Collector Dick Spottswood turns back the clock with "1925 Songs" archival comp

The Dick Spottswood-curated 2CD archival comp 1925 Songs documents a the beginning of commercial electronic recording.

Dick Spottswood & Tompkins Square present '1925 Songs'

A New Archival Set. Out June 19th

PRE-ORDER via Bandcamp right here or ask your local indie store for it.

1925 marked the advent of electrical recording, the dawn of the "Jazz Age", a pre-"big bang" country recording session in Asheville, and a few landmark blues recordings. Tompkins Square's new compilation brings it into focus. 

Dick Spottswood is a legendary musicologist with deep knowledge of early jazz, blues, international, and vernacular American music from the first half of the 20th Century. He has contributed notes and transfers of records from his collection to hundreds of influential reissue albums on many labels over the decades. Spottswood teams up with Tompkins Square to offer a selective view of our favorite 78 rpm sides from 1925, a pivotal year in the development of jazz, blues and early country music. Extensive notes by Grand Ole Opry photo archivist, guitarist and writer of books, Cameron Knowler. Digital restoration by Grammy-nominated mastering engineer Jessica Thompson. Design by Clay Conder.

A Record Release Event: 'Dick Spottswood & Tompkins Square Present … 1925 Songs'

Jalopy Theatre (315 Columbia St, Brooklyn, New York)

Thursday, June 18th. 7:30 - 10:00 PM (EDT)

Tickets: $20 adv, $25 door.

Doors at 7:00 pm, Show at 7:30 pm. 

Musicologist Dick Spottswood will be joined at Brooklyn's Jalopy Theatre by specials guests Terry Waldo, Cameron Knowler, Maisy Owen, Mason Lindahl, Eli Smith, Ryley Walker, Wall Matthews, KINLOCH NELSON, Devon Flaherty & more!  

The 2CD set will be available for purchase at this event! Get tickets here. Party like it's 1925!

Various Artists – 1925 Songs: Blues, Country, Jazz & More

1. Dora Carr - Cow Cow Blues

2. Rosa Lee Carson - The Drinker's Child

3. Wheat Street Female Quartet - Go Down, Moses

4. Wm. B Houchens & J. M. Houchin - Fisher's Hornpipe and Opera Reel

5. Old Southern Jug Band - Hatchet Head Blues

6. Bascom Lamar Lunsford - Sherman Valley

7. Tweedy Brothers - Cripple Creek

8. Bennie Moten's Kansas City Orchestra - Kater Street Rag

9. Brownlee's Orchestra of New Orleans - Peculiar

10. Charlie Jackson - Drop That Sack

11. Jimmy O'Bryant's Washboard Band - Hot Hot Hottentot

12. Hersal Thomas - Suitcase Blues

13. Deacon L.J. Bates - All I Want is That Pure Religion

14. Seminole Syncopators - Sailing on Lake Pontchartrain

15. Osey Helton - Cacklin' Hen

16. Ernest Helton - Royal Clog

17. Dr. James Roach - Gue Gue Solingaie

18. R.B. Smith & S.J. Allgood - American and Spanish Fandango 

19. Hitch's Happy Harmonists - Washboard Blues

20. Lonnie Johnson - Mr. Johnson's Blues

21. Charles Creath's Jazz-O-Maniacs - Grandpa's Spells

22. Ida Cox - How Can I Miss You When I've Got Dead Aim

23. Bix & His Rhythm Jugglers - Davenport Blues

24. Clifford's Louisville Jug Band - Struttin' The Blues

25. Homer Davenport & Young Brothers - The Fox Chase (Reel)

26. Lem Fowler's Washboard Wonders - Salty Dog

27. Sonny Clay's Plantation Orchestra - Jambled Blues

28. Land Norris - Dogwood Mountain

29. New Orleans Owls - Stomp Off - Let's Go

30. Sylvester Weaver - Mixing Them Up in "C"

31. Mound City Blue Blowers - Gettin' Told

32. Chauncey C. Lee - Banjo Rag

Bruce Cockburn gets a musical salute from Bill Callahan, Doc Dunn & Wet Tuna

The 9-song tribute album Imaginational Anthem vol. XIII - Songs of Bruce Cockburn is out April 5th via Tompkins Square.

Here's the scoop from Tompkins Square...

