Charlie Faye & the Fayettes
Charlie Faye & the Fayettes
“Musically, the group hearkens to Motown, Spector or the Brill Building: Charlie is emerging as a budding Carole King, and the songs are good enough to rate comparison to Goffin & King or Mann & Weil.” – Huffington Post
“In a world of new soul singers who actually get what they’re talking about, enter the name of Charlie Faye and her unbeatable Fayettes to that list. They could go all the way.” – Bill Bentley, The Morton Report
“The album stretches beyond the coy boundaries of ‘60s girl groups with the opener ‘Green Light,’ and though ‘Eastside’ could usher dancers down a Soul Train line, its Stax-styled groove and horn chart service a serious look at social gentrification.” – No Depression
“It’s impossible not to be enchanted by one of this year’s freshest, most delightful and all around grooviest releases.” – American Songwriter
Suzanne Redfearn
Suzanne Redfearn
Suzanne Redfearn is an award-winning and bestselling American author known for her emotionally resonant and character-driven novels. Before becoming a successful full-time writer, she had a diverse career path that included working as a commercial and residential architect, graphic designer, and copywriter. Her journey to becoming a novelist, which she began in her 30s, was self-taught and motivated by a desire to explore moral themes through fiction. This approach often involves exploring ethical dilemmas with no easy answers, leading to deeply moving and thought-provoking stories.
Redfearn’s writing style is noted for its ability to create heartfelt and emotional narratives, often featuring protagonists facing immense challenges. Readers frequently praise her ability to craft complex characters and build intense plots that keep them engaged. She draws inspiration from real people and relationships, often observing conversations while writing in cafes to capture authentic human experiences. This method helps create stories that feel both realistic and impactful, prompting readers to consider what they might do in similar difficult situations.
Suzanne Redfearn’s novel Call of the Camino is inspired by Redfearn’s own experience walking the Camino de Santiago pilgrimage route in Spain. The book explores themes of love, loss, and self-discovery. The novel was released on October 1, 2025.
2024 – Where Butterflies Wander — The moving story of a family grappling with grief and a woman with the power to help them through it–or stand in their way. (Goodreads) Told uniquely by six characters, each have a voice worth hearing. – Ed.
A 2020 favorite – Hadley & Grace — Two women. Three kids. One unforgettable journey.
One of the characters in the story is based on a special resident of Laguna Beach, Ca. — see article about Skipper Carrillo
Suzanne Redfearn, in addition to being an author, is also an architect specializing in residential and commercial design. She lives in Laguna Beach, California, where she and her husband own two restaurants: Lumberyard and Slice Pizza and Beer.
Lake Street Dive
Lake Street Dive
Lake Street Dive is a multigenre band that was founded in 2004 in Boston, Massachusetts. The band’s original members are Rachael Price (lead vocals), Mike “McDuck” Olson (trumpet, guitar), Bridget Kearney (upright bass), and Mike Calabrese (drums). Akie Bermiss (keyboards) joined the band on tour in 2017 and is on their 2018 album. Lake Street Dive started at the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston.[1] The band was named after a street with many dive bars in Olson’s hometown of Minneapolis, Minnesota. The band tours in North America, Australia, and Europe from their base in Brooklyn.
James Crumley
in memorium
Crumley was the quintessential novelist for post Vietnam War America. His disillusion was equal to his romantic streak, the both of them stoked by abundant appetites and consumption of just about every substance under the sun. He was a slumming poet in the vein of his icon, Chandler, and a consummate writer’s writer, capable of more feeling and more beauty in a sentence than many authors could fit into a book. Ask your favorite crime writer for a list of their most admired books and the odds are you’ll find The Last Good Kiss or some other adventure from the C.W. Sughrue or Milo Milodragovitch series among them.
(Crimereads)
A special crime novel 
A look at Vietnam
Nataniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats
Nataniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats
Nathaniel David Rateliff is an American singer and songwriter based in Denver, whose influences are described as folk, Americana and vintage rhythm & blues. Rateliff has garnered attention with Nathaniel Rateliff & the Night Sweats, the soulful R&B combo he formed in 2013. Wikipedia
His record label includes this in his notes:
Like his heroes, Rateliff has always been an omnivorous listener and player. Growing up in Hermann, Missouri, a small town with a booming tourism industry as well as a rampant meth epidemic, he started his music career playing in his family’s band at church, but that came to a tragic end when his father was killed in a car accident. Music became an obsession for him and his friends. “We would walk around these deserted country roads and talk about music all the time, how it can change the world and how it could change our world,” recalls Night Sweats bassist Joseph Pope III. “Music was what we thought would save us.”
Lukas Nelson & Promise of the Real
Lukas Nelson
“In case you didn’t know, Willie Nelson has a son. His name is Lukas Nelson.
Lukas Nelson has long been better known for being the son of a country music legend than for the music he’s made, but that’s changing.
With the release last summer (2023) of their eighth album, “Sticks and Stones,” Nelson and his band, Promise of the Real, are affirming their identity as musicians who can play just about anything, from rock to country.
“I’m discovering more who I am in every album. And this album is completely who I am,” Nelson says in an interview on his website. (Michael Shapiro, The Press Democrat)
