Gary Dretzka

Here's a rundown of recent releases that do an exemplary job of packaging classic or rare recordings from the past for CD listeners. Various artists For the Love ofHarry--Everybody Sings...

Various country Hillbilly Fever: Vol. 1-5 (Rhino) (star) (star) (star) 1/2 In defining hard-core country music for this delightful collection, the enterprising archivists at Rhino have drawn a crooked line...

Pitching coach Fergie Jenkins is getting a lot of the credit for the surprising showing by the Cubs' young pitching staff early this season. They have the lowest combined earned-run...

As Cubs coaches huddled around a video monitor Saturday afternoon to study tape of the final nervous moments of Friday night's 7-3 victory, it was clear that little was going...

If baseball impresario Bill Veeck were still alive, it would be fun to ask him what the California Angels should do to attract fans, now that the Walt Disney Co....

Beverly Hills talent czar Michael Ovitz, rumored to be a candidate for nearly every high-level studio job that becomes available these days, may not have gotten top billing Tuesday but...

John Prine Lost Dogs and Mixed Blessings (Oh Boy) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR) 1/2 If anyone is having more fun making music these days than John Prine, it would be a treat to...

Butch Hancock Eats Away the Night (Sugar Hill) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR) 1/2 Robert Earl Keen No Kinda Dancer (Sugar Hill) (STAR)(STAR)(STAR) Renaissance buckeroo Butch Hancock-an artist, photographer, physicist and white-water rafter of...

Various artists The Prestige/Folklore Series 1-4 (Prestige/Folklore Series)(star) (star) (star) Fans of '60s folk music, especially those who have worn out their copies of Rhino's "Troubadours of the Folk Era"...

Terry Allen Lubbock (on everything) (Sugar Hill) (star) (star) 1/2 This re-issue of a hard-to-get 1979 album is intended to introduce Lubbock singer-songwriter Terry Allen to a new audience of...