Bruce Cockburn is one of the most celebrated Canadian artists of all time. Unlike fellow Canadians Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell or Neil Young, Cockburn has not been fully embraced by a younger generation of indie musicians and younger fans. Tompkins Square recruited well-respected indie artist James Toth, known for his work with Wooden Wand, to curate the 13th volume of its guitar series, Imaginational Anthem. Although there is a focus on Bruce as a guitarist, there are also vocal tracks on the album. 

Indie stalwarts Bill Callahan, Matt Valentine, Matthew "Doc" Dunn, Luke Schneider, Jerry David DeCicca and more pay tribute to this musical hero, proving that Cockburn is not only influential, but also the keeper of a deep catalog of songs ripe for discovery by a younger generation. For those who aren't really concerned about whether composers and musicians are properly remunerated for their creations, you can check out a Spotify playlist put together by Tompkins Square called Bruce Cockburn for Snobs: A playlist for people who think they're too cool for Bruce Cockburn right here.

Check out Bruce Cockburn performing "Forty Years In The Wilderness" along with  Jerry David DeCicca & Bill Callahan's update following the track listing below. Pre-order a copy of the tribute album Imaginational Anthem vol. XIII - Songs of Bruce Cockburn via Bandcamp right here. 

James Toth Presents... Imaginational Anthem vol. XIII - Songs of Bruce Cockburn

1. Eli Winter - Foxglove

2. Jerry David DeCicca (feat. Bill Callahan) - Forty Years in the Wilderness 

3. Matthew "Doc" Dunn - Up on the Hillside

4. Powers Rolin Duo - Fall

5. Lou Turner - Pacing the Cage

6. Wet Tuna - Waiting for a Miracle 

7. Armory Schafer - One Day I Walk

8. Jody Nelson - You Don't Have to Play the Horses

9. Kyle Hamlett Duo (feat. Luke Schneider) - All the Diamonds

Yorkshire artists salute Michael Chapman on I Thought I Told You

Tompkins Square just released a fab 8-song salute to the late Michael Chapman. Hear Katie Spencer's version of "You Say" below. 

Here's the scoop from Tompkins Square...

Hunslet-born singer/songwriter Michael Chapman (1941-2021) released his debut album Rainmaker in 1969 on Harvest. He went on to release over fifty albums and influence many with his evocative songwriting and guitar prowess. From heady jams to expressive ballads to experimental noise, Chapman’s work continues to inspire. 

Tompkins Square recruited Henry Parker to curate a collection of covers by working musicians from Chapman’s home turf in Northern England. With stunning artwork by local artist Bunty Marshall mapping the important places in Michael’s life, and package design by D. Norsen, this 12th volume of Tompkins Square’s Imaginational Anthem series is the ultimate tribute to a very dearly missed artist. 

Get a copy of the Michael Chapman tribute album "I Thought I Told You via Bandcamp (while the platform exists) right here.  Check out Katie Spencer's version of "You Say" followed by Michael Chapman's original recording after the track listing below. 

Imaginational Anthem vol. XII : I Thought I Told You - A Yorkshire Tribute to Michael Chapman

1. Henry Parker - In the Valley 04:58

2. Dean McPhee - Caddo Lake 06:04

3. Katie Spencer - You Say 04:09

4. Bobby Lee - Heat Index 05:16

5. Holly Blackshaw - March Rain 05:03

6. Andrew DR Abbott - (Some) Trains 06:00

7. Hawthorn - Kodak Ghosts 04:52

8. Chris Brain - Among the Trees 03:00

Current state of twang surveyed on Chrome Universal pedal steel cassette comp

For some reason, Tompkins Square released Luke Schneider's collection of modern pedal steel music on cassette instead of 8-track.  

Here's the scoop...

Curated by in-demand Nashville pedal steel maverick and Third Man recording artist Luke Schneider, the eleventh volume of Tompkins Square’s venerable acoustic guitar series ‘Imaginational Anthem’ features exclusive tracks by legend BJ Cole, as well as leading exponents on the instrument including Susan Alcorn, Luke himself, and British expat /Nashville hotshot Spencer Cullum among others. Somewhat surprisingly, neither Heather Leigh nor Arizona ace Jon Rauhouse made the cut. Nashville native and Merge recording artist William Tyler has written a beautiful detailed history of the pedal steel for the package but unfortunately, it will accompany the CD & LP  versions only. 

