Spring 2025 Short Takes Brief Reviews
Drew Gibson "Burning Horses" 2024
Burning Horses is Virginia based songwriter and guitarist Drew Gibson's fifth album. The title presents an odd image, but seems to have something to do with a yearning for the past or just a simpler time. The
opening track, "From Our Front Porch," convey's this feeling beginning with a solo ukulele that gives way to Gibson's electric guitar followed by his raspy smoke filled vocals and held together with Dave Hadley's
haunting pedal steel. Track two, the powerful "Burning Horses," drives this theme of longing home with a Springsteen-esque mix of Gibson's electric guitar, pedal steel and accordion played by Brian Simms, giving
the track a Celtic edge and old world vibe. Gibson's lead' vocals echoed by Maddie Mae's chilling back up vocals will etch this tune in your sonic memory.
Mae's vocals are an essential ingredient on three tracks, particularly the duet "Low Country, High Wire." "Time Once Forgave" and "Noting Like it Was" explore this theme of aching for something lost further.
The closing track "The Long Good Night: Part II" is a slow burning instrumental of drums, bass and pedal steel that create a tapestry for Gibson to channel Mark Knophler with a decidedly country essence
punctuated by Hadley's pedal steel. All in all, Gibson has found his groove on Burning Horses which will certainly increase his following.
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James Filkins
Matthew Slotkin "Recovered Gems" 2025
By his Paris debut in April 1924, Andrés Segovia had persuaded composers such as Federico Moreno Torroba, Manuel de Falla, and Joaqui'n Turina to create new works for the guitar. Following the debut, even more
prominent composers of the time were eager to write for the now-legendary Spanish guitarist. The program on Matthew Slotkin’s Recovered Gems does precisely what its title suggests, featuring rarely performed pieces
from the Andrés Segovia Archive, a collection edited and published by guitarist and scholar Angelo Gilardino, who began organizing and cataloging materials at the Andrés Segovia Library in Linares, Spain, in 2001.
In addition to being an exceptional program, it represents a significant contribution to the solo guitar literature of the twentieth century. Slotkin rejuvenates and energizes these predominantly French and
French-inspired pieces from the 1920s and 1930s with a refreshing, less-is-more approach to interpretation. Spirit, enthusiasm, and admirable technique are abundant throughout the program, but with no urgency to
oversell; each piece in Slotkin’s capable hands is indeed a gem.
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David Pedrick
Kora Feder "Some Kind of Truth" 2025
You want heartache? You know, we all yearn for a little heartache, and Kora Feder serves it up with care and tenderness on Some Kind of Truth, her sophomore collection of nine self-penned tracks. The singer/songwriter
guitarist, coming of age in the Northern California folk music scene, covers a wide emotional palette, from nostalgia to aging, from love lost to a yearning for finding yourself, and for searching for your place in the
universe. There’s plenty of ache to be felt among these well-crafted poetic songs, but it’s the good ache, the kind of gnawing throb that makes us feel alive, vulnerable and living. A sure-handed fingerstylist on her
six-string acoustic, Feder rounds out her sound with a full band, but her plaintive, emotive vocals stay front and center. On track after track, her simple yet evocative lyrics stun with a force that belies their
sweet delivery.
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Fred Kraus