There’s often an assumption that albums born later in an artist’s life are reflective by default – gentler, perhaps, more reserved and content to look backward rather than push forwards. But Never Too Late, the latest release from Bruce Rosenblum, doesn’t quite follow that script. While it certainly carries the breadth of life experience, it also feels quietly exploratory, as though the act of returning to songwriting has opened as many doors as it has revisited.

This is definitely a songwriter’s record: guitar, voice and story are leading the way, but it doesn’t take long to realize that Rosenblum is less interested in staying within the traditional boundaries of the form than in stretching them. Folk and folk-rock may provide the foundation here, but the album moves easily through jazz inflected passages, country leaning textures and moments shaped by a classical sensibility. It’s not genre hopping for its own sake; rather, it feels like a natural extension of a musical language built over time. Continue reading →