Jacksonville Review Archives
Highway Call
Review of: Dickey Betts
(Polydor) Released in 1974, Highway Call counted as the first solo album by Dickey Betts.
Revelator
Review of: Tedeschi Trucks Band
(Sony Masterworks) Recorded at their Jacksonville, Florida, home studio, married duo Derek Trucks and Susan Tedeschi formed a new 11-piece band for Revelator. Between Trucks and Tedeschi, they've read more...
Never Ending Soul Food Tour: Monroe's Smokehouse
Review of: Monroe's Smokehouse BBQ
Monroe's Smokehouse BBQ 4838 Highway Avenue Jacksonville, FL 32254 904-389-5551 James Calemine’s “Never Ending Soul Food Tour” includes documented visits read more...
Tell My Horse
Review of: Zora Neale Hurston
(Harper & Row) Alabama born author Zora Neale Hurston wrote Tell My Horse: Voodoo And Life In Haiti And Jamaica in 1938. The vivid stories reveal how voodoo is interwoven within the cultures. Tell My Horse exists as a first hand read more...
Broken Places
Review of: Honey Blue
(Paper Boat Music) Broken Places counts as Honey Blue’s debut release. This young group from Saint Simons Island promises vast musical horizons on these seven songs recorded in the fall of 2010 at Rockstudio in Brunswick, Georgia. Honey Blue includes read more...
Low Country Blues
Review of: Gregg Allman
(Rounder) Sometimes it is hard to believe that it takes an average of a decade or so for Gregg Allman to release a solo record. It was about 9 years between Playin' Up A Storm and I'm No Angel and then another 9 years between Just Before The Bullets read more...
Crossing the Creek
Review of: Anna Lillios
Crossing the Creek: The Literary Friendship of Zora Neale Hurston and Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings University Press of Florida, Gainesville, FL , 2010 Literary friendships are relatively commonplace, but a friendship which reaches read more...
Justice
Review of: Molly Hatchet
(SPV) Ladies and gentlemen, Molly Hatchet is back. Not that they ever left, but my point is simply that Justice rocked me to the core like I haven’t been rocked since Devil’s Canyon. All of the records in between were good, but Justice is read more...
Mojo
Review of: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
(Reprise Brothers) Mojo counts as Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers first studio album in 8 years. Mojo revolves mostly around the rural south. TP & The Heartbreakers have read more...
The Southern Part of Heaven
Review of: Barry Lee Harwood
barryleeharwood.com The first time I ever saw Barry Lee Harwood play was around 1980, at the fabulous Fox Theatre in Atlanta. He was playing guitar with the Lynyrd Skynyrd plane crash survivors in a red hot new read more...
The Live Anthology
Review of: Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers
(Reprise Records) These four CDs--48 songs--comprise Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers' hand-chosen most emotive live recordings in their 30 year career. The Anthology’s track read more...
Penn's Peak
Review of: Blackfoot
Blackfoot and Molly Hatchet Penn's Peak, Penn Forest Township, Pennsylvania October 16, 2009
God & Guns
Review of: Lynyrd Skynyrd
(Roadrunner) Slated for Release September 29, 2009 I have read so many opinions for so many years regarding the “original” Lynyrd Skynyrd vs. the “current” band, and my opinion has always remained the same. The original band can read more...
Freebird Child
Review of: Tammy Van Zant
(Radio Records) Ronnie Van Zant’s oldest daughter Tammy has a sweet voice. She’s not a powerhouse belter like a lot of the female vocalists of today, but she is quite pleasing to the ear, especially when backed up by the stellar pickers who play on her read more...
All Points in Between
Review of: Rebel Pride
rebelprideband.com On this, Rebel Pride’s sophomore release, they kick it up even bigger and better than on the first album. This Florida band manages to bring us a sound very similar to that of the read more...
Already Live
Review of: The Derek Trucks Band
(Sony/Victor Records) Somehow guitarist Derek Trucks talked his big time record label into releasing a bit of musical lagniappe for his fans. A mere months after his latest studio album hit the stores, the well-received “Already Free” released on the Sony/Victor read more...
Already Free
Review of: The Derek Trucks Band
Already Free The Derek Trucks Band RCA/Victor Records By James Calemine Already Free, Derek Trucks’ sixth studio release opens with an absolutely killer rendition of
No Good Deed
Review of: Skinny Molly
For anyone who cries out that Southern Rock is dead, I have two words for your butt....Skinny Molly. Mike Estes ain’t about to let our legacy go away, even if he has to single handedly hold it up to the light. The former Lynyrd Skynyrd guitarist leads the read more...
Speechless
Review of: Mainstream South
Mainstream South is a trio whose roots stem from the heart of the Lynyrd Skynyrd family tree. Guitarist Barry Lee Harwood and drummer Derek Hess were both members of the post-plane crash band Rossington Collins, and pianist Steve Perez played in bands with Harwood and Hess, as well read more...
