Lee Roy Parnell plays a whole lot of guitar(s) on his new one, conjuring Duane Allman and Lowell George with his guitar lines, his slide. There's even a hint of Dan Penn in his vocal style, songwriting. The title cut is southern fried, dripping with groove. Parnell uses his natural, melodic vocal style to advantage, sounding like an old friend. After the drive of the opener, things mellow down some, and Parnell personalizes the record. It's all easy to listen and tap a foot to. I could say, opener aside, that no particular cut stands apart from the rest – or I could say that the sings all dovetail nicely. Let's go with the latter.

Gram Parsons has become quite a legend through the years, in part due to his too-early drug-influenced death. Would he be legend if he still lived today? Probably not, but there's still no denying he was a unique and passionate musician who did some great work in his short recording career. He fused country and rock in a unique fasion decades before Americana became a music genre. This collection includes the full versions of Gram's 2 solo albums, GP and Grievous Angel, which introduced the world to the voice and exquisitely intuitive harmonies of Emmylou Harris. According to one of the audio interviews included in this set, Chris Hillman heard Emmy first and recommended her to Gram. There has always been some mystery about Emmylou's place in the Gram Parsons story, her life is ripe for a great autobiography. She co-produced this collection and she shares more of her memories from this era than I've ever heard before. The 3rd disc is mostly unmixed alternate versions of songs from the 2 albums, in most cases either the versions were very similar to the originals or inferior takes. If you know the original arrangements by heart, like me, it's interesting, but not something you'll listen to very often. Rhino released the 2-disc Gram Parsons Anthology in 2001, which spanned his whole career, and many songs are shared with this set. Both are worth having for Gram fans but the booklet alone with Emmylou's stories is worth the price of this 3-CD set.

Pettersen has been working “under the radar” for over ten years, releasing 5 albums on his own and slowly finding his musical identity. The New Punk Blues is one big step closer as his songs reach a new maturity with a touch of politics. The whole CD sounds raw, honest and unadorned. The subtleties of his voice work better on the acoustic ballads while the rockier tunes feature his passionate wail. He gets some help from Reggie Young, the great Memphis guitarist who played on hits like "Cry Like a Baby" and "Suspicious Minds", but it's all Ed's show. He brings it together on the smoldering “Burning Up” (no pun intended) about regrets from his past. Watch this guy, he's still got more tales to tell.

EVAN PHILLIPS
Chickaloon... (Skip Tooth)

OK, check the release date; talk about being a day late and a dollar short! But, another old saying: good things are worth waiting for, and this one just came my way in the last couple of weeks. No mea culpa here. Evan Phillips is a mountaineer/musician from Alaska, and if he's as good at the former as he is at the latter, then he must be the Alaskan Sir Edmund. There's a temptation to compare this guy to Ryan Adams, but let's just say that he's perceptive, a damn good songsmith, melodic, and possessed of an ear for a good hook, in the vein of Adams, without the in-your-face attitude. He's also one of the mainstays of The Whipsaws, a couple of whom participated in this recording, a band that provides him with an avenue to give vent to his rockier, Alt.Country side, but that's a different review. His ability to weave a musical tapestry is remarkable considering his youthful appearance. That skill more often than not comes with a lot of age and experience, and, I can't help but admire the cojones and humility of a guy who can say about his songs: “if you borrow them, play ‘em better than I do”. Now that would be a pretty tall mountain for someone to climb...

PO' GIRL
Home To You... (Nettwerk)

Vancouver, B.C.'s Po' Girl has evolved into a quartet from its original duo configuration in 2002, and it has been quite an evolution. Home To You , the band's third release is an absorbing and enchanting assemblage of thirteen finely crafted and sparsely presented songs that run the gamut from blues through jazz, gospel, folk, and, well hell, there's hardly a musical stone left unturned here. They've got a farm kitchen sound and feel that oozes a multi-instrumental authenticity. Each member is more than qualified to take the lead mike or lead pen, although an absence of credits for the former make it difficult to ascertain who's singing when, but that's a minor derailment: when music sounds this good, it doesn't really matter. Catching them live is the best way to find out, and that shouldn't be too much of a problem as these ladies live on the road. They're in Europe till mid-May and then it's all over North America for the rest of the year, at this writing. If they're within a hundred miles, drive, hitch, or crawl, but do yourself a favour, don't miss them.

“Constantinople's a mighty long word, got three more letters than mockingbird” is a pretty lame use of words to just to find a rhyme. That is unless you're name happens to be John Prine. A lesser mortal would never let such silly wordplay out to the world. And that's part of the brilliance of Prine's writing. He's been doing it so long that he trusts the nonsense lines because they're just a small part of the bigger picture. He's so whimsical and brilliantly absurd that it works, and that's what people love the guy. This is Prine's first release in a whole nine years and his new songs sound like an old dear friend coming back to visit. He's survived throat cancer and lost a few grades on his sandpaper voice, but this is still solid Prine. His signature fingerpicking style is still prevalent and most of the arrangements are relaxed and roomy. There is a timeless quality to his songwriting style. He claims that the words just come to him without him having to do anything, but just write ‘em down. I don't doubt it; even random words like Constantinople can work if the right writer hears it. John Prine is indeed a songwriter's songwriter and we all should be so honest and trusting.

PURE PRAIRIE LEAGUE
All In Good Time... (Emergent)

Sometimes in life you encounter an old friend that you haven't seen in decades, and, if it's a good friend, you can take up right where you left off, despite the intervening years. Well, that's what All In Good Time feels like. Way back in the early 70s this band made a new and solid impression with its amalgam of country and rock, with the former dominating. Today it's as if all of those years never happened. Pure Prairie League, despite some interesting personnel changes over the years, is still fronted by Craig Fuller, still has that great country-rock sound, and, neat-o!, still features Norman Rockwell's Luke character on the cover art, just like in the old days. No, this one isn't a nostalgia trip that rehashes the glory days of yesteryear; it's a solid collection of twelve new tracks, kicked off with “Getting' Over You”, right in the same groove that first attracted me to “Bustin' Out”, many moons ago in '72. This one has racked up a lot of miles in the vehicle audio system with the driver still attempting to sing harmony, only now with the windows firmly rolled up.

The band's official site. Buy from amazon Released June, '06, reviewed by Don Grant.