According to Tomkins Square, those who have long since gotten rid of their cassette players will just have to bide their time, writing "We will release on other formats later. This is our first-ever cassette, and this is the only way folks can hear it, for now." Get a copy of Chrome Universal on cassette via Bandcamp right here. Watch a performance by BJ Cole accompanied by his wife Anna on acoustic guitar below. 

Luke Schneider presents Imaginational Anthem Vol. XI Chrome Universal

1) BJ Cole - Ely Revisited 

2) Jonny Lam - Rainbow Across the Valley 

3) Rocco Deluca - Many Singing Softly 

4) Luke Schneider - Yosemite 

5) Spencer Cullum - An Ode to Dungeness 

6) Barry Walker Jr. - I Will Tread Upon the Lion and the Cobra 

7) Susan Alcorn - Gilmor Blue 

8) Maggie Bjorkland - Lysgliimt 

9) Will Van Horn - Attwater 

Bola Sete's live recordings from Seattle's Penthouse Club due in December

The three-disc Samba In Seattle set captures Brazilian guitar great Bola Sete with his tight trio in action at their peak from 1966-68.  

Here's the scoop...

Samba in Seattle: Live at the Penthouse, 1966-1968 – out December 3 via Tompkins Square – is the first official release of the legendary and influential Brazilian acoustic guitarist BOLA SETE's live recordings at the Penthouse jazz club in Seattle, WA featuring bassist SEBASTIÃO NETO and drummer PAULINHO MAGALHÃES.

Produced by Grammy-nominated jazz detective Zev Feldman, and remastered from the original tape reels in cooperation with The Bola Sete Estate, this deluxe 3-CD set includes an extensive 40 page booklet with rare photos from The Penthouse; essay by music critic Greg Casseus (aka Greg Caz); new interviews and statements by guitar icon Carlos Santana, legendary composer/pianist Lalo Schifrin, Sete's friend, pianist and producer, George Winston, and Bola Sete's widow Anne Sete; plus an effusive tribute by the late guitar great John Fahey.

Samba in Seattle is a significant addition to the recorded legacy of an oft–sampled musician (A Tribe Called Quest, J Dilla and Dan The Automator) whose career straddled bossa nova, jazz–pop and early New Age.

Pre-order a copy of Samba In Seattle directly from Tompkins Square right here. Listen to Bola Sete and crew tear through "Consolação" below. 

Guitar picker Rick Deitrick's 70s recordings dug up for Coyote Canyon

The majority of material on Coyote Canyon was taken from Rick Deitrick's solo acoustic home recordings circa 1972-75. 

Here's the scoop from Tompkins Square...

Rick Deitrick's forthcoming Coyote Canyon album (out August 27 via Tompkins Square) is the eighth in a series of reissues spawned from Imaginational Anthem Volume 8: The Private Press, following Conklin/Blum - Jackdaw, Tom Armstrong - The Sky Is An Empty Eye, Rick Deitrick - Gentle Wilderness, Homegrown and River Sun River Moon, Russell Potter - A Stone’s Throw and Neither Here Nor There.

Rick Deitrick discusses the songs:

"Coyote Canyon is a wilderness area behind my daughter's house where coyotes gather and howl before taking off for their nightly foraging. 'Little Tujunga' (pronounced "Tuhunga") is a river running through the Angeles Forest near a house I lived in five decades ago. Half my ideas for this piece came from onshore guitar ruminating. The rest was improvised in studio. 

"'Emma' was my close and sweet companion during this period, a lifelong deep friend. I composed her song one evening at the kitchen table of our place while she was cooking. 'Tumbleweedin'' describes a desert tumbleweed storm. I menaced every inch of the Yamaha, recreating the effect of these windblown monsters screeching along boulders, smacking into cactus and anything else in their way at often impossible speeds, following the whims of the heavy winds. This song was completely improvised at the moment in studio and forgotten. 

"'Roy's Rain' is a tribute to my great good friend and musician killed in a car accident in 1973. I found 'For Marsha' (Version 2) on a well-worn studio tape. It's a variant of the same composition on the Gentle Wilderness album. I like this loose and flowy version. 'Movin' On' has one thing on its mind – getting away fast and now. 'Going Home' is my improvised take on an American root song. The above seven were recorded between 1972-1975. 'Three Sisters' was recorded on a 20-minute studio break in 1999 describing three barren red hills somewhere in the Arizona desert, a cherished location."

