new dog old trick

Shout! Live
Mike Farris: Shout! Live
Saw Farris live in October at the Loveless Barn as part of a live radio show. I had never heard of him before that night. Strong live performer and this CD captures that live energy pretty well. (****)

Richard Thompson - Live from Austin, TX
Richard Thompson: Richard Thompson - Live from Austin, TX
I've been on a bit of a Richard Thompson kick lately. I've seen him live twice in the past 18 months and have been impressed both by his skill as a guitar player as well as a songwriter. Clearly an artist who should be better known. (****)

Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women
Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women: Dave Alvin and the Guilty Women
Solid new CD from Dave Alvin. Interesting decision to put together an all women's version of the Guilty Men. Good songs and good musicians. Cindy Cashdollar is a stellar steel and slide guitar player. (****)

Best of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys
Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys: Best of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys
A compilation of great music from Steve Riley, David Greeley and band mates. A great, great band. (*****)

Secret, Profane and Sugarcane
Elvis Costello: Secret, Profane and Sugarcane
Outstanding CD. I'm a bit biased by seeing Costello and the band on this CD (full of great Nashville players like Jerry Douglas) play a stellar concert at the Ryman Auditorium in June which combined most of the songs on this CD with lots of great stuff from the Costello catalog. (*****)

Sonny Landreth: Grant Street
Very good live album - good sampler of Landreth's work from a number of his CDs plus a couple of cuts that I don't think he has ever released on a studio CD. The first live CD from the premier slide guitar player. (*****)

Sonny Landreth: The Road We're On
This is one of last year's CDs that somehow got shuffled to the side for a while...now it is in constant rotation on my iPod and on the car CD player. Landreth is the king of slide guitar players (imho) and this is a solid effort. Not his best maybe, but overall quite good. (****)

Verne Harnish: Mastering the Rockefeller Habits: What You Must Do to Increase the Value of Your Growing Firm
Tremendous tool kit for managing a high growth venture. Practical, tested, extremely useful. No fluff, no b.s., just stuff you can put to work right away. (*****)

John Mullins and Randy Komisar: Getting to Plan B: Breaking Through to a Better Business Model
Solid book on how to get from an initial venture concept to a workable and sustainable business model. One of the first books to really pin down a concrete definition of what comprises a business model. I don't think their definition is sufficient as it is entirely quantitative/financial, but everything they identify is clearly necessary. Also a great discussion on the iterative process that many (most?) startups go through to find a successful business model. Great examples from real businesses in every chapter. (*****)

John Mullins: The new business road test: What entrepreneurs and executives should do before writing a business plan (2nd Edition)
Essential. Provides a complete methodology for evaluating business ideas to determine if they are actually good opportunities. Great examples from real companies. I can't recommend this book too highly. (*****)

Michael Barone: Our First Revolution: The Remarkable British Upheaval That Inspired America's Founding Fathers
Interesting read on the English Glorious Revolution. This is a period I wasn't really that familiar with other than the broad strokes so lots of new information. Also interesting discussion of how some of the roots of the American revolution can be traced to this period. (****)

Walter Isaacson: Einstein: His Life and Universe
Well written treatment of both the life and science of Einstein. The science is pitched at a level for the general reader - specialists need to look elsewhere. Isaacson has a nice feel for the whole Einstein, warts and all. Isaacon's Benjamin Franklin bio from a couple of years ago was good - this one is better. (*****)

Amity Shlaes: The Forgotten Man: A New History of the Great Depression
Excellent revisionist history of the Great Depression. Very well written. Also a much more thoughtful treatment of the period without the usual FDR hero worship. Really reinforces how much everyone was a bit out of their depth in dealing with the early stages of the depression as well as how much of the later stages of the depression were really caused by badly flawed policies on the part of FDR's government. (*****)

Doris Kearns Goodwin: Team of Rivals: The Political Genius of Abraham Lincoln
A great, great read from so many different perspectives. Great addition to Civil War and Lincoln canons. But also as good a book on leadership and management as you will find on the shelves of the business section. Highly readable and insightful. (*****)

Peter F. Drucker: The Daily Drucker : 366 Days of Insight and Motivation for Getting the Right Things Done
Drucker is simply indispensable and this is perhaps the most digestible collection of Drucker wisdom available. It makes a great introduction to Drucker for those who don't know of his work (is there such a person?). It makes a great reminder for those of us who read Drucker years ago and have forgotten the depth and breadth of the insight that this first great management thinker possessed (and continues to possess!). (*****)

John Steele Gordon: Empire of Wealth, An : The Epic History of American Economic Power
Solid survey of the business and economic history of America. Lots of material not covered in your typical history books or course work. (****)