BLUES

The Angel's Message To Me / Ginseng Blues / Guitar Chimes / In The Evening / Make Me A Pallet On Your Floor / Oh Death / Sitting On Top Of The World / St. James Infirmary Blues / Stagger Lee / Poor Wayfaring Stranger / That'll Never Happen No More / Trouble In Mind

"All the songs on this record are pre-World War II country blues songs; some -- like "Stagger Lee" and "Oh Death" -- are well-known standards, while others are a bit more obscure. It's an interesting idea, of course, to take songs from the Depression era and bring them back to life in our own depressed (or depressing) times.

But what is refreshing about Brokaw and Farina's work here is that they don't bring some sort of savvy modern twist to these songs. They play them straight. They play them with a hushed intimacy. And they play them awfully well."

Popmatters

Ever Since I Quit The Bottle / There's A Fire Burning / Jinx Blues / Was I Wrong? / Down The Dirt Road Blues / Winter Hill Blues / Traveling Riverside Blues / Special Rider Blues / That's No Way To Get Along / If You Don't Want Me Baby

Ryan Lee Crosby is something of a musical wonder bag. With practically every new release, the Boston singer/songwriter illuminates new corners of his musical universe.

After the 60s-inspired, distortion-pregnant lo-fi excursions of his self-titled 2012 album, he now has the blues. With a handful of his own songs and cover versions of old pioneers such as Son House, Charley Patton, Robert Johnson, Skip James, Robert Wilkins and Mississippi John Hurt, he sets out on his fifth album in search of unity with the universe, and because he sings with soul, plays from the heart and is not afraid to expose himself to the world, people like to accompany him a little bit on his way. 

Westzeit