By Ken Paulson—
Catching up with recent and worthy releases:
The CD/DVD set Live at Tales From the Tavern captures Jack Tempchin performing some of his best-known songs and a few other quirky originals in front of an audience. Tempchin’s contributions to the Eagles catalog included “Already Gone” and “Peaceful Easy Feeling. He also wrote big hits with Glen Frey, including “The One You Love” and “You Belong to the City.” The best moments may be his rendition of “Slow Dancing” and “Amy,” an ode to infidelity with women of the same name. It’s a fun and intimate performance, and the stripped-down versions are often revealing.
A Good Heart Will Break, the new album from Maura Rogers and the Bellows, is an impressive outing from a promising young Americana band from Cleveland. The songwriting is particularly strong, with lyrics often disarming and real: “I miss your mouth, dear; do you miss my stubborn ways?” You’ll find their music here.
Alvin Lee left Ten Years After while the band was still in its prime, choosing to carve out his own musical path. That led to the well-regarded On the Road to Freedom collaboration with Mylon LeFevre in 1973, a project packed with superstar guests like George Harrison, Ron Wood and Steve Winwood.
Almost four decades on, Lee has released Still on the Road to Freedom. LeFevre and the star musicians are gone, but the independent streak continues. It’s a thematically varied, but consistently bluesy collection of songs, fueled by Lee’s underrated guitar work. Highlights: Listen to Your Radio,””Midnight Creeper” and the fifties-retro “I’m a Lucky Man.”
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