David Gilmour, “Luck and Strange.” It’s been a decade since the final Pink Floyd album, the largely instrumental The Endless River, and almost that long since the last solo studio album by David Gilmour, Rattle That Lock. Much like Randy Newman, to whom he bears little artistic resemblance, Gilmour…

“Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration of Tom Petty.” Two things come into clear focus while listening to the 20 Tom Petty songs on the new Petty Country compilation album, meant to emphasize the rocker’s Southern roots and his influence on country musicians. Petty Country: A Country Music Celebration…

Slash, “Orgy of the Damned.” The blues come in many colors, and Slash made some solid and varied – if not terribly original – choices for his sixth studio album outside of Guns N’ Roses, Orgy of the Damned. Orgy of the Damned Slash Gibson Records, May 17 7/10…

Ian Hunter, “Defiance Part 2: Fiction.” Artwork by Johnny Depp. Almost exactly one year ago, Ian Hunter showed us what he’d been up to during the COVID-driven quarantine, enlisting other notable musician peers to help put meat on the bones of demo tracks he’d already worked up. The resulting…

Mark Knopfler, “One Deep River.” Mark Knopfler’s musical voice isn’t only that of the guitar lines recognizable to anyone who’s ever heard “Sultans of Swing,” but also the stories he tells. While his old band Dire Straits may be more famous for its radio and MTV singles like “Money…

The Black Crowes, “Happiness Bastards.” Brothers Chris and Rich Robinson have been busy over the past 15 years, with various bands, solo musical projects, producing other artists’ records and other extracurriculars. What they weren’t doing during that time is putting out any new Black Crowes music. That changes now,…

The Rolling Stones, “Live at the Wiltern.” In February 2023, the Rolling Stones released Grrr Live, an album they billed as their “definitive greatest hits live” collection. And that it was, with at least 18 of its 23 songs either huge hits or beloved favorites. The latest live Stones…

Neil Young, “Before and After.” Neil Young has never been afraid to confound, for better or worse, and his latest project presents a novel way of presenting material that, to varying degrees, hasn’t been heard much, if at all, over the years. Before and After Neil Young Reprise, Dec.…

Jimmy Buffett, “Equal Strain On All Parts.” If indeed Equal Strain on All Parts is a final album by Jimmy Buffett – you never know; the Beatles are just now releasing their “last song” – it would be a worthy statement, in keeping with his modus operandi and leaving…

Willie Nelson, “Bluegrass.” It’s been said the mark of a good popular song is one that can be performed with only an acoustic guitar and a voice and still resonate. Bluegrass Willie Nelson Legacy Recordings, Sept. 15 8/10 Get the album on Amazon Music. A similar theory posits that…