Blues Browse All

Alabama Shakes, Boys & Girls

2012 | Label: ATO Records

04.10.12 The chatter that southern blues-rockers Alabama Shakes have generated in the months leading up to their debut is usually reserved for legends twice their age, or at least groups with more than a couple of songs to their name. There have been Janis Joplin and Otis Redding comparisons, endorsements from the likes of Jack White and Adele, and fans talking about their raucous live shows like they're enough to convert you to a new religion. And — if you can believe it — the Athens, Alabama quartet’s full length debut Boys & Girls lives up to the hype.

The first thing that will bowl you over is that voice. "Bless my heart, bless my soul/ I didn't… more »

Four Vagabonds, Complete Recorded Works (1941-1951): Vol. 3 (1943)

2005 | Label: Document Records / The Orchard

01.06.12 The Four Vagabonds are the missing link between the Mills Brothers, the Ink Spots and the bird groups (the Orioles, the Ravens, the Flamingoes), bridging the war years of the 1940s to span black secular harmony emerging from the church and swing bands as it evolves into the underpinnings of rock 'n' roll and the whiter, more teen-friendly variety known as doo-wop. They tend to get overlooked in this lineage in the same way WWII vets found when they returned from duty, a world changed, aged by their experience on the front, which in the Vagabonds' case meant also weathering the Musician's Union strike of 1942-44, which effectively banned instruments from the studio. They were lucky that, like the Mills,… more »

Four Vagabonds, Complete Recorded Works (1941-1951): Vol. 1

2005 | Label: Document Records / The Orchard

01.06.12 The Four Vagabonds are the missing link between the Mills Brothers, the Ink Spots and the bird groups (the Orioles, the Ravens, the Flamingoes), bridging the war years of the 1940s to span black secular harmony emerging from the church and swing bands as it evolves into the underpinnings of rock 'n' roll and the whiter, more teen-friendly variety known as doo-wop. They tend to get overlooked in this lineage in the same way WWII vets found when they returned from duty, a world changed, aged by their experience on the front, which in the Vagabonds' case meant also weathering the Musician's Union strike of 1942-44, which effectively banned instruments from the studio. They were lucky that, like the Mills,… more »

Four Vagabonds, Complete Recorded Works (1941-1951): Vol. 2 (1942-1943)

2005 | Label: Document Records / The Orchard

01.06.12 The Four Vagabonds are the missing link between the Mills Brothers, the Ink Spots and the bird groups (the Orioles, the Ravens, the Flamingoes), bridging the war years of the 1940s to span black secular harmony emerging from the church and swing bands as it evolves into the underpinnings of rock 'n' roll and the whiter, more teen-friendly variety known as doo-wop. They tend to get overlooked in this lineage in the same way WWII vets found when they returned from duty, a world changed, aged by their experience on the front, which in the Vagabonds' case meant also weathering the Musician's Union strike of 1942-44, which effectively banned instruments from the studio. They were lucky that, like the Mills,… more »