You can pre-order a copy of Rick Deitrick's Coyote Canyon album right here. 

Listen to Rick play "Jon's Song" off Gentle Wilderness below. 

Ruthann Friedman's 'lost' recordings getting vinyl release July 17

Originally released on CD in 2006, Ruthann Friedman's fab Hurried Life demos set is being issued on vinyl by Tompkins Square.

Here's the scoop from Tompkins Square...

In 1967, the folk-pop group The Association had a massive hit with a song called “Windy” penned by an unknown young woman named Ruthann Friedman. Two years later, she released her own album Constant Companion on Warner/Reprise Records that sounded nothing like “Windy” – it had more in common with her labelmate Joni Mitchell or cult-hero Linda Perhacs. Decades later, Ruthann would be declared an “astral folk goddess” and championed by the likes of Devendra Banhart.

Around that time, reissue producer Pat Thomas compiled a collection of previously unreleased demos, home recordings, and lost songs circa 1965-1971 from Ruthann's personal archive including the original version of "Windy." 

Titled Hurried Life, Ruthann recently declared, “That’s the one that I really like - that was the first time going back into the archives to find songs that might be reissued. I think those were representative of me.”

Listen to Ruthann's original demo of her song "Windy" along with the title track from the Hurried Life compilation below. 

Ruthann Friedman – Hurried Life: Lost Recordings 1965-1971

1. Hurried Life

2. That's All Right

3. Sky Is Moving South

4. Looking Glass

5. Silver Bird

6. Between the Lines

7. I'm Askin'

8. Windy

9. Typical Sunday

10. Southern Comfortable

11. Alone At Last

12. Boy Took A Ticket

13. Method Madness

14. Little Girl Lost & Found

15. To Treat A Friend

Rare 60s recordings of finger-style guitarist Lena Hughes get reissued

Guitar ace John Renbourn – longtime fan of Missouri picker Lena Hughes – penned the notes to Queen of the Flat Top Guitar. 

Here's the scoop from Tompkins Square...

A musical 'amateur' who best exemplified true artistry, Lena Hughes was born in Grape Grove Township, Missouri, in 1904. Though she never recorded any 78s and only one LP, Hughes was most influential through her steady performances at various fiddler conventions and folk festivals throughout the Ozarks. She was an excellent fiddler, banjoist and guitar picker who retained the largely extinct repertoire of parlor pieces and the variety of specialized tunings that were necessary to play them. She lived most of her life in Ludlow, Missouri and passed away in 1998. 

Lena Hughes' repertoire can be divided roughly in half: finger-picked numbers adapted from fiddle tunes and recast parlor guitar pieces gleaned from popular sentimental songs, hymns, and 19th century airs. As a faithful attendee at folk festivals, Hughes was accompanied by her guitar-playing husband, Jake. Her most mesmerizing performances, such as Pearly Dew, Spanish Fandango, and Kentucky Moon Waltz, depend heavily upon the resonance of the open chord as it relates to the picking of the melodic line, primarily on one string. This tonal reliance is most similar to the "celestial octave" that Washington Phillips employs, with similar effect, on his Train Your Child. This ethereal harmonic technique, which seems so natural in Hughes' playing, is the holy grail for most finger-picking guitarists. Her lack of pretense and her mastery of this repertoire is what defines her legendary status. 

These recordings were made in the early 60's in Arkansas and released in very limited fashion as a private press LP. Remastered by Chris King. Designed by Susan Archie. 

Get a copy of Lena Hughes' Queen of the Flat Top Guitar via Bandcamp right here. 

Listen to "Pearly Dew" and "Spanish Fandango" below. 

Guitarist Josh Kimbrough picks on the holidays

Here's the scoop...

Josh Kimbrough is a guitarist and composer from Chapel Hill, NC. His 2020 Tompkins Square debut, Slither, Soar & Disappear, has been called “Utterly Moving” by Record Crates United, and “A Triumph” by Folk Radio UK. It’s also received glowing reviews from MOJO and UNCUT. 

With Yule Chime, Kimbrough offers five Christmas guitar soli in time for the holiday season. Two original compositions bookend three traditional tunes. “Sledding Down Spring Valley Hill” kicks the album off in a tuning borrowed from Michael Hedges’ “Admiral Rickover's Dream”. Spring Valley Hill was a favorite sledding spot from Kimbrough’s youth. “The hill was steep--if you made it to the bottom without tipping over, you could jump the curb and glide down into an open field.” 

