Doug Taylor

The lead singer from Slowcoaster steps forward with substantial Cape Breton support, with tunes designed to make you hum later at unexpected moments. On first listen, MacDougall sounds like a poppier version of Gordie Sampson, who co-wrote “Don’t Hold Your Breath.” Jamie Foulds (Remember Realworld?) produces and plays piano. JP Cormier also pitches in. The […]

On their third full-length album, Jackson & the Daddys stretch out to let all seven pieces show what they can do. Guitarist Marc Doucet is a scorcher when given an opening. The title track features Dave Harrison on trumpet, Dawn Hatfield on baritone and Jackson on tenor saxes, each soloing amiably and economically. An engaging […]

Fellow songwriters like Ron Sexsmith keep praising this fellow and he lives up to it on this double CD. He is at least an acquired taste as a singer. The lyrics should enable a shift in perception about that. If “Autumn Leaves” make you blue, know “there’s a summer sun inside” them. “Evil and stupidity […]

It’s good to be able to amuse each other, especially when you are remotely situated. If a visitor were to land at this cabin, he’d be taken with his hosts’ ability to pick, strum and harmonize, even if there’s nobody holding down the bottom end. Positivity, devotion and frolics with nature are impressions Grassmarket leave, […]

Three songs from the Yarmouth band’s two EPs appear with revisions on this debut full-length along with eight new ones. Robust rock rhythm transports each distinctive tune. “Walking Home” will make a good theme song for those nights when no cab can be found, touching off a quarrel. “How long can you run from me?” […]

Given how deeply Kenney has charmed live audiences with voice and acoustic guitar, anticipation for her debut recording has been keen. With steady support from Joel Plaskett, the album may be an anti-climax to some, a revelation to the uninitiated. Kenney’s fondness for imaginative arrangement of these extra sonic resources should save her from the […]

The Wilson sisters have proven adept at re-inventing and repackaging themselves without really changing what they do. Heart was the breakthrough female rock act of the 1970s. A decade later, it answered the call for video vixens and power ballads. While the band has not been exactly dormant, “Fanatic” marks an ambitious overture beyond the […]

Heavy bass and lumbering electric strum lace most of the tracks of Continental Drag, requiring a close listen if you want substance. On “Tractor and Crane,” where Weinwurm unplugs and enlists Old Man Luedecke for backup, a simple eloquence is allowed to shine. “They are building our new sky” is her dry assessment of the […]

The south shore’s deadpan banjo man has come far since enthralling the curious at Ginger’s. Four albums and two Junos later, he’s made the journey to procure production, fiddle and pickin’ support from Nashville veteran Tim O’Brien. “Song for Ian Tyson” is the closest to a conventional country song Luedecke has written. The Bible supplies […]

On her self-produced third album, it is clear early on that Costelo is aiming for pop over jazz, brevity over expansiveness, with confidence in her voice to hit the target. One misstep is a consonant-clunky dance number, “Count to 10.” Everything else feels new even if it might evoke the Shangri-las, Doug Riley, Carole King […]

A 1977 plane crash that killed three members of Lynyrd Skynyrd halted the Southern rock dynamo, and many fans may view askance any subsequent lineup. Guitarist Gary Rossington is the last of the originals. Johnny Van Zant succeeded his late brother Ronnie when the band reformed in the ’80s. The licks are crunchier, and the […]