Here you'll find on-line reviews of some CDs featured on WUNC's Back Porch Music. This area will be updated periodically. One good place to buy these CDs is at the Public Radio Music Source, where your purchase benefits Your NPR Station!

Big Medicine: Too Old to Be Controlled

Big Medicine play that old-time rural Southern music as if their lives depended on it. These four North Carolina musicians join together their impressive individual talents to brew up some of the most spirited old time and classic style bluegrass being played today. The title, Too Old to Be Controlled comes from the lyrics of the lead off tune, Wild Bill Jones. If you need a lift, a pick me up, friends, this is the tonic that'll do ya. The prescription is - Big Medicine.
Review by Keith Weston

Various: WPAQ: The Voice of the Blue Ridge Mountains

WPAQ began broadcasting in the late 1940s in Mount Airy, NC. This recenly released Rounder survey digs deep into the huge archive that has been amassed by station manager Ralph Epperson, highlighting recordings made at WPAQ in the late 1940s and early 1950s. Standout tracks include "Cornbread and Butterbeans" from the Carolina Sunshine Trio and "A Mansion Will Be Mine" featuring the great armless guitarist Ray Myers. This collection gathers 25 classic recordings ranging from gospel to old time fiddle. NRP news anchor (and former WPAQ news director) Paul Brown wrote the liner notes. To this day regional musicians drop by the studios to play live on the radio making WPAQ one of the most important stations in preserving the music of Surry County and the region. Listen in Real Audio to a feature on WPAQ prepared by WUNC's Aviva Enouch in 1988.
Review by Keith Weston

Chuck Brodsky: Last of the Old Time

Originally from Philadelphia, Chuck now calls Asheville, NC home. His distinctive vocals, insightful lyrics and immediate performance style continues to win high praise from critics and fans alike. Like his previous releases, this one's personal and confessional without resorting to the navel-gazing insights of many contemporary singer-songwriters. Also, like his past CDs, this release sports a few tributes to some of baseball's beloved and spurned figures. This time around he salutes Max Patkin (in Gone to Heaven) and the notorious Bonehead Merkel, both legends from the golden days of the great American pastime. Tongue-in-cheek humor runs through In the Country and Schmoozing, the latter capturing his distaste for some of the slimier parts of the music biz. This is geniune, personal music that reaches beyond subject matter to a truth. This kind of honesty is the most difficult kind of songwriting to pull off and Chuck Brodsky hits another home run.
Review by Keith Weston

Bruce Molsky: Poor Man's Troubles

In the old-time fiddling arena, Bruce Molsky is at the forefront. Originally from The Bronx, New York, he has a knack for picking up and mastering old-time fiddle styles. On this latest release, Bruce mixes old-time fiddle with blues, ballads, and other styles, presenting a tapestry of music from the South and the Southwest, for more than an hour of traditional music played with heart and soul. Standout tracks include Peg and Awl, Rove Riley Rove, Field Holler/Piney Woods/Lost Indian and I Truly Understand. One thing that Bruce Molsky does truly understand is how to make a highly satisfying album of great tunes. This CD is on Rounder Records.
Review by Keith Weston

Nickel Creek: Nickel Creek

It may surprise you to find one of the finest picking bands hailing from San Diego, CA. Nickel Creek defies expectations again and again. (You may have heard them back in April on A Prairie Home Companion where they tore it up!) There are some flashy show pieces here, but there are also some very beautiful, moving ballads as well. "The Lighthouse's Tale" and "Out of the Woods" are standout tracks along with the opening sizzling "Ode to A Butterfly" and the Tolkien inspired "House of Tom Bombadil". This is a fine record from the folks at the Durham-based Sugar Hill label. Released by Sugar Hill Records. Recommended.
Review by Keith Weston

Various: The Story That The Crow Told Me: Vol. 1

The Story that the Crow Told Me is a bright, snappy and wonderful collection of rural childrens' songs from the 1920s and 1930s. The cover pictured here is from Vol. 1 of a two volume set put out by Yazoo Records. The producers have done a first-rate job of cleaning up the orginal 78s and the performances are uniformally great. "Old Molly Hare" and "The Old Grey Goose" shine as two of the great old-time animal songs. Also, humorous songs for children and adults like "Hop Along Peter" and "Johnny Booker" are included, too. This serves as a good introduction to rural music from the period. Many of the artists heard on this CD were based in the North Carolina area and many of them were regulars on radio in the 20s and 30s. Great CD. Highly recommended for your collection!
Review by Keith Weston

Review: Nick Drake Pink Moon

Nick Drake has languished in obscurity long enough. Now, thanks to that VW commercial - you know the one with the kids driving under the moon where they pull up to a boring looking party and then decide to keep driving - he's getting some of the attention he deserves. You see, that whistful song about a "Pink Moon," well, that's Nick Drake. It's the title cut from his last studio CD released in 1973. During his lifetime he was the quintessential fragile artist, uncertain of his own abilities, quiet, introspective, some would say "depressed," and distant. In his final days he became increasingly solitary and withdrawn, and yet today his music continues forever reaching out. Not as a cry of pain (often), but rather of one saying "it's okay - it's going to be okay - really." "Pink Moon" is a very short CD - less than 30 minutes long. But it's worth every second of it twice over. Every minute seems to be so impressed and compressed with a quiet vitality that it seems like one of those long distance phone calls from a distant friend. You call, you catch up, you chat for 25 minutes. It seems too short, but you know it's time to move on. Sadly, Nick Drake moved on far too soon. He died from an accidental overdose of anti-depressants in 1974. This CD and other by Nick Drake is currently released by RykoDisc.
Review by Keith Weston