Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#706 in the Series) is Pat Green, Songs We Wish We’d Written II In 2001, Pat Green, Texas Troubadour and “Grasshopper” to Texas Hill Country “Sensei’s” Jerry Jeff Walker, Joe Ely, Ray Wylie Hubbard, and Tommy Alverson, released an album along with Cory Morrow that was called Songs We Wish We’d Written. The record as the name implies included an eclectic stable of songs that had become standards in their respective live shows and were tunes that had artistically influenced both of the young singer-songwriters.  Some of the songs featured were straight up country classics like the Waylon Jennings hit “Are You Sure Hank Does it That Way” and the Jerry Jeff...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#703 in the Series) is Cory Branan, Mutt With Mutt, his debut release on the Chicago based Bloodshot Records Label, Cory Branan should go from being one of the best kept secrets around, to a “where have you been all of my life?” delicious musical find. Early in his career, with his name being talked about in the same breath as Ryan Adams, Pete Yorn, and Conor Oberst as one of the new young guns, the Memphis based singer-songwriter has shed his post-punk, harder edged sound, he was in a Black Sabbath cover band at one point, for a more introspective classic rock vibe with a renewed focus on the songwriter side of...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#702 in the Series) is Willie Nelson, Heroes I know what you’re thinking. The world needs another Willie Nelson album about as much as they need another repackaging of The Knack Greatest Hits.  The “All Music” site alone lists 85 albums by the “Red Headed Stranger,” and in the 50 years since his first release in 1962 it was only twice, once in 1964 and then again in 1991, where some sort of a Willie Nelson recording was not released in a calendar year. Of course, with the type of fertile productivity that would make the “octo-mom” blush, there are bound to be a few miss-hits along the way.  The idea of...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#701 in the Series) is Fairport Convention, By Popular Request Fairport Convention, in part to mark their 45th anniversary put us, their fanbase, to the voting box last year to surmise which 20 tracks they would like to see the current, and longest standing version of the band perform. A band which brought, among many other notables, Richard Thompson and Sandy Denny to the awareness of the musical world. Of these 20 tracks 13 were chosen, it is my intent to give a track by track assessment of this outing, one which surely may be placed alongside many of their other finest outings in their long history. You can see it below....

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#699 in the Series) is Elvis Costello & The Imposters, The Return of the Spectacular Spinning Songbook There isn’t any way I could be looked to to provide an unbiased review of an Elvis Costello album, that’s impossible for me to do. A fellow who can have a career such as his for so long, reinventing (or rather exploring) his genres and styles, combining those with phenomenal lyricism and musicianship, and topping it all off with a charming personality like Elvis has….well, there just isn’t much not for me to like. But thankfully this isn’t technically a “review” site, rather a place to get to know an album and hear one person’s opinion...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#698 in the Series) is Carole King, The Legendary Demos Carole King demos have been floating around the music industry for as long as I can remember. Some sounded really good.  This release is the first time that some of those have hit the streets on an official basis. Let’s say, it’s been worth the wait. This package was released late last month and it covers about a decade of Carole’s early writing career.  These songs are indeed demo versions, but they are not solo demos. Many of the songs do indeed have a small band playing with her, some songs however are just her. I have a close friend that always...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#697 in the Series) is Jimmy Webb, Just Across the River If you stopped right now and wrote down your five favorite songs the odds are that a Jimmy Webb song would be among them.   The list might include “Wichita Lineman”, “By the Time I get to Phoenix”, or even “Galveston”.  Whichever one is chosen the songs of Jimmy Webb wrap around us like a warm snuggy and have been the soundtrack of our lives for many of us. The list of artists that have covered his songs range from Jackson Browne to Dionne Warwick, and of course his own personal muse (or is it the other way around?), the Rhinestone Cowboy...

    Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#695 in the Series) is Kick the Cat, Scramble This was a new find for me when I saw them live at Reggie’s Rock Bar on the near south side of Chicago (where they have one of the coolest record stores around with tons of rare vinyl), They were opening up for a band called District 97 who was having a guest appearance by singer John Wetton, ex of King Crimson, Asia, etc. who was in town for the UK reunion show (I saw it, great). So I did not know what to expect from the opening act and it was an extremely pleasant surprise and they turned out to be...

  Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#691 in the Series) is Ian Anderson’s, Thick as a Brick2 (aka TAAB2) The question certainly could be fairly posed as to whether I am a suitable person to review this most recent outing from Ian Anderson (notably not Jethro Tull, a point itself worth addressing given the original’s importance to the band’s 44-year history). I say this for a reason. All of the following would be true of me: A fan of the band since 1970, and an out-and-out fanatic since one night in 1972 after viewing their staggering performance of the original in Chicago, an individual who, until cutting back to maybe three in the past six years has seen...

    Today’s Cool Album of the Day (#686 in the Series) is Jack White, Blunderbuss Jack White just may be the hardest working man in show business. Barely one year removed from the breakup of his two piece fuzz rock band The White Stripes, he has somehow found time between gigs with his two part-time bands, The Raconteurs, and The Dead Weather, the latter side project featuring the sexy bombshell Allison Mosshart, to single handedly put the Rock back in Rock & Roll, give hope to the hopeless, and create a work that should be very near the top of every major album of the year music list for 2012 with his new release Blunderbuss. With his record...