Orange Blossoms
Review of: JJ Grey & Mofro
Orange Blossoms J.J. Grey & Mofro Alligator Records By James Calemine Orange Blossoms counts as Mofro’s fourth disc. The album title read more...
My Name is Jimmie
Review of: Jimmie Van Zant
Jimmie Van Zant may have taken a while to get the attention he deserves, but with the release of My Name is Jimmie, there’s no doubt he will get lots of buzz. It seems Jimmie is hitting on all cylinders. with great musicians, backing vocals, top flight production and read more...
Gator Country Live
Review of: Gator Country
Let me just start by stating a cold hard fact. These old Molly Hatchet tunes have never sounded better. With four former Hatchet members leading the pack - Jimmy Farrar, Bruce Crump, Steve Holland and Riff West, along with extraordinary guitar work from Linni Disse and Paul read more...
Third And A Mile
Review of: William C. Rhoden
Third And A Mile by William C. Rhoden ESPN Books Third and read more...
Street Survivors - Deluxe Edition
Review of: Lynyrd Skynyrd
Street Survivors - Deluxe Edition 30th Anniversary (Geffen/UMe) Mere days after the release of Street Survivors in 1977, the Freebird fell to the ground, silencing one of Southern Rock’s finest voices in Ronnie Van Zant. read more...
Brothers of the Southland
Review of: Brothers of the Southland
Brothers of The Southland is one of the best of the plethora of “all star” bands playing today, and their debut CD is a sheer joy from beginning to end. This is the kind of music that gets me downright excited. Maybe that’s why I named it as the best Southern Rock read more...
Cocaine Angel
Review of: Damian Lahey
Cocaine Angel Damian Lahey Cinema Libre Studio By James Calemine This independent film was shot in Jacksonville, Florida. Cocaine Angel tells a dark tale of drug addiction in a way only independent filmmakers get away with because no read more...
My Kind of Country
Review of: Van Zant
(Sony) I had someone remark the other day that I had not yet reviewed VanZant’s second album. Being the smart ass I can be at times, I informed him that this is actually the read more...
Live At the Avalon Ballroom 1969
Review of: Gram Parsons With The Flying Burrito Brothers
Live At The Avalon Ballroom 1969 Gram Parsons with The Flying Burrito Brothers Amoeba Records By James Calemine If you're reading this review, chances are you've heard of
Song of America
Review of: Various Artists
Song of America Various Artists 31 Tigers Records By James Calemine This 50-song, 3 CD collection tells the story of America through songs from the year 1492 through modern times. Song of America contains a diverse line-up of artists read more...
Feast of Snakes
Review of: Harry Crews
Feast of Snakes Harry Crews Macmillan Publishing By James Calemine November in Mystic, Georgia, means it's time for the Feast of Snakes. This novel remains one of the Georgia writer
An All-Star Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd
Review of: Various Artists
(New West) No other band has been milked for all it’s worth more than Lynyrd Skynyrd. I’m not being cruel, just honest. The new All Star Tribute to Lynyrd Skynyrd is the latest album to capitalize on the legacy Ronnie Van Zant left behind following his read more...
Dear Y'all - The Songwriter Sessions Vol. 1
Review of: Eddie Hinton
Dear Y'all: The Songwriting Sessions Vol 1 Eddie Hinton Zane Records By James Calemine Eddie Hinton died in 1995 at the age of 51. When Hinton served as the session guitarist at Muscle Shoals read more...
Molly Hatchet, Junefest 2001
Review of: Molly Hatchet
Molly Hatchet Junefest June 2, 2001 Silverbowl Las Vegas, Nevada The all day rock festival that drew over 40,000 sunbaked and windswept classic rock fans was an undeniable success, with sets by Styx, Journey, and Night read more...
Blackfoot / Wet Willie / Southern Rock Allstars
Review of: Blackfoot
Blackfoot Wet Willie Southern Rock Allstars Iron Angels Bike Rally Angel City, Georgia April 22, 2006 Riding from Greenville, SC to Unidella, Georgia with Scott at the wheel and Jimmy holding down CD read more...
The Allman Brothers Band, Niagara Falls, CAN 6/23,
Review of: The Allman Brothers Band
Allman Brothers Band June 23 & 24 , 2006 Niagara Falls Canada June 23 , 2006 Well despite the lateness of this review these shows made an ever lasting impression. At the new and spectacular Niagara Falls Vue Casino overlooking the read more...
Lynyrd Skynyrd / Shooter Jennings, Pittsburgh, PA
Review of: Lynyrd Skynyrd
Shooter Jennings / 3 Doors Down Lynyrd Skynyrd July 14,2006 Post Gazette, Pittsburgh, Pa Well it was a very hot and humid night when the Skynyrd boys rolled back into stee ltown with an all star show. First up was Shooter read more...
