Don Wilkerson

"Senorita Eula"

Blue ‘N’ Groovy Volume 2: Mostly Modal

The history of jazz is one of hidden masters, those players who may have never made a major name for themselves, but their beatific charms are known by all the insiders. Saxophonist Don Wilkerson is one of those musicians.

Bryan Ferry

"Positively 4th Street"

Dylanesque

There aren't many artists that can sing Bob Dylan songs and make them their own. Jerry Garcia had an uncanny knack for it, as did Roger McGuinn, but too often the interpreters miss the mark.

The Velvet Underground

"Sweet Jane"

Loaded

Several chords played by guitar, bass and drums--from that, lives can change when the words of a song convey a reality beyond what is being offered at the time.

Steely Dan

"Bad Sneakers"

Katy Lied

The way that Steely Dan captures isolation suggests they live in a bubble, away from all human contact. Considering their prowess in recording studios, maybe that isn't too far from the truth, either.

Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble

"Dirty Pool"

Texas Flood

From the very first notes of any song Stevie Ray Vaughan ever recorded, you knew it was him. It was something from the beyond that signals it. There is a treacherousness of tone that no other guitarist had.

Charlie Rich

"You Don't Know Me"

Pictures and Paintings

Give the Silver Fox a sad song, and he'll not only take it all the way downtown, he'll go out the back door of the building and into the alley, where he'll find the loneliest spot behind the trash cans and sit there through the night...

Jon Dee Graham

"Rosewood"

Full

It may start out like a slight offshoot of Tommy James & the Shondells’ “Crystal Blue Persuasion” with Carlos Santana sitting in. After the first five words, “Rosewood” heads off for parts unknown.

Rick Nelson and the Stone Canyon Band

"Garden Party"

Garden Party

Comebacks, even when they're short-lived, are the stuff of legend. Rick Nelson was rock & roll's first television star, performing on his parents' program starting in the 1950s. His dreamy good looks captivated viewers, and the music was plenty rocking enough to kick in for the kids.

O.V. Wright

"A Nickel and a Nail"

The Soul of O.V. Wright

Sometimes the unknown heroes are the ones who last the longest. Look at O.V. Wright. A soul singer who many swear is one of the best ever, he battled against obscurity and other stronger demons for most of his life.

Kimmie Rhodes

"The Fool on the Hill"

Walls Fall Down

Creating beauty is no easy task. Neither is recording a Beatles song, especially one like “The Fool on the Hill.” For starters, it’s one of the English band’s most elusive: “The fool on the hill/sees the sun going down/and the eyes in his head/sees the world spinning ‘round.”

John Hammond

"As The Years Go Passing By"

Source Point

John Hammond has the touch, going all the way back to his first albums in the early ‘60s on Vanguard Records. He was a bluesman through and through, even while his wealthy father was the most revered talent scout in the music business.

Jesse DeNatale

"Children of the Sun"

Soul Parade

How is it that a song will crawl inside your ear and stay there forever? Years can go by and you don't hear it, but then one morning it's the first thing that comes to mind when you open your eyes.

Bo Ramsey

"Where the Sun Never Goes Down"

Stranger Blues

Some people like to hide out, even when they’re in plain sight. Underneath a straw cowboy hat pulled low enough so there’s no way to tell if he even has eyeballs, Bo Ramsey stares into the void.

Luther Russell

"Rise & Shine"

Repair

The Freewheelers never got much past the first rung, but to their fans the Portland band meant a lot. Luther Russell was their leader, so he obviously meant the most. After several solo albums, Russell really gets it right on Repair.

Dr. John

"I Walk On Guilded Splinters"

Gris-Gris

New Orleans will put some voodoo on you, whether you believe in it or not. When you’re walking down Decatur in the French Quarter, or riding the streetcar out St. Charles, there is something in the air. You can’t see it, but you can definitely feel it.

Miles Davis

"All Blues"

Kind of Blue

With an air of mystery surrounding it, the song was first listed on this album as “Flamenco Sketches.” No matter what it’s called, the recording stands as a crowning moment in jazz, that place where musicians come together and create a whole world with only their instruments and how they play them.

J.J. Cale

"Call Me The Breeze"

Naturally

One of the great album-openers ever, “Call Me the Breeze” starts with a short but serious case of the mumbles. Then a finger-picked acoustic begins the song proper, before J.J. Cale’s switchblade Silvertone guitar slices off a few slippery lines...

Richard Hawley

"Just Like the Rain"

Cole’s Corner

By all accounts, Sheffield, England is no easy place to grow up. It's a mining town. Joe Cocker is from Sheffield, and is said to sound like the city feels.

Spectrum Meets Captain Memphis

"Take Your Time"

Indian Giver

How about this for going beyond the bounds of normality? Former Spacemen 3 founding member and now proud participant in Spectrum, Sonic Boom continues his travels around the fringes of acceptable behavior, finding himself finally at the Zebra Ranch in Tate County, Mississippi.

Eric Clapton

"Pretending"

Journeyman

The playful piano licks thrown out before the song starts are a sideways riff likely inspired by Little Feat's "Dixie Chicken." Then things get serious, as the guitars from heaven begin and Eric Clapton announces his presence.

The Ditty Bops

"Fall Awake"

Moon Over The Freeway

Some bands have reputations that grow person by person and show by show. They might not break through--now or ever--but chances are their music affects listeners in ways that mainstream artists will never attain.

Tom Waits

"Fannin Street"

Orphans

Every city has a street that threatens to fall off the end of the Earth. The ones where people who call it home must wake up every day and wonder how in the world they got there. In the Fifties, that was Fannin Street in Houston.

Mike Zito

"Today"

Today

Why do some songs jump off an album and clear the competition away with one clean sweep? There is such an overwhelming sense of destiny that it feels like the notes are golden and the lyrics are written in honey.

Mother Earth

"The Fly"

Make A Joyful Noise

There's nothing like the unlikely mix of country and psychedelic music. It does strange things to the nervous system, but somehow still works. At its beginning, Mother Earth was one of the most glorious examples of a hybrid band that ever existed...

Waylon Jennings

"Luckenbach, Texas"

Ol’ Waylon

Here's someone who out-outlawed the outlaws. Waylon Jennings would never behave. When the cosmic cowboy craze threatened to overrun the country, Jennings made a point of breaking the rules of the rule breakers.