Album Review- Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin

It’s discouraging to see one of the greatest figures in American music reduced to a punchline.  The Willie-and-weed narrative was played out 20 years ago but I still encounter many more Willie-related marijuana jokes than serious discussions of his music. 

The ongoing artistic vitality of Nelson, 82, is one of the most remarkable achievements in popular music.  While his performances are ramshackle affairs, several of his recent albums are exceptional.

The gentle swing and the unabashed sentimentality of the new Summertime: Willie Nelson Sings Gershwin brings tears to my eyes.  My emotional reaction is partly based in nostalgia.

My old man bought every Nelson album in the 1970s.  Willie's greatness was about the only thing he and I agreed upon.  The 1978 album Stardust introduced me to standards like “September Song” and “Someone to Watch Over Me.”  Summertime may be even better.


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I reviewed Logan Richardson’s magnificent new album Shift for KCUR.

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I reviewed Lee Fields’ impressive concert at the Granada.

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I previewed Kacey Musgraves’ concert for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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I write weekly music previews for The Kansas City Star and Ink magazine.

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I’m the gray blip that moves from the left to the right side of the stage at the 4:49 mark of the transfixing time lapse video of the Be/Non album release show at the Scottish Rite Temple.

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Some of the tracks on Kendrick Lamar’s new collection of outtakes and demos are merely footnotes to Good Kid M.A.A.D. City and To Pimp a Butterfly.  Other selections- particularly the jazz and funk selections- are stunning.

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Aki Rissanen’s Amorandom is an up-to-date acoustic piano trio album.  RIYL: Esbjörn Svensson, Finland, Brad Mehldau.

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Birds of Chicago’s Real Midnight is RIYL: Sonia Dada, nouveau hippies, Poi Dog Pondering.

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Esperanza Spalding’s wretched new album is a half-baked tribute to the collaborations between Joni Mitchell and Jaco Pastorius.

(Original image of a stagehand vacuuming the set of a Vance Joy concert by There Stands the Glass.)

Album Review: BJ the Chicago Kid- In My Mind

Some of the people who share my enthusiasm for Frank Ocean whine about the absence of a follow-up to his 2012 masterpiece Channel Orange.  I have better things to do.  Appreciating good-to-great albums by male R&B artists including Avant, Babyface, Bilal, D’Angelo, D.R.A.M., José James, Jodeci, R. Kelly, Miguel and the Weeknd has kept me busy during the past three years.  Add BJ the Chicago Kid to that list.  In My Mind doesn't achieve the heights of Channel Orange, but even the album's weakest tracks are enjoyable Keith Sweat, Prince and D’Angelo knockoffs.  Frank should feel free to take his time.  I’ll be in ”Church”.


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I reviewed Dwight Yoakam’s sold-out concert at the Uptown Theater.

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I featured Fullbloods on KCUR’s Local Listen.

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I wrote an extended concert preview about Wavves.

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The album release show for Be/Non’s Mystic Sunrise/Sunset Magic at the Scottish Rite Temple was mind-blowing. 

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Much of Your Friend’s Gumption resembles the vacillating sounds I heard when I suffered from night terrors as a child.

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There’s nothing I don’t like about the song and the video for Josh Hoyer & Soul Colossal’s ”Parts of Man”.  RIYL: Lee Fields, not-so-silly love songs, Percy Sledge.

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Ed Motta’s delightfully odd Perpetual Gateways is RIYL: Steely Dan, LA session cats of the 1980s, Gregory Porter.

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I embraced GoGo Penguin’s 2014 album, but the British group’s debut on Blue Note Records is overly chilly.  Here’s ”Res”.

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Cian Nugent’s Night Fiction is RIYL: Sandy Bull, spacing out, the Autumn Defense.

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Rogue Waves,  five remixes of a single Miguel song, is incredibly impressive.

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Wolfmother’s Victorious is big, dumb rawk, and Leslie West help me, I like it.  RIYL: Mountain, 1972, Billy Squier.

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Brian McKnight’s sappy Better makes me happy.

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We Like It Like That, a new documentary about Latin boogaloo, looks like my kind of movie.

(Original image by There Stands the Glass.)