Gram Parsons - Fallen Angel
Review of: Gram Parsons
Gram Parsons Fallen Angel A Film By Gandulf Hennig (Rhino) Gram Parsons was one of a kind, a pretty-boy with a trust fund and a whole lot of musical genius. He brought country music into the Byrds, performed with Paul Suratt in the read more...
No Saints, No Saviors
Review of: The Allman Brothers Band
No Saints, No Saviors My Years With The Allman Brothers Band by Willie Perkins (Mercer University Press) Between the years of 1970 and 1989, Willie Perkins worked for the Allman Brother’s Band and as read more...
The Unsolved Murder of Lynyrd Skynyrd Bassist Leon
Review of: Lynyrd Skynyrd
The Unsolved Murder of Lynyrd Skynyrd Bassist Leon Wilkeson by Dale Bowman (Jaguar Publishing) When Leon Wilkeson was found dead in a Florida hotel back in 2001, the world not only lost a great bassist, but a totally unique, kind read more...
Skydog: The Duane Allman Story
Review of: The Allman Brothers Band
Skydog The Duane Allman Story by Randy Poe (Backbeat Books) I have been waiting on this book for years, and to coin a cliche, it was well worth the wait. Randy Poe has gone deep, digging through source material with read more...
Jammin' For Danny Joe Brown
Review of: Various Artists
(GWP Records) One of the most emotional all-star jams in recent history took place at Orlando, Florida's Club LaVela on July 18, 1999. A benefit to help offset the vast medical expenses of original Molly Hatchet lead singer Danny Joe Brown, the event , read more...
Lyve: The Vicious Cycle Tour
Review of: Lynyrd Skynyrd
(Sanctuary) Recorded live in Nashville at the Amsouth Amphitheater in July, 2003, Lyve is an excellent documentation of the highly successful Vicious Cycle tour the band has taken around the world during 2003. The set list features all of the read more...
Back Where It All Begins
Review of: Dickey Betts & Great Southern
Back Where It All Begins - Live At The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Museum (Eaglevision) Like many, I was really and truly bummed out a few years ago when Dickey Betts left the Allman Brothers Band. I just knew it would read more...
Lyve - The Vicious Cycle Tour
Review of: Lynyrd Skynyrd
Lynyrd Skynyrd Lyve - The Vicious Cycle Tour (Sanctuary) Lynyrd Skynyrd is riding the wave of a true career resurgence. Not since the days of Ronnie Van Zant has the band been so heavily in the public eye. Last year’s Vicious Cycle was hailed by read more...
Drive Train
Review of: 38 Special
38 Special Drive Train (Sanctuary) This ain’t your father’s 38 Special,kids. 38 get their rocks out on Drive Train in what many are calling their best album ever. Yep, you heard right - ever.
Ghost Train From Georgia
Review of: Grinderswitch
Grinderswitch Ghost Train From Georgia (New South) On their first all-new album in 30 years Dru Lombar and his band turn in an utterly fantastic record. “Dixie Flyer” has already been getting good air play in Europe, and read more...
Under The Influence
Review of: Various Artists
Under The Influence A Jam Band Tribute To Lynyrd Skynyrd (Sanctuary) First came Skynyrd Frynds, with an eclectic mix of country and pop stars covering the Ronnie Van Zant song book - then came Lonesome Skynyrd Time, read more...
Playing Around - The Songwriter Sessions Vol. 2
Review of: Eddie Hinton
(Zane) When the word went around that there was another volume of unreleased Hinton material about to hit that was amazing enough - but not enough to prepare for just how good it was going to be. 18 studio tracks and two ‘bonus’ live recordings read more...
Hard Luck Guy
Review of: Eddie Hinton
Eddie Hinton, the Muscle Shoals singer/songwriter, did not live to complete the 1999 Capricorn release Hard Luck Guy. In July 1995, Hinton died of a heart attack during the sessions. Hard Luck Guy should be a contender for soul album of the year.
Kingdom of XII
Review of: Molly Hatchet
Kingdom of XII Molly Hatchet (Sanctuary) 2000 Kingdom of XII is a true Molly Hatchet classic, beginning with the Vietnam veteran tribute "Heart Of The USA", and including the outlaw anthem read more...
Flirtin' With Disaster
Review of: Molly Hatchet
Flirtin with Disaster Molly Hatchet (Epic) 1979 There’s no arguing the fact that Flirtin’ with Disaster is one of Southern Rock’s most classic Lps. It’s Southern Rock the way it was meant read more...
Molly Hatchet
Review of: Molly Hatchet
Molly Hatchet (Epic) 1978 Hatchet’s first album remains their finest to this day, kicking off in fifth gear with “Bounty Hunter” and never missing a beat as they lunge into “Gator Country,” a song that basically read more...