southern gospel song "When Men Pray". Jacky Jack White has had songs on the charts as a singer/songwriter since 1985. Some of the artists who have recorded his songs include Ray Stevens, Charley Pride, Buddy Jewell, Steve Wariner, Neal McCoy and Mark Lowery.  (less)

North Carolina fundamentalist preacher, hits those Piedmont consonants hard, and looks like a cross between a contemporary Christian singer and a devotee of Trace Adkins, whose speaker-rattling baritone is an obvious inspiration. With producer Don Gehman (John Mellencamp) mixing Carroll's sensitive originals with hearty commercial songs from proven Nashville hitmeisters (Craig Wiseman, Casey Beathard, Jeffrey Steele), it's hard to get a good fix on Carroll's persona, and he lives and dies by the material. One schizophrenic moment: "No Good in Goodbye," his duet with Nashville convert Jewel, who co-wrote the song with Carroll and Shaye Smith. The fading pop icon has no idea how to phrase a song like this, a...  (less)

singer who first put those titles--and eight others included here--in the Country Top 10. Producer Chet Atkins only lightly sweetened these early Nashville Sound tracks, allowing Gibson's affecting style plenty of room. His greatest performance might be on "Sea of Heartbreak," a Hal David-penned number that's a small lesson in controlled vocal emotion. In addition to Gibson's most notable hits, this collection also offers several fine album tracks (a stylishly low-key version of "Camptown Races," the midtempo near-rocker "It Has to Be"). Astonishingly, the liner notes point out, Gibson has yet to be inducted into country's Hall of Fame. If nothing else, though, this reissue should help reset the balance in appreciation of Gibson's work. --Rickey ...  (less)

deep South. "The resulting documentary," says Variety, "reps a very European look at quintessentially American milieu, a marriage exemplified by its cool, painterly visuals and southern gothic cast of characters." Searching For The Wrong-Eyed Jesus is a thought-provoking road trip through the American south - a world of churches; prison; coalmines; truck stops; juke joints; swamps; and mountains. Along the way the viewer encounters various musicians, including the Handsome Family, Johnny Dowd, 16 Horsepower and David Johansen; old time banjo player Lee Sexton, rockabilly and mountain Gospel churches and novelist Harry Crews telling grisly stories down a dirt track. The film is a collage of stories and testimonies, almos...  (less)

remind listeners how a fusion of styles and influences from both black and white musicians defined American country music in its formative decades. Included here are gems, both familiar and obscure, by the likes of Jimmie Rodgers, the Delmore Brothers, Jimmie Davis, Cliff Carlisle, and other country musicians who were clearly inspired by their blues cousins. Backed by the Nashville All-Stars, a supersonic string band comprising bluegrass masters Sam Bush (mandolin), Jerry Douglas (Dobro), Béla Fleck (banjo), and Byron House (stand-up bass), all playing on vintage 1920s and '30s acoustic instruments, Kaukonen revives and vividly reinterprets these blues-drenched country classics for a new generation of listeners. --Bob Allen  (less)

a unique combination of ukelele, drums, pedal steel, violin, horns, and bass. One second his songs hint at Brazilian tropicalia, the next a 50s barbershop quartet or an early 20th century country swing.  (less)

stylists. Their admirers weren't just local fans; it included visiting sports, music, and film luminaries. It's easy to understand that appeal. The trio amassed a rich and genre-blind repertoire encompassing thousands of numbers. Western ("Cimarron"), pop ("I Remember You"), folk ("Tom Dooley"), and hard country ("Shenandoah Waltz") easily coexisted with lounge (Bobby Darin's versions of "Clementine" and "Things"). Even George Harrison's "Something" fit their sound as if they'd written it, as did Robbie Fulks's "Cigarette State." The bulk of this material, from 1960-1971 live recordings complete with clanking glasses and applause, powerfully documents their greatest years. There's a fascinating story...  (less)

pride. In the forward-looking words of the young singer on this recording, Karol Aurora De Jesús Reyes, the music "Will make us shine around the world, until the people hear the music and say, 'Look, that is the music of Puerto Rico.' It's the music of my country, that which represents us and that which identifies us as a people." Leader Miguel Santiago Díaz hand-picked this group of virtuosic instrumentalists to let the music to shine at its brightest. Lyric transcriptions available here. ¡Nominación Grammy 2004! El resurgimiento del orgullo cultural y étnico en los Estados Unidos durante las décadas de los 1960 y 1970 tuvo un desarrollo paralelo en Puerto Rico, tanto que hoy en día el mero sonido de la música jíbara puede provocar una ovación de...  (less)

tears with the deep feeling of her singing and her skill in matching word to tonal truth. And Carol Elizabeth Jones, one of our few securely rooted young singer/songwriters, arouses my warm admiration with her beautifully detailed, spacious and flowing singing. These three daughters of Appalachia, three generations of country/bluegrass/old-time mountain singers, each with their own distinct and highly developed singing style, have made a hardcore mountain vocal album for the turn of the century, one whose roots go well into the last. Singing a rare and unusual repertoire, accompanied by a superb band, Hazel's dynamic and unfettered bursts of brilliance, Ginny's emotional steady rocking intensity and CE's stately and supple artistry combine in duets and trios t...  (less)

Nelson, Emmylou Harris, Don Williams, Chet Atkins, Ricky Skaggs, and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band on this album. Nelson, Harris, and Williams prove such dominating singers that the Chieftains seem to disappear into the background. A more equal balance is struck with the more instrumentally minded Americans like Skaggs, Atkins, Bela Fleck, Jerry Douglas, and Sam Bush, and it's a treat to hear the Irish fiddles and tin whistle floating above Fleck's banjo and Skaggs's mandolin on "Will the Circle Be Unbroken." -- Geoffrey Himes  (less)

to his coming to the United States, where he was a featured star in the Broadway musical hit "Fanny" for two and one-half years, he was the leading tenor of the Orient. As such he had a long list of outstanding appearances to his credit, including command performances for King Ibn Saud of Saudi Arabia, the Shah of Iran, former King Farouk of Egypt and Maj. Gen. Mohammed Naguib, his successor. Bakkar also was an accomplished actor. He produced, directed and acted in no less than thirty-two motion pictures. In addition, he was heard on many radio and television programs in the triple role of singer, arranger and conductor. He filled numerous engagements in major eastern American cities, where he received enthusiastic acclaim. During leisure hours, he liked nothin...  (less)