Mountain Review Archives
The Last of the Pascagoula: A Review
Review of: Rebecca Meredith
Rebecca Meredith's first published novel The Last of the Pascagoula read more...
Wolfroy Goes To Town
Review of: Bonnie "Prince" Billy
(Drag City) Kentuckian Will Oldham remains a fearless and prolific southern artist. Most will see the release of Wolfroy Goes To Town as the latest fine release amongst the over 50 LPs, EPs, and collarboration recordings Oldham has released in his nearly 20 read more...
Vertically Coastal by Jerri Chaplin---A Review
Review of: Jerri Chaplin
I met Jerri Chaplin fifteen years ago at a conference for the National Association of Poetry Therapy. I was struck at that time by her warmth and genuineness and read more...
One More Time
Review of: Bryan Elijah Smith
(self-released) After reviewing the quietly excellent Dear Puppeteer by Nathan Moore, I couldn't help but notice that his album had been enhanced by a co-producer, musician, and collaborator named Bryan read more...
Old Mad Joy
Review of: The Gourds
(Vanguard) Old Mad Joy counts as the 10th studio album by the Austin, Texas, band The Gourds. Recorded at Levon Helm's barn, Larry Campbell (
Gentle Spirit
Review of: Jonathan Wilson
(Bella Union) Born in North Carolina, Jonathan Wilson moved to California years ago. Wilson's undeniable musical talents have allowed him to work and collaborate with musicians such read more...
Comecrudos
Review of: Pontiak
(Thrill Jockey) A power trio of different sort, Pontiak is composed of three Virginia brothers from Blue Ridge Mountains. Van, Lain, and Jennings Carney initially connected to Baltimore's growing scene as they got their start there. They are still associated with read more...
Dear Puppeteer
Review of: Nathan Moore
(Royal Potato Family) The jamband scene is not a safe haven for songwriters. On the surface, fans of live music should enjoy music of all kinds, but the reality of that scene is that the top bands are performers and instrumentalists first. By nature, ten minute read more...
Country Again
Review of: Ronnie Milsap
Ronnie Milsap became famous as a country singer. He's won six Grammys and had 40 number one country songs, third all time to only George Strait and Conway Twitty. Considering all of these accolades, it might be a bit of mystery to many as to why he would name his latest read more...
Premium Country
Review of: David Adam Byrnes
(Better Angels) It used to be that country radio didn't split between its roots and its desire to keep soccer moms happy. A pop tune with a pedal steel is still a pop tune - just ask the Carpenters. These days we can often forget we are listening to a country read more...
The Man That Time Forgot
Review of: John Paul Keith
(Big Legal Mess) Imagine that Buddy Holly didn't die in a plane crash in Iowa, but instead landed safely in Memphis where he spent the next few decades immersing himself in all kinds of music from read more...
Mount Moriah
Review of: Mount Moriah
(Holidays for Quince Records) North Carolinians Heather McEntire and Jenks Miller have both been in hard-edged bands from punk to metal. It's somewhat surprising that Mount Moriah, their band together, so effectively embodies rural and mountain sounds, but it does so to read more...
Better Day
Review of: Dolly Parton
(Dolly Records) Dolly Parton's legendary status as a performer and a country music icon has long been cemented. She's a living legend. Dolly's star peaked during the later 70s and early 80 thanks to the mainstreaming of Southern culture courtesy of read more...
Reason And Rhyme
Review of: Jim Lauderdale
(Sugar Hill Records) Jim Lauderdale played bluegrass music back in his native North Carolina as a teenager in the 70s. He won a Grammy in 2003 with Ralph Stanley for Best Bluegrass Album. Reason And read more...
The Mirror
Review of: Jill Andrews
(Liam Records) Jill Andrews became known to many Americana music fans through her former band. Led by the duo of Andrews and Sam Quinn, who were also a couple early on in the band's history, the Everybodyfields came out of the mountains of Johnson City, TN to read more...
The Dreaming Fields
Review of: Matraca Berg
(Dualtone Records) The release of The Dreaming Fields is certainly cause for celebration. Not of the wild party variety, but the type of celebration that one feels on the inside, knowing that something good has just happened, something to read more...
