Nighthawk, Street Dog. Parker Hawkins (aka Nighthawk) is the bassist for Piper & the Hard Times, a Nashville-based blues-rock outfit whose debut CD topped Billboard’s blues album chart last year. He took a break from that gig to create Street Dog, and no wonder: its genre-bending music, which draws on everything from pop and jazz to soul and R&B, is too wide-ranging to be a good fit for Piper’s group.
Hawkins wrote all 10 of the record’s songs, five of them in collaboration with Nashville singer/songwriters Lynn Taylor or Amelia White. At times, such as on the catchy album-opening “99%,” you might think of pop-rock groups like Starbuck (“Moonlight Feels Right”). The two-part, trombone-spiced title track, meanwhile, sounds reminiscent of Dr. John. Then there’s the Latin-influenced instrumental “Cachorro,” and the bouncy, irresistible “Savannah,” whose melody is redolent of the Rodney Crowell–penned Bob Seger hit “Shame on the Moon.”
Hawkins is clearly brimming over with musical ideas, most of them excellent. And somehow, his seemingly disparate material all fits comfortably on one CD.
Smoking Popes, Lovely Stuff. Smoking Popes lead singer and songwriter Josh Caterer has spent much of the last few years issuing excellent solo albums such as The Hideout Sessions and The Space Sessions. But it turns out he’s also been working on a new album with his longtime Chicago-based band, Smoking Popes. Called Lovely Stuff, the CD is the group’s first since 2018’s Into the Agony.
Like Smoking Popes’ earlier LPs, the new record offers an unlikely but winning blend of high-energy, guitar-dominated garage rock and mainstream pop crooning. Caterer wrote (or in two cases co-wrote) all but one of the 10 tightly constructed rockers here. That one is a version of “Over the Rainbow” that combines a pop-rooted vocal with high-octane guitar pyrotechnics. The result is a song that differs from the Judy Garland original almost as much as Jimi Hendrix’s “Star Spangled Banner” differs from traditional versions of that number.
The Seldom Scene, Remains to Be Scene. These days, lots of bluegrass bands record versions of songs from other genres. (Among umpteen recent examples are the Bob Seger interpretations on Silver Bullet Bluegrass and Iron Horse’s Pickin’ on the Doors.) The Seldom Scene, however, has made a habit of crossing musical boundaries since the group debuted way back in 1971. Its self-produced 24th album – the band’s first since the death of cofounder Ben Eldridge and the last for retiring longtime guitarist Dudley Connell – is no exception.
The 11-song set draws from artists ranging from Woody Guthrie (“Hard Travelin’”) and Bob Dylan (“Farewell, Angelina,” “Walking Down the Line”) to Ray Davies (“Last of the Steam-Powered Trains”) and Jim Croce (“A Good Time Man Like Me Ain’t Got No Business (Singin’ the Blues)”). Also featured are traditional bluegrass numbers such as Cullen Galyean’s “Show Me the Way to Go Home” and Don Reno’s “I Could Cry.” Throughout, the Seldom Scene’s consummate vocalizing and musicianship make clear why this outfit has endured for more than half a century.
Maria Manousaki, Behind Closed Doors. This third solo album from Greece-based violinist Maria Manousaki showcases her memorable blend of Cretan music and modern jazz. The set embraces five of her original compositions plus a radically revamped rendition of the Cure’s “Lovesong.” Also here is “Poni tis Panayias” a number by the late Greek singer and composer Nikos Xylouris that features the album’s only vocal. Accompanying Manousaki on various tracks are musicians who add drums, double bass, trumpet, vibraphone, lute, and oud.
Dedicated to the violinist’s late father, the set lives up to its billing as “a poignant tribute to those we lose on life’s journey…a space where sorrow gives way to resilience, and music becomes a pathway to healing.”
Grey DeLisle, The Grey Album. Grammy-winning Grey DeLisle (aka Grey Griffin) took a more than two-decade break from her career as a recording artist to do voiceover work. She also performed as a comedian. But she returned to singing in 2022, and this 20-song, hour-long set is her third album since then.
The album marks DeLisle as a substantial talent. Ably produced by Lone Justice’s Marvin Etzioni, who also produced her first solo LP in 2000, the set features 18 self-penned numbers. Filling out the program are two songs that DeLisle co-wrote, one with Etzioni and one with Joey Simeone of the country and rock band the Bellfuries.
The lyrics, many of which cover traditional country themes, are well done, but the main attraction here is DeLisle’s vocal work, which often sounds reminiscent of Dolly Parton. The album includes a few stylistic side trips that feel like filler, such as the plodding “40 Something Runaway” (which features Runaways lead vocalist Cherie Currie), but DeLisle shines when she sticks to dreamy ballads such as “A Coastal Town” and classic country weepers like “Daddy, Can You Fix a Broken Heart?” and “A Promise I Can’t Keep.”
Johnny Rawls, Make Them Dance. Mississippi native Johnny Rawls, who has been making fine blues albums since 1985, has also backed musicians like Joe Tex and Little Johnny Taylor. You can hear the influence of such artists in Rawls’s latest release, which recalls the classic soul and R&B records that were issued from Memphis and Muscle Shoals in the 1960s. Jim Gaines, whose production credits include Stevie Ray Vaughan and Santana, produced the set shortly before his 2024 death.
Backed by a crack band that includes a hot horn section, the sandpapery-voiced Rawls delivers a program that includes sweet ballads as well as numbers that justify the album’s title. Highlights include the soulful “Dreams of You,” one of five songs that Rawls co-authored with his bassist, Bob Trenchard; Trenchard’s “Say That You Love Me”; and the sultry “Move in My Direction,” whose co-writers include Gaines’s widow, Sandy Carroll.
Jeff Burger’s website, byjeffburger.com, contains five decades’ worth of music reviews, interviews, and commentary. His books include Dylan on Dylan: Interviews and Encounters, Lennon on Lennon: Conversations with John Lennon, Leonard Cohen on Leonard Cohen: Interviews and Encounters, and Springsteen on Springsteen: Interviews, Speeches, and Encounters.
