Piano In Play

This just in from the newsdesk: the mighty Howe Gelb is coming to town this March. And with a piano trio at that, having - temporarily? - disbanded Giant Sand, his desert-rocking band of choice since the mid-eighties. I'm guessing he'll play a lot of songs from his jazzy and intimate Future Standards album, and that's cool with me. Can't wait.

Howe Gelb - Mad Man At Large

Seventually

And here's that inevitable list again, mi amigos da musica. Presenting the toppermost of the poppermost of 2015: seven heavenly albums one shouldn't be without.

1. Phil Cook - Southland Mission
Phil Cook - Sitting On A Fence
2. Ryley Walker - Primrose Green
Ryley Walker - Love Can Be Cruel
3. Meg Baird - Don't Weigh Down The Light
Meg Baird - Mosquito Hawks
4. Giant Sand - Heartbreak Pass
Giant Sand - Heaventually
5. Calexico - Edge Of The Sun
Calexico - Tapping On The Line
6. Simon Joyner - Grass, Branch & Bone
Simon Joyner - In My Drinking Dream
7. Dave Rawlings Machine - Nashville Obsolete
Dave Rawlings Machine - The Last Pharaoh

Burn Well

On the umpteenth Giant Sand album - Heartbreak Pass, out now - ole Howe Gelb just keeps on singing his personal desert blues. Nothing new under the sun then so, but its near-perfect laidbackness makes for an ideal soundtrack to a hopefully long hot summer still. Choice cut: the jazzy Gypsy Candle, a delicate duet with Lorna Kelly. "And the heart suffers its own beating just as well, as if it could be helped..."

Giant Sand - Gypsy Candle

Lost His Mind

The esteemed Charity Chic recently alerted me to Giant Sand doing a lovely cover of Johnny Thunders' immortal You Can't Put Your Arms Around A Memory, so it's time to up the ante a wee bit. Here's Howe Gelb and crew taking on a well-known Sabs riff monster, and in a wonderful desert lounge stylee at that. Boom!

Giant Sand - Iron Man

Arena Gigante

"The rain disregards any agenda under the stars..." So Howe Gelb of Giant Sand-fame went all the way to Córdoba in sunny Spain to record an album with a local bunch of gypsy flamenco pickers. The resulting Alegrías just may be one of the most surprising, uplifting albums you'll hear this year.

Howe Gelb & A Band Of Gypsies - 4 Door Mavericks MP3

And as Fire Records happens to be in the process of re-releasing the complete Giant Sand back catalogue, here's a couple of their golden desert-rock oldies.

Giant Sand - Pathfinder MP3

Giant Sand - Mountain Of Love MP3