Between The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea
Review of: Black Stone Cherry
(Roadrunner Records) Take some Skynyrd attitude and mix in some Seattle grunge with a dash of Nickelback's hooks, and you have a pretty good sense of Black Stone Cherry, a proud second generation southern rock band. BSC's drummer, John Fred Young, is the son of
Barton Hollow
Review of: The Civil Wars
Last night as I sat with friends on my porch overlooking Elk River, I put The Civil Wars' new album Barton Hollow read more...
Borrow A Horse
Review of: Old Calf
(No Quarter) Ned Oldham's musical journey has been both at one and in parallel with his more famous brother Will who is best known for his early career Palace incarnations and his more recent Bonnie read more...
Death Of A Decade
Review of: Ha Ha Tonka
(Bloodshot) For those familiar with the novels of Daniel Woodrell (or for those who have seen the films Winter's Bone or Ride With The Devil which were both based on his novels), it is understood that the Ozark region of Missouri remains one of the read more...
RIYEL----Eclectic and Kreyol Jazz
Review of: RIYEL (Ken Watters, Andre Atkins, Yves Abel)
Summit Records, April 2010 Released internationally on April 13, 2010, Riyel’s first album is an overview of read more...
The Coffee Shop Chronicles of New Orleans
Review of: David Lummis
SIster Schubert: Cast Your Bread Upon the Waters
Review of: SIster Schubert
Reviewed by Penne J. Laubenthal Sister Shubert's recent cookbook,
Geniune Negro Jig
Review of: Carolina Chocolate Drops
(Nonesuch Records) “Tradition is a guide, not a jailer. We play in an older tradition but we are modern musicians,” says the Carolina Chocolate Drops’ Justin Robinson. The North Carolina-based ‘Drops’: Dom Flemmons, Rhiannon Giddens and Robinson read more...
A Review of Undeniable Truths
Review of: A. M. Garner
Rank Stranger Press, November 2009 Reviewed by Penne J. Laubenthal This month Anita M. Garner published her first collection of short stories: Undeniable read more...
Fairly Odd Mother
Review of: Kelly Kazek
Published by iUniverse, Inc 2009 Reviewed by Penne J. Laubenthal I have been a huge fan of humor in journalism for over thirty years. I particularly enjoy those southern humorists who follow in the footsteps of
When The Buddha Met Bubba: A Review
Review of: Richard "Dixie" Hartwell
Turner Publishing Co., Nashville, TN 2009 Reviewed by Penne J. Laubenthal When the Buddha Met Bubba is best-selling author
Pat Conroy's "South of Broad": A Review
Review of: Pat Conroy
Published by Nan A. Talese/Doubleday Company, August 2009 Reviewed by Penne J. Laubenthal When I read my first Pat Conroy book in the early 70s, it was love at first paragraph. When I finished reading the read more...
Tarpits And Canyonlands
Review of: Bombadil
(Ramseur Records) Bombadil remains a breath of fresh Carolina air. Upon hearing their previous album, A Buzz, a Buzz, the listener could instantly understand that this is a band with a read more...
Delta Blues
Review of: Ted Gioia
Delta Blues:The Life and Times of Mississippi Masters Who Revolutionized American Music by Ted Gioia W. W. Norton, 2008 Reviewed by bluesman Billy C. Farlow Delta Blues read more...
Song Up In Her Head
Review of: Sarah Jarosz
(Sugar Hill Records) "Song Up In Her Head" is the title of the excellent debut album by singer, songwriter and mulit-instrumentalist Sarah Jarosz. Hailing from Austin, Texas, Jarosz’ album is a wonderful example of the music being made by the newer read more...
Milking the Moon
Review of: Eugene Walter
Milking the Moon: A Southerner's Story of Life on this Planet Eugene Walter (as told to Katherine Clark) Crown Publishers Reviewed by Penne J. Laubenthal Hold on to your hat and get ready for a wild ride.
