Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#954 in the series) is Steve Earle and the Dukes, Terraplane. Steve Earle’s new album Terraplane is being billed as his blues album. We’ll talk about that a bit more in a minute. More importantly I think – it’s a Steve Earle and the Dukes album, and a damn fine one at that.  Steve Earle has had many different personas and approaches in his career, Country rock and roller, hard core troubadour, singer songwriter, bluegrass musician, political activist, you name it  - but mostly I think the best name to fit him – if he even needs one – is a folk singer.  And if you don’t think folk singers can play or sing the blues then you...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day is Johnny Cash, American Recordings V: A Hundred Highways The year was 1994, and it was not the best of times for Johnny Cash.  His health, starting to fail from a series of illnesses and decades of hard living, was seemingly bringing “The Man in Black” much closer to the end than he was ready to admit.  His latest major record label, Mercury Records had dropped him after one last commitment record, The Mystery of life, that was released in 1990 and included updated versions of “Hey Porter”, “Angel and the “Badman”, and “The Greatest Cowboy”, that were good simply because they are very good songs, but showed none of the outlaw grit...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#953 in the Series)  is Alice Cooper, Billion Dollar Babies. About three years ago I listened to this album for the first time in about 12 years. I could not believe how great it still sounded. Of all the early 70s things that I loved, this one still kicked as good, if not better, than almost anything else I’d played in quite sometime from that old era. The quality of the tracks stood out, but what stood out the most was the quality of the arrangements and wonderfully intricate playing by the band. There was a ton great musicians in the early Alice Cooper band.  It’s great to hear hard rock played by...

Today’s Cool album of the Day (#952 in the Series) is The Doobie Brothers, What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits. Can you believe that this little gem was released 41 years ago this week!! I really enjoy the decade or so tradition of bands playing one of their albums in its entirety. I know it would probably never happen, but if the Doobie Brothers were to do add join that tradition, then they should play “What Were Once Vices Are Now Habits.” This was easily my favorite album of theirs. I always loved the overall sound of it. The breezy feel that it had, the use of harmonies and wooden instruments and yes, a trombone tossed in here...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#951 in the Series) is Big Country, Steeltown 30th Anniversary Edition The 80s were, without a doubt, a golden era for Scots pop/rock music.  A storm which began brewing deep in the punk and new wave sounds of the late 70′s suddenly gathered it’s forces and unleashed a Tsunami of talent which didn’t diminish for years. One of those talents was the wonderfully gifted Stuart Adamson, a young man who was a founding member of The Skids, a fantastic band from Fife which had great success between 1977 and 1982, became very influential , and which these days has attained semi-legendary status among fans of the Punk/New Wave era. Adamson actually left the band...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#950 in the Series)  is Cat Stevens, Teaser and The Firecat. I was going to feature Catch Bull at Four because it contains “Boy With the Moon and Star on His Head” but went with Teaser and The Firecat instead. I love that song but I’ve read that it’s one of the few songs that Cat Stevens recorded years ago that he’s actually embarrassed about. Sometimes when I do some research for these pieces you learn little nuggets that you didn’t know about and they catch you totally by surprise.  For instance, I learned when looking up Teaser and the Firecat that Rick Wakeman of Yes fame played keys on the top 40 hit “Morning Has...

Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#949 in the Series) is Roxy Swain, Restless Hearts Restless Hearts, the second record from local Chicago favorites Roxy Swain, is about as perfectly crafted a set of songs as your ears will enjoy all year. With influences that seem to float from Fleetwood Mac to Emmy Lou Harris, with a hint of daisy-duke era Linda Ronstadt thrown in for good measure, Ms. Swain, the front-woman for the group, with her back of the barroom pipes, slight Americana warble, and abundance of Indie Rock-Chick swagger could be the love child of Chrissie Hynde and Lucinda Williams. There is definitely some palate cleansing retro fairy dust that is sprinkled throughout this highly addictive album...

  GROW MUSIC PROJECT is proud to present episode #06 of “GMP • The Session Diaries”, a new documentary web series about great emerging independent artists and bands that you might not know, but should. Ep.#06 features JUICE LUCAFO, hailing from Phoenix, AZ, (via Chicago, IL) Juice puts you straight away into the heart of the song, especially with a track like “All Tied Up.” There’s no filler with Juice – If she wants to say something, she says it – and with a vocal prowess that is as impressive as it is unique. She’s the complete artist – one that blows you away and remains stuck in your head after just one listen. This episode chronicles the creative...

  Today’s Cool album of the Day (#948 in the Series) is Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach, Painted From Memory   Reviewers hated this album. I call it the “Album to Never Listen to When Going Through a Breakup” simply because it’s heartfelt and full of emotion. Someone said to me, I’m hurting, and I said be sure to not listen to this then. I grew up with Burt Bacharach, and as a semi-adult I became smitten with all that Elvis Costello did. This “marriage” was a dream coming true. I love this album so much. Add Steve Nieve (keyboards) to it and it makes it close to perfect. Elvis is a crooner at heart, despite his “punk rock”...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#948 in the Series) is Billy Joe Shaver, Long in the Tooth On the Mount Rushmore of 70′s Highwayman Icons, a zip code that includes Willie Nelson,Waylon Jennings, Johnny Cash, and Kris Kristoffersons, Billy Joe Shaver could very well be considered the fifth Beatle, the under the radar cowboy that jump-started the movement with Honky Tonk Heroes in 1973, and in the process put the outlaw in Outlaw Country, reshaped the image of Waylon Jennings, changed the landscape of Country music forever, and just might have laid the foundation for Roots Rock and the Americana movement that is in full force today. Having already used up most of his nine lives, he...