The three traditional songs that follow are ones that Kimbrough’s dad would play on piano for the family when he was growing up. “Once in Royal David’s City” is a cross-continental duet with Johan Eriksson (Sweden) playing dobro and pedal steel. “Poor Little Jesus” is a minor-key affair. This tune is a spiritual that dates back to the 1800s. It’s published in the Episcopal Hymnal, which is where Kimbrough’s dad learned it. The album closes with “Out Getting Firewood”, an evocation of Christmases spent in the Shenandoah Valley of Virginia--where Kimbrough’s in-laws live. They heat their house exclusively with a wood stove in the winter time. This calls for routine trips to the wood pile. These songs were recorded over three days at Jeff Crawford’s Arbor Ridge Studios--just three miles from Kimbrough’s house in Chatham County, NC. 

Spending time in the studio is a special privilege in 2020 – these five recordings represent a joyful release of pent-up energy. There’s room on the sled, there’s a log on the fire – catch the hopeful spirit and ring in your holiday season with Yule Chime. 

Grab a copy of Josh's Yule Chime album here. Listen to "Out Getting Firewood" below. Check out a special Christmas playlist put together by Tompkins Square for Spotify right over there.

Five CD box of unissued Robbie Basho guitar magic released by Tompkins Square

While researching his Robbie Basho doc, filmmaker Liam Barker discovered a treasure trove of unheard recordings.

Here's the scoop...

Robbie Basho (1940-1986) is widely regarded as one of the progenitors of what's commonly known today as American Primitive guitar. Growing up in Maryland alongside neo-traditional guitar explorers John Fahey and Max Ochs, Basho's path would take a decidedly different turn, bringing Hindi, Indian, Japanese and Native American musical traditions into his work. His albums for Takoma and Vanguard have left an indelible trail of influence across generations of musicians, from William Ackerman and Pete Townshend to Ben Chasny and William Tyler.

Liam Barker first became aware of Basho having purchased Tompkins Square's reissue of Venus in Cancer, released in 2006. This led him on an incredible fact-finding expedition, unraveling the many layers of mystery surrounding Basho's life and death, all deftly compiled and depicted in his documentary film, Voice of the Eagle : The Enigma of Robbie Basho.

During the research process, Barker came across a large cache of unheard Basho tapes recorded throughout his career, ranging roughly from 1965-1985. By arrangement with Basho's Estate and the original custodians of the tapes, Tompkins Square has released Song of the Avatars: The Lost Master Tapes, a 5CD set of previously unreleased material. The set includes notes by Barker, Henry Kaiser, Steffen Basho-Junghans, Ronnie Dawson, Glenn Jones and Richard Osborn, as well as many unseen photographs. The box set package featuring gold foil inlay, poster and extensive booklet, was designed by Barbara Bersche, known for her work on the 2009 Grammy-nominated Alan Lomax in Haiti box, as well as the new Dust-To-Digital Harry Smith B-Sides box. 

Get a copy of Robbie Basho's Song Of The Avatars 5 CD box right here. Listen to "Gypsy Rosary" below.

Gwenifer Raymond returns with Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain

Guitarist Gwenifer Raymond's fierce finger-picking style is well showcased on her latest exploration of her Welsh roots. 

Here's the scoop from Gwenifer...

"My new album, Strange Lights Over Garth Mountain (available from Tompkins Square Records right here), has eight songs in it. All were recorded in a basement flat in central Brighton, locked-down amidst a global pandemic. I recorded them myself and neither I, nor any of the songs saw said outbreak coming. Coronavirus may have dictated the circumstance under which the album was recorded but it did not otherwise inform any of the compositions that run through it; like I said, we didn't see it coming.

"Growing up in Wales was not a theme strongly present in my first record (perhaps not too surprising in an album of 'American Primitive'), but I feel as though my memories of that time have started to insinuate themselves in the tunes here. In my opinion, landscape does a lot to shape a community's folk music; from my childhood I recall tall, spooky trees, black against the grey sky, breath misting in cold air, and I have tried to take something of Welsh folk horror to make my own 'Welsh Primitive'. 

