Mark Johnson

Ayla Brook and The Sound Men “Desolation Sounds” (Fallen Tree Records, 2020)

May 19, 2020 Mark Johnson 0

It was Captain George Vancouver himself who, whilst mapping the (now) British Columbia coastline, named the deepwater of Desolation Sound, claiming that “there is not a single prospect that is pleasing to the eye”. Of course […]

AmericanA to Z – Hoyt Axton

April 30, 2020 Mark Johnson 5

OK, you’re left with X, Y & Z they said. Not wanting to give short shrift to any Zandt or Young icon, Hoyt Axton contains an x and a y, but is he Americana? Well he […]

Luther Black and the Cold Hard Facts “Luther Black and the Cold Hard Facts” (D.A. Records, 2020)

April 15, 2020 Mark Johnson 0

“There’s an old adage that your first album is your best album because you had your whole life to write it. Well that gives me a big advantage releasing my first album at my age”. So says […]

Anna Lynch “Apples In The Fall” EP (SJ21 Music, 2020)

April 2, 2020 Mark Johnson 0

It’s been seven years since Anna Lynch released her debut album (little heard but first-rate) and returns with this poignant EP steeped in American rurality. A wanderer around her country, her roots in the apple growing […]

Marcus King “El Dorado” (Fantasy Records, 2020)

March 5, 2020 Mark Johnson 2

Marcus King is a genius. Bonafide. A child prodigy on blues guitar, he experienced tragedy, suffering and struggle as a teen that came through so clearly in his first three albums, that Clapton sought him out. […]