★★★★★
Making just one more case for the fertile Americana ground that is Carolina, Chuck Johnson and crew serve up one of the tastier efforts in the genre this year. Mr. J is a durable vocalist and skillful songsmith, delivering a set well stocked with varied, roots-bound fare. The band shows up strong with solid fretwork, well placed piano touches and, when called upon, righteous harmonies. Standouts include "Birmingham", "Raylean" and "Sugarcane".
- rootsmusicreport.com
2015-12-02
★★★★★
As guitarist Chuck Johnson continues his work in the American Primitive tradition, pulling from the long history of folk, blues, and gospel in his own compositions, his music has gotten much more melodically entrancing and deeply emotional. The opening track of his third full-length album, Blood Moon Boulder --the nearly 12-minute long "Corvid Tactics"--feels like its own little short story...
- www.pastemagazine.com
2015-07-01
★★★★★
It's surprising that Bay Area guitarist and composer Chuck Johnson is labeled as someone who comes out of the "American Primitive" school, but as with any stylistic label placed on music, it tends to accentuate how diverse and perhaps unfit for the term individual artists might be (cf. minimalism or free jazz). Johnson was in the breezy instrumental art-rock band Shark Quest, as well as the ethnographically influenced string trio Idyll Swords...
- www.tinymixtapes.com
2013-06-22
★★★★★
At first glance, the titles on Chuck Johnson's Crows in the Basilica suggest an artist both aware of and in touch with his surroundings. There are mountains, creeks, sand; towns, streets, basilica; crows, geese. Skim Johnson's liner notes and this sense of outward attention expands. Songs are based on raga improvisations and Chinese melodies, the Piedmont blues of Carolina pioneer Elizabeth Cotten and the mountain guitar of Appalachian legend Roscoe Holcomb...
- www.forcedexposure.com
2013-05-07
Loading...
