Jeff Tweedy – Love Is the King / Live Is the King album cover

Album Review: Jeff Tweedy (Love Is the King/Live Is The King) – dBpm Records

Reviewed by Harry Kaplan

I just found out about this album yesterday. How this slipped through my radar is inexplicable. I’ll blame it on COVID and move on. I started playing the tracks on Bandcamp and it was love at first listen. Stripped down, raw, and vulnerable. This is when Jeff Tweedy is at his best. It really reminds me of the Yankee Hotel Foxtrot Demos. It has that same feel. The power is in the restraint.

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Brother Townshend Heavy Hands album cover

Album Review: Brother Townsend (Heavy Hands)

Reviewed by Harry Kaplan

Four songs and the release clocks in at 24 minutes. Having four rather long songs is quite an undertaking, but Brother Townsend rises to the occasion. An unconventional melding of blues, pop, rock, cosmic country, and psychedelia is the signature of this release. What it may give up in quantity, it more than makes up for in quality. All four songs are expertly crafted. Discipline is also the operative word here. While the album is entitled “Heavy Hands,” the production, mixing, and engineering is surprisingly light and ambient. Lots of open space to let the listener reflect on the music without being overwhelmed with production gimmicks. All the instrumentation is spot on and the fills, while sometimes understated, are all in the right place at the right time. It is hard to keep a listener engaged for six-plus minutes of a song but Brother Townsend executes perfectly.

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Album cover for Auguste Patino’s Simply In Clover, featuring nine small colorful illustrations on a white background.

Auguste Patino: Simply In Clover (DK Records) – Album Review

Reviewed by Harry Kaplan

Anyone who has read a few of my reviews knows that I gravitate toward the unconventional. That doesn’t mean I like weird for weird’s sake; there still has to be something that hooks me. And “Simply In Clover” plants that hook deep into my palate. There is no squirming out of it, no escaping it. The hook is set.

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Album cover for Boone Creek’s 1977 self-titled debut, featuring Ricky Skaggs, Wes Golding, Jerry Douglas, and Terry Baucom

Album Review: Boone Creek (Remastered 2026) – Craft Recordings

Reviewed By Harry Kaplan

I will get into the music in a bit, but first I want to focus on the album cover. Holy smokes! This is pure Olan Mills studio work in the back of Sears Roebuck. It takes me straight back to my childhood. It looks like a photograph of the community church board of directors posted in the church business office. A true classic. There is not a natural fiber within 25 miles of this picture. All the food groups are represented: nylon, polyester, Naugahyde, and acrylic. I would buy this album for the cover alone.

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Album cover for Funerals for Fun by Alex Blum and the Roadside Quartet, featuring a white ghost standing on a two-lane road

Alex Blum and the Roadside Quartet: Funerals For Fun – Album Review

Reviewed by Harry Kaplan

Joe DiMaggio had a 56-game hitting streak, Orel Hershiser pitched 59 consecutive scoreless innings, and the UCLA men’s basketball team won 88 consecutive games between 1971 and 1974. Added to the list is Patrick Storedahl with at least 12 great releases in a row that he was either the lead or a contributor. That is significant and you can add Funerals For Fun to the list. Astoundingly good writing, vocals, musicianship, and production is the hallmark of this release. I keep waiting for one Storedahl release that maybe isn’t quite as good as the others, but it hasn’t happened yet.

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Talk Talk’s Spirit of Eden album cover featuring a colorful illustrated tree against a white background

Talk Talk: Spirit Of Eden (Parlophone (EMI)) – Album Review

Reviewed by Harry Kaplan

This album was released on September 16, 1988, which was my very first day working at an independent record store. Yes, record stores were a thing in 1988 and I was lucky enough to score a gig working at one. I had listened to almost nothing voluntarily apart from Grateful Dead music for the previous four and a half years. My horizons needed expansion, only I didn’t know it yet.

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Album Review: Tony Rice (Remastered 2026) – Craft Recordings

Reviewed by Harry Kaplan

Where has this album been all my life? How did I miss this one? I guess my love of bluegrass didn’t fully develop until later in my life. As a youngin’ I was much more moved by loud rock, electric and aggressive music. Shame on me! This is absolutely stunning. Nothing outlandish, nothing experimental. Just absolutely pristine bluegrass adjacent music. I say adjacent because it differs from straight bluegrass in its presentation with more pop sensibilities. But still sublime.

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Uncle Lucius: Live In ’25 At Gruene Hall (Boo Clap Records) – Album Review

Reviewed by Harry Kaplan

There are a handful of storied concert halls that when performers play there, they know they’ve made it. You’ve got The Ryman, of course, Red Rocks, The Garden, and Gruene Hall. Yes, Gruene Hall in country music circles is the fulcrum of playing music. It’s been around since 1878 and has hosted Willie Nelson, Townes Van Zandt, Loretta Lynn, Asleep At The Wheel, and too many others to mention them all.1 So to play there and release an album from this storied location is a big deal and Uncle Lucius has played there numerous times. The album cover echoes the importance of this institution because the center of the cover – in a 72 bold font is “Gruene Hall” with a white background. Uncle Lucius and Live in 25 appear bottom center in a smaller font. Nothing else has to be said and no pictures are necessary. A true motion of the utmost respect for this historic musical landmark.

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molly BANG – She Caught My Fancy album cover

molly BANG: She Caught My Fancy (A Country-ish Tribute to Ween) – Album Review

Reviewed by Harry Kaplan

This is what the band wrote about themselves on their Bandcamp page: “We’ve been booed. We’ve been banned from establishments. We’ve emptied entire venues by the end of our first song. We are the worst band in Portland… ” In the words of Nurse Ratchet, “Those are some very challenging observations you made, Randall.” And indeed, they are. Worst band in Portland, which could mean worst overall worldwide? Nahhh. They’re actually pretty good. If you like a side dish of weirdness with your music, this is very enjoyable. After all, this is a country tribute to Ween, who were pretty “out there” musically in their own rights. If however, your idea of a good mix tape includes Achy Breaky Heart, Livin’ La Vida Loca, Macarena, and Who Let The Dogs Out?, this is a hard pass.

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Wes Youssi and the Country Champs – High Diver album cover

Wes Youssi And The Country Chanps: High Diver Album Review

Reviewed by Harry Kaplan

Wow! What a great sound Wes Youssi and the Country Champs have created. These folks have created an incredible gumbo. I will try to pick out all the elements I hear: garage, psychedelic, rockabilly, blues, honky tonk, outlaw country, and early rock and roll. I’ll take a bowl for now and one for later. It seems like a lot of “stuff” to pack into an album, but Wes Youssi and company does a perfect job putting all of the influences and genres into one package that is cohesive and well played throughout.

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