father, “He Deserves The Hat,” cleverly and prettily divides the real cowboys from the accessory wearing showboats. Did I mention that there’s lots of real purty pedal steel all over this disc? Your true country fans will kiss you after they find this in their stockings on Christmas mornings.
Well folks, you’ve got about 12 days to go online and order these discs for your loved ones’ Christmas stockings. Happy shopping.
https://www.facebook.com/Ilenesings/
https://www.facebook.com/Ed-Thomas-204495186256583/
http://www.youngfrontierband.com/
https://www.facebook.com/michael.dinallo?lst=100003270056778%3A1082736199%3A1481648291
http://www.stevemorganmusic.com/
http://www.wildcatohalloran.com/
https://www.facebook.com/Bobby-Leger-Official-page-239183846036/?fref=ts
http://www.sugarrayandthebluetones.com/
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Toni-Lynn-Washington/107773492578828?fref=ts
