June 23 — HOPE THE HIGH ROAD, Jason Isbell and the 400 Unit (2017)

June 23, 2017 by Russ Florence

A respectable list of artists have made at least three consecutive five-star albums: Miles Davis in the ’50s, the Stones from the late ’60s through early ’70s, the Clash in the late ’70s, the Replacements in the mid ’80s, Uncle Tupelo in the early ’90s, Dylan over several stretches. The commonality is that each artist’s work has stood the test of time, withstood trends, and held up for years as one of its generation’s brightest beacons. With “The Nashville Sound,” […]

Categories: 2010s

June 13 — THIRTEEN SILVER DOLLARS, Colter Wall (2017)

June 13, 2017 by Russ Florence

Driving 305 miles today — OKC, Pawhuska, Tulsa, OKC — gave me time to catch up on some albums that been stacking up. In the process I discovered one of my favorite records of the year. A few weeks ago a work colleague told me about Colter Wall. It seems the music industry has been buzzing about his full-length debut. Steve Earle, who’s not an easy sell, said Walls’ songs are “stunning.” Lucinda Williams invited him to open for her […]

Categories: 2010s

June 2 — I GOTTA GO, Robert Earl Keen (2011)

June 2, 2017 by Russ Florence

In my single, rambling days for twenty years in Tulsa, I was a frequent visitor to Pawhuska, my version of the cowboy capital of Oklahoma. It’s the gateway to the Tallgrass Prairie Preserve, where buffalo roam over thousands of acres of untouched grassland beneath an enormous sky. It was my home-on-the-range retreat. Pawhuska has changed. The same old broken-down buildings still occupy Main Street, but now, there is traffic. Parking spots are sparse, and the sidewalks are lined with people. […]

Categories: 2010s, Family, Travel

May 19 — KODACHROME, Conor Oberst and the Mystic Valley Band (2012)

May 19, 2017 by Russ Florence

You take the afternoon off to pick up your 5-year-old from school on a Friday afternoon in the spring. He bounds into the car. “Dad!” You give him a choice: “Baseball game or Science Museum?” “Science Museum!” You wait for him to buckle in, roll down the windows, pull into the street. And on comes this, a remake of a Paul Simon song written in 1973. The lyrics whisper into your ear that there are only so many Friday afternoons […]

Categories: 2010s, Family

May 12 — WEST COAST TOWN, Chris Shiflett (2017)

May 12, 2017 by Russ Florence

The distance between punk and hard country isn’t as vast as as you might think. That’s especially true in California. Thirty years ago the punk band X added some twang and Merle Haggard covers, and cut a bonafide country record as the Knitters. Chris Shiflett’s new album “West Coast Town” has been in my ears all week. Shiflett grew up listening to metal and punk. More recently he has explored classic country and roots music, opening one door after another […]

Categories: 2010s

May 6 — EL CAMINO, Elizabeth Cook (2010)

May 6, 2017 by Russ Florence

On the first Saturday morning of every month, you’ll find Luke and me in the parking lot at Northpark Mall for Coffee and Cars. It’s a simple concept. People bring their cool cars, park them, and then hang around. Car enthusiasts come, walk around, take pictures, and talk. At 10 o’clock, everyone goes home. You see a bit of everything. Muscle cars, low-riders, dragsters, Bel-Airs, Model T’s, Lamborghinis, monster trucks. The people-watching is just as entertaining. Gear heads, Route 66 […]

Categories: 2010s, Family

April 21 — I WISH I WAS THE MOON, William Elliott Whitmore (2014)

April 21, 2017 by Russ Florence

William Elliott Whitmore is a singer and songwriter now, but you can still sense the dirt under his nails from being an Iowa farm kid. He’s one of three dozen artists on Bloodshot Records’ excellent “When No One Was Looking,” celebrating the label’s twentieth anniversary. This morning, driving to work in the rain, I heard Whitmore’s scraggly rendition of Neko Case’s “I Wish I Was the Moon.” It was a far different reading than the original, earthier and more ragged. […]

Categories: 2010s

April 19 — BALLAD OF THE DYING MAN, Father John Misty (2017)

April 19, 2017 by Russ Florence

It’s easy to let nostalgia and persona overshadow a very important fact: young Elton John was a damn fine songwriter. Early works like 1970’s “Tumbleweed Connection” were the framework for a career unrivaled, now going on 50 years. Father John Misty has been making records in a variety of incarnations for a dozen years. But with his new album, Misty enters an arena reserved for singer-songwriters whose work holds up for generations — Jackson Browne, Harry Nilsson, and especially Elton […]

Categories: 2010s

April 13 — YOU CAN COUNT ON ME, Jimmer (2017)

April 13, 2017 by Russ Florence

Take a look at the relationships you have with the artists you follow, and chances are you can find some analogous relationships elsewhere in your life. There’s the musician you discovered when you were both young. You’ve aged and grown, been through a lot together. There are relationships that run steady for years, but then grow stale. There are musical relationships for Saturday night only — and Sunday morning only — and relationships that evolve over time. And then there […]

Categories: 2010s, Concerts, Minneapolis

April 6 — JERICHO, John Fullbright (2012)

April 6, 2017 by Russ Florence

The route to “Jericho” this week started with a farm report on rural Iowa radio. During an early morning drive from Omaha to Sioux City, as is often the case when traveling, I scanned the radio for local flavor. Usually that means the AM dial, and especially in northern Iowa. But a man can only take so much corn news. So I moved the dial and found a squeaky clean Southern gospel quartet singing “Jericho Road.” Which over the course […]

Categories: 2010s, Travel, Work and Business