Musical Interlude 10/18/2024

Time to point out some tunes that I’ve had in heavy rotation lately.

First, Billy Strings’s new record, Highway Prayers, is nothing short of amazing. Clocking in at 74 minutes and twenty tracks, it has a little something for everyone: bluegrass, newgrass, jamgrass, a talking blues song, and a dash of folk-pop thrown in for good measure. It’s the first album in quite a while that was so good the first time I heard it that I felt the need to text a few friends and tell them to listen to it. 

Back in the May 2024 edition of my now-defunct Music Of The Month posts, I called attention to the most recent album from Finom, Not God. Well, at the beginning of July we got High Roller, a solo release from one-half of the Finom duo, Sima Cunningham. Wow, what an album! The more I listen, the more I love it. If I were desperately trying to find fault, I could quibble over the fact that, to me, the back half seems like a bit of a different record from the front half. A few tweaks in track order would have fixed that. But that’s a trivial observation about an excellent album. Sima’s got it going on.

Finally, a couple months ago I was scrolling my Mastodon feed (which I rarely do) and the album Parker’s Mood randomly popped up. I’d never heard of it, but it’s a 1995 Verve recording from Christian McBride, Roy Hargove, and Stephen Scott. Obviously these are stellar musicians with spectacular chops, but unlike so many jazz records, this one stays melodic throughout. (As I’ve said many times before, however amazing it is to see a great player improvising over chord changes in a live setting, I can’t think of anything more boring to hear on a record.) Also, I’m a sucker for a strong acoustic bass line, and McBride absolutely shines on this album. Give it a try.

Get some music in your ears, everybody!

Music Of The Month: May 2024

Arooj Aftab Night Reign

We got a lot of good new music in May. Pokey LaFarge’s Rhumba Country is a fun listen; Willie Nelson’s The Border is characteristically great; and Finom’s Not God is probably my favorite album from the duo (formerly known as Ohmme). All of these should get some of your attention, and they’ll be getting plenty of airtime in our house, too.

The real standout release for me this month, though, is Night Reign from Arooj Aftab. There’s a lot of exploration going on here, as well as some collaboration with guest artists. All of which enhances –never compromising– Aftab’s singular (signature?) musical vocabulary. Arooj Aftab’s music got into my bones from the moment I heard the first notes of her Vulture Prince album, and has stayed there ever since. This record is no exception.

Get some music in your ears, everybody!

(click image to go to artist’s website)