"Whilst this isn't the only theme present in the album, childhood memories do form the background for a couple of tracks: coal trains steaming along the foot of our garden, rattling the glasses on the kitchen table; and the titular 'Strange Lights...' dancing above the peak of the mountain which loomed over the house where I grew up. Dead men also feature prominently, as well as personal tragedies and the madness of touring. 

"It's possible this album is leaning more into the left-field than the first - the songs are longer and more 'compositional' for lack of a better word, rather than deriving so heavily from the folk and blues traditions, though, they're still there - all of those dead men are hard to shake. Some parts go fast and others go slow. Sometimes I play more aggressively than I intend to and other times I play exactly as aggressively as I intend to. I still say it's punk music and I have no idea what key the last tune is in." – Gwenifer Raymond

Listen to “Gwaed Am Gwaed,” “Eulogy for Dead French Composers” and “Hell For Certain” below.

Unissued recordings from Entourage guitarist Wall Matthews due in April

Tompkins Square is releasing a 16-track collection of Entourage guitarist Wall Matthews' solo recordings in a limited run of 500 copies on April 10. 

Spine River: The Guitar Music of Wall Matthews, 1967-1981

Guitarist Wall Matthews is surviving member of experimental 70's collective, Entourage. Sampled by Four Tet, their name whispered in reverence through the decades, Entourage forged bold musical ideas on their two rare ’70s Folkways LPs. Tompkins Square released a 3CD/1LP anthology, Ceremony of Dreams : Studio Sessions and Outtakes, 1972-1977, in 2018 to wide acclaim.

Spine River : The Guitar Music of Wall Matthews, 1967-1981 is a collection of unreleased or obscure music by the master guitarist. This volume will be released as a limited edition LP, along with four other digital volumes mapping various phases of Wall's career. All five albums will be released on April 10th, 2020. You can pre-order the limited-edition 16-track Spine River LP right here. Watch two unrelated clips of Wall Matthews performing with Entourage pal Rusty Clark in 1976 and the early 80s below.

Rare gospel gems uncovered on No Other Love: Midwest Gospel, 1965-78

Compiled from rare gospel 45s dug up in Chicago, No Other Love is due from Tompkins Square on Nov 8th.

This collection of rare black gospel from the Midwest—featuring church congregations, basement recordings sessions, family bands and children’s choirs—is drawn together by two threads. The first—hope—which holds fast and unchanging, even in the most trying of circumstances. The second—circumstance—the way these recordings fell into the hands of producer, Ramona Stout, in Chicago at the dawn of the Obama era, when she had just about lost hope in her American Dream.

Over the course of five years (2006-2011) of vinyl hustling in Chicago’s South and West Sides, these 45s came into Ramona’s hands, mixed up in milk-crates stacked with Northern Soul, water-damaged jazz and Hall & Oates LPs. After much travel and time, Ramona has articulated the spirit that drove this music forward. In this collection, she writes of this music and its relationship to the struggling communities where the records were found.

Sourced from exceedingly rare 45s—many of which were vanity pressings of less than 100 copies—all but one of the tracks found on this collection appear for the first time since their original release. Remastered by Grammy-winning producer Christopher King, these recordings have been resurrected for a new generation of listeners. With art direction by Grammy-winning graphic designer Susan Archie, this collection is a tangible, immersive experience in the struggles—the victories, the failures and the lingering hope—that defined Chicago in the post-Civil Rights era.

No Other Love is a singular, impressionistic journey into music that expresses faith, despair and exuberance. It is also a profound exploration of the very meaning of hope.

Tracks :
1. It’s Going to Pay - Bro. Randy Wilson
2. I Want You to Help Me - The Travelers of Zion
3. No Other Love - Messiahs of Glory
4. Christmas in Heaven - Rev. H.H. Harrington
5. Try Jesus - Gospel Carolets
6. The Number - Wondering Gails
7. Journey - Joanne & Sonny
8. You Can’t Make It - The Georgia Brooks Singers
9. God is Using Me - The Harmony Five
10. Christ Rose - Rev. John Thomas and the New Christian Fellowship Church Choirs
11. Black Pride - Rev. H.H. Harrington
12. I’m Gonna Stand Still and Do My Master’s Will - New Home Baptist Church
Rev. Mack McCollum w/ Combined Choirs
13. Rocky Road - Joanne & Sonny
14. Why - Sister Mary Lucas and The Harambee Singers of Sacred Heart School

Listen below to "Journey" by Joanne & Sonny, of which compiler Ramona Stout says:
"It is likely that Sonny was Sonny Mitchell (whose name appears on other PEACE sides as a producer, director and bass player), who was a member of the Highway QC's from 1950 until the early 60's, after Sam Cooke had left the group for the Soul Stirrers. Joanne, however, is a mystery."

