In honor of the impending annual New Year’s Eve jam-band deluge, behold this compendium of fine recent records by actual musicians who almost entirely write their own songs and play their own instruments, sometimes for an extremely long time without stopping! Drugs or no drugs, how could a hippie go wrong?
ASSEMBLY OF DUST
The Honest Hour
(Hybrid Recordings live Western-swinging jam-band album)
DAKOTA/DAKOTA
Shoot in the Dark
(Arms Reach instrumental rural math-jam album)
HOMESTEAD & WOLFE
Our Times: The Gold Star Tapes 1973-75
(Anopheles semi-psychedelic folk-rock reissue)
JACKYL
Live at the Full Throttle Saloon
(Sanctuary redneck-metal live album)
GLENN JONES
This Is the Wind That Blows It Out
(Strange Attractors Audio House acoustic guitar solo album)
THE LIZARDS
Cold Blooded Kings
(Hyperspace heavy boogie album)
FRANK MARINO & MAHOGANY RUSH
RealLIVE !
(Just a Minute import blues-rock guitar-jam double live album)
REO SPEEDWAGON
The Essential REO Speedwagon
(Epic/Legacy ’70s-’90s riverboat-metal-to-stadium-pop reissue)
ROSETTA WEST
X Descendant
(Alive “savage and psychedelic blues” album)
SUN CITY GIRLS
Carnival Folklore Resurrection 13: 98.6 Is Death
(Abduction ethno-psychedelic found-sound collage-rock album)
SACRED STEEL INSTRUMENTALS
(Arhoolie ’90s-’00s sacred steel-guitar reissue compilation)
UNDER THE INFLUENCE: A JAM BAND TRIBUTE TO LYNYRD SKYNYRD
(Sanctuary Southern jam-rock compilation)