A & E

Besides being a great album, "Hemispheres" also shows the role ArtistShare is forging in music. This two-CD collection features guitarists Jim Hall and Bill Frisell in a duo on one disc and a quartet with bassist Scott Colley and drummer Joey Baron on the other. The music is challenging and creative -- probably too much so to earn the blessing of a business-oriented label. On ArtistShare, though, where artists sometimes get support from fans to foster a project, a home for this kind of album can emerge. The result is a masterful display with a 15-minute "Migration" from the duo and two tracks that appear to be improvisations by the quartet. In a less adventurous setting are wonderful versions of Billy Strayhorn's "Chelsea Bridge" and Bob Dylan's "Masters of War." Music this good deserves to be heard. It is available only at artistshare.com.

-- Bob Karlovits

Sophisticated ensemble play makes for fine releases by pianists Marc Copland and Bill Carrothers. Copland's "Another Place" features a quartet that shares its work so evenly, it could be hard to tell who headlines the release. For instance, the opening of the moody "River Bend" features guitarist John Abercrombie, drummer Billy Hart and the pianist making equal statements. Throughout the album, the interaction is the key to a sound that features fine solo play and tight work as an group. Carrothers's work has less individuality, but never fades to average, either. With drummer Bill Stewart and bassist Gary Peacock, Carrothers offers an outing dominated by originals. But he also offers pieces by Toots Thielemans, Kurt Weill and a great version of Thelonious Monk's "Off Minor."

-- Bob Karlovits

"I was green before green was a thing," Blake Shelton sings on the lead-off track of his latest album. "Green" is the kind of song that puts this amiable journeyman star in his best light -- flashing good-old-boy charm on a song that comes with a dose of humor and a lot of honky-tonk flavor. "Startin' Fires" could use a few more songs like that. The album leans toward earnest ballads and mid-tempo numbers like the hit single "She Wouldn't Be Gone." Shelton delivers these solidly, although he's best on the songs that avoid the power-ballad approach and allow more of his personality to shine through, like the spare "100 Miles," the conversational "Never Lovin' You," and "Bare Skin Rug," the campfire-style, guitar-only duet with his girlfriend, Miranda Lambert.

-- The Philadelphia Inquirer

The home page of the Suicide Kings' Web site features the tag line "Toons for the New Depression." How timely can you get? And these tunes happen to be right on the money, which is cheering in its own way, and marks this Nashville outfit as a band to watch. Not that frontman Brian Connole's songs are topical in any way. In fact, the subject matter is pretty timeless. What the Suicide Kings do is bring to it their own low-key, but still lively, variety of retro-tinged country, from the Cash-like boom-chicka rhythm of "Marie" to the bluegrass flavorings of "Hooker's Lament," the Everly-like harmonies of "Everything's Right," and the barroom honky-tonk of "Whiskey Row."

-- The Philadelphia Inquirer

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