Dixieland Delight
Review of: Clay Travis
As we head into the off season, now that the recruiting season is over (mostly), there might be no better time to pick up and read Clay Travis's
Eat, Drink, and Be From Mississippi
Review of: Nanci Kincaid
Nanci Kincaid’s most recent novel hit the bookstores just two weeks before President Barack Obama delivered his inaugural address, read more...
With Roots and Wings
Review of: Angel Band
Angel Band With Roots and Wings Appleseed APRCD-1108 For Nancy Josephson, the long arm of the South stretches all the way to the Canadian border. Northern bred, the summers of her youth were spent traversing the backroads and byways of her parents' read more...
The Prince of Frogtown
Review of: Rick Bragg
“My father was the prince of Frogtown” writes Alabama author and Pulitzer Prize winner Rick Bragg in his latest book entitled
A Buzz, a Buzz
Review of: Bombadil
Named for a character from J.R.R. Tolkien, Bombadil takes the idea of fantasy to heart in their music. They lead the listener on a aural journey in a way that few bands do. In the same way that fantasy combines the past with futuristic sensibilities, Bombadil has found read more...
Keep Your Silver Shined
Review of: Devon Sproule
Keep Your Silver Shined Devon Sproule Waterbug Records There are only a handful of musicians good enough to pack the house with other musicians, and Devon Sproule is one. She is a magnet to them as much as music is a magnet to her. B.J. Cole knows. read more...
See You In A Hundred Years
Review of: Logan Ward
See You In A Hundred Years by Logan Ward Benbella Books Has the stess of today's world with instant communication (Internet, cell phones, and texting), long work hours, and hectic urban pacing made a life on a rural farm seem appealing? read more...
Revelation
Review of: A. J. Roach
A.J. Roach Revelation Waterbug Records Some guys have roots and some guys have roots. A.J. Roach has roots growing out of the bottoms of his feet. Make no mistake, Roach is not tied to the roots, but he lives and breathes read more...
The Trailer Tapes
Review of: Chris Knight
(Drifter's Church 0010) Some albums are just meant to be heard. Chris Knight recorded 'The Trailer Tapes” in 1996 more to put the songs he'd written on tape than for release, but some songs are just not made to stay in the can. Last year, co-producers read more...
Darius Goes West
Review of: Logan Smalley
“Something’s gonna happen like…Just spark the whole world,” exclaims Darius, the star of the award-winning independent documentary feature film Darius Goes West (DGW), 2007. read more...
Frankie Ray
Review of: Jonathan Wilson
Frankie Ray Jonathan Wilson Pretty And Black By James Calemine North Carolina native Jonathan Wilson's Frankie Ray contains the work of a talented songwriter. These quiet songs evoke a subterranean sound. Astral lyrics painted around read more...
Salvation On Sand Mountain
Review of: Dennis Covington
Salvation On Sand Mountain Dennis Covington Penguin Books By James Calemine “This descent into himself will, at the same time, be a descent into his region. It will be a descent through the darkness of the familiar into a world read more...
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...
KELBRN
Review of: Carter Martin
KELBRN by Carter Martin Xlibris Press, 2007
Whatever Remembers Us: An Anthology
Review of: Various Authors
Whatever Remembers Us: An Anthology of Alabama Poetry edited by Sue Brannan Walker and J. William Chambers Negative Capability Press, Mobile, Alabama Whatever Remembers Us: An Anthology of Alabama Poetry, edited by Sue read more...
Driving With The Devil
Review of: Neal Thompson
Driving With The Devil by Neal Thompson Crown Publishing “We read more...
Classic Southern Gospel
Review of: Various Artists
Various Artists Classic Southern Gospel (Smithsonian Folkways) Sixty minutes of gospel hymns delivered by classic bluegrass artists like Bill Monroe, Red Allen, The Watson Family, The Country Gentlemen, and The Indian Bottom Association read more...
Friends Of Old Time Music
Review of: Various Artists
Friends Of Old Time Music The Folk Arrival 1961-1965 (Smithsonian Folkways) Between 1961 and 1965, New York’s Friends of Old Time Music presented 14 concerts that introduced dozens of traditional musicians to city folk for the very read more...