Teodross Avery takes a deep dive into the Coltrane songbook for After The Rain

Saxophonist Teodross Avery's new live tribute to the inspiration of John Coltrane is out May 10th on Tompkins Square. 

In the beginning there was John Coltrane. Growing up in a family that listened to a vast and global array of music, Teodross Avery experienced an epiphany at 13 when he first heard Trane’s epochal harmonic steeplechase “Giant Steps.” Taking up the tenor saxophone, he emerged in the mid-1990s as one of the most powerful young voices on the scene, with two critically hailed releases for GRP/Impulse! Avery’s long and productive journey has taken him down many musical paths, from gigs with jazz legends and hip hop stars to sessions with NEA Jazz Masters and platinum pop albums. With his Tompkins Square label debut After The Rain: A Night for Coltrane, Avery has found his way back home, reasserting himself as a supremely eloquent exponent of the post-Trane jazz continuum. Recorded live at Oakland’s Sound Room, the album is slated for release on May 10th.

“It is a return to my roots,” says Avery, 45, who possesses a huge, brawny tone and a capacious harmonic imagination. “Listening to Trane’s music was my foundation, and this album is definitely a reintroduction to this area of my career. I’ve been busy with a lot of other stuff, but I was always playing acoustic jazz with top level cats. I wasn’t putting out albums. I was on record dates, but not my own albums. This was the perfect opportunity to make my own statement.”

For the Sound Room concert Avery reconnected with some of the Bay Area’s most formidable improvisers, joining forces with pianist Adam Shulman, Oakland-reared, New York-based drummer Darrell Green, and bassist Jeff Chambers, who played on the Yoshi’s album release gig for his seminal 1996 hip-hop inflected album My Generation.

“I grew up hearing Jeff with Freddie Hubbard, Bobby Hutcherson, Ahmad Jamal and other heavyweight players,” Avery says. “He’s one of the greatest bassists around, but after he made the date at Yoshi’s we didn’t play together until about 2014. He was the logical choice, and so was Darrell, who I played with in the Bay Area and New York. I always love his feel. And I’ve played with Adam since the early 2000s when I did gigs with Marcus Shelby.”

With the highly cohesive band Avery delves deeply into Coltrane’s songbook, opening with a brightly burning run through “Blues Minor.” Maintaining a steady level of energy throughout the nine-minute sojourn, the quartet offers a master class in the power of a briskly swinging mid-tempo groove. The set’s longest piece, “Africa,” is also drawn from the classic 1961 album Africa/Brass, Coltrane’s debut release on Impulse! orchestrated by Eric Dolphy and McCoy Tyner. It’s an epic performance that builds to ecstatic heights and then simmers back down with Chambers’ eerie arco bass solo backed by Green’s clackety trap work. Listen to "Blues Minor" below.


Cal Massey’s Latin-tinged “Bakai” is a piece introduced on the 1957 Prestige album Coltrane, the saxophonist’s first session as a leader (an underrated composer, Massey is due for rediscovery). Opening unaccompanied, Avery hints at the sing-song theme with a series of smeary ascending figures. As the band joins, he’s off, pushing against Green’s deft cymbal work with some extra grit in his tone. Shulman, a sought after arranger and first-call Bay Area accompanist, takes a particularly graceful, soul-steeped solo.

“Coltrane was one of the first records I bought myself, and I’ve been listening to that album ever since,” Avery says. “I liked that 12/8 rhythm. It relates to my mom, with an Ethiopian rhythmic feel. It’s a song that almost no one’s recorded. I felt like it was time.”

Of all the music that Avery explores, Mongo Santamaria’s “Afro Blue” is the piece that Coltrane played most frequently. First released on 1964’s Live at Birdland (Impulse!), the tune also appears on several posthumously released live Trane albums (but interestingly a studio version has never

Gwenifer Raymond scores with The Three Deaths Of Red Spectre

"This song was originally born of this live scoring piece I did for a early 20th century silent film called ‘Red Spectre’, so it wasn’t from the outset designed as a Christmas song, but it does feel like a winter song to me. The opening is cold and spiky; it puts me in mind of dark nights and city light reflections on wet tarmac. Then it has these sort of changing seasons in the song, like windy rain and calm sweeping over in sequence. Then back to the start; with the lights all over again.

This time of year is my favourite, when it gets dark early and bitter cold outside; you need to have a hostile environment in the first place to have something to wrap up snug and cosy against. That’s kind of the whole point of a winter festival right? It’s essence is in the contrast." -- Gwenifer Raymond

Guitar guru Peter Walker sits in with Mercury Rev side project Harmony Rockets

The new Harmony Rockets album Lachesis/Clotho/Atropos is enhanced by the picking of Peter Walker & Nels Cline. 

Longtime Woodstock resident, guitarist Peter Walker recorded two albums for the Vanguard label in the late Sixties in a style best described as American folk-raga. He studied with Ravi Shankar and Ali Akbar Khan, and was Dr. Timothy Leary’s musical director, organizing music for the LSD advocate’s “celebrations.” He was also a close friend of fellow Woodstock resident, the late folksinger Karen Dalton, and helped produce Remembering Mountains : Unheard Songs by Karen Dalton (Tompkins Square), which features unrecorded Dalton compositions brought to life by Sharon Van Etten, Patty Griffin, Lucinda Williams and others.

Rediscovered by Tompkins Square in 2006 after decades out of sight, Walker has remained active into his 8th decade, recording for Jack White’s Third Man label, and now, collaborating anew with fellow Upstaters, Harmony Rockets. Joined in a mighty super-session with Harmony Rockets (Mercury Rev), Martin Keith, Nels Cline (Wilco), and Steve Shelley (Sonic Youth), Lachesis/Clotho/Atropos is a mind-melting inter-generational collaboration that could only have coalesced around the wool sweaters, warm teacups and moldering bookstores of “Old Old Woodstock”, both the real and mythologized versions. Watch a clip of Peter Walker playing solo below.

Charlie Louvin 1927-2011

Heavenly Heat

It may be too early to start choosing 2009's most impressive reissue packages, but the Fire In My Bones: Rare + Raw + Otherworldly African-American Gospel 1944-2007 (Tompkins Square) collection of post-war spirituals is sure to appear on a few year end lists.
Compiled and annotated by Mike McGonigal, the founder of Yeti magazine, former editor of Chemical Imbalance and tireless evangelist of emotionally-charged music of all stripes, the fabulous three disc Fire In My Bones set sidesteps the popular golden era quartets well-represented elsewhere to uncover the amazing one-off regional chillers and thrillers that have too often been overlooked by gospel historians and anthologists. The strength of this compendium lies in it's diversity.
What you get is nearly four hours of powerfully shouting preachers, guitar-slashing street singers and the soul-stirring harmonies of amped-up congregations all high on the Lord. Even if you've never been to church and don't plan on it, you can't help but get caught up in the heartfelt passion of it all. It hits you hard. Remember, this music was made to move mountains, not to make money.
Because these uniquely gifted artists are largely unknown outside of their parish or city block and they're all thrown together out of chronological sequence, McGonigal is able to impart a small sense of that digger discovery excitement, the wonderful feeling you get when stumbling onto some amazing lost artifact that can make the long hours crawling on your hands and knees for one seven-inch seem entirely worthwhile.
Audiophiles should note that the sound quality varies from track to track and these are mostly DIY productions and field recordings – sometimes sourced from decades old records salvaged in less than pristine shape from dollar bins, yard sales, dusty basements and second-hand furniture shops – so you may hear some slight imperfections now and again.
Where Fire In My Bones comes up short is not in sound reproduction but the visual component. The package could've been made much more engrossing had a little more effort been put into enhancing the accompanying booklet with more artist photos, sleeve art and label images. Tossing in four measly label shots for an 80-track set doesn't really cut it. Of course that would've made the three-disc package more expensive than the incredible $14.98 it's selling for at Soundscapes in Toronto at the moment but I don't think most serious roots music fans would've balked at spending a couple of extra bucks if it meant getting proper documentation.
Still, it's an amazing archival study at a phenomenal price. If you buy one gospel release this year, make it Fire In My Bones – you'll thank G... er... you'll just be glad you did.

Links 
Tompkins Square  www.tompkinssquare.com
Soundscapes  www.soundscapesmusic.com
Yeti Magazine http://yetipublishing.com/