News Bits
- Joe Satriani 30th anniversary tour
- Dearly Departed: Shakey Graves’ New Video is On Solid Ground
- Gayle Force: A Crystal Gayle Exhibit Takes The Country Music Hall of Fame by Storm
- Still Angry After 35 Years: Veteran Punk Rockers, The Adolescents, to Release New Album, “La Vendetta”
- Steve Earle at The Crossroads: Veteran Musician to Release Blues Album
- Good for the Soul: Stax Records Reissues Two Classic Soul Collections
- Bob Dylan: From The Village to the Basement
- Billy Joe Shaver & Willie Nelson to Perform on Letterman
- Iconic Club Owner Eddie Wilson Puts Memorabilia Collection Up for Auction
- Ken Burns Addresses CMA Board: Filmmaker Working on Country Music Documentary
Country Music Pride
- Tune In Alert: Watch Jon Pardi Perform On ‘American Idol’ Finale May 19th
- Maddie & Tae To Release New Cover Of Diamond Rio’s “Meet In The Middle”
- ICYMI: Emily Ann Roberts Performs On The Voice
- Tegan Marie Puts Intergalactic Spin On Hometown Roots In New Video For “I Don’t Know What Is”
- The Music That Built Bedtime ‘Lullaby Renditions Of Miranda Lambert’ Due Out June 28th
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Conor Oberst playing in an old Presbyterian Cathedral
January 19, 2017 10:01 -
Joe Satriani 30th anniversary tour
March 9, 2016 23:03 -
The Ponderosa Stomp: America’s Roots Festival: Part I
November 5, 2015 01:11 -
CJ RAMONE & Strung Out Talk About “It’s Not Dead Fest”
October 9, 2015 22:10 -
The Final Track: Saying Goodbye to Recording Engineer Bob Sullivan
April 29, 2015 12:04
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Avanza:
I love Those Darlins! I missed them in Baltimore because their van broke down an -
Rich Lepp:
Cool, very cool. -
michael:
I like this music. Makes me want to drink beer again. Had to give that up for -
Carroll Price:
At a very young age, the Louvin Brother's singing and playing made a very strong -
Bob Ruttenberg:
This song is a major highlight for me in one of the best rock films ever made.
Archive for the ‘Music’ Category
Joe Satriani 30th anniversary tour
I was lucky enough to end up with a pair of tickets to see Joe Satriani at the Fox Performing Arts Center here in Riverside California a few weeks back. The Silver Surfer has long been an inspiration to me, a person who simply existed in my mind as legend. Meaning I sometimes forget he’s […]
The Ponderosa Stomp: America’s Roots Festival: Part I
Every music festival is unique. That being said, the Ponderosa Stomp in New Orleans is in a class by itself. Run in its entirety by the non-profit Ponderosa Stomp Foundation, and ensuring a quality-over-quantity approach by occurring only every-other year, the Stomp is equal parts music festival and historical society. It is dedicated to promoting […]
Wood, Wire & Words: Norman Blake’s New Album Touches the Roots of American Music
Norman Blake’s strings have helped shape the sound of America’s music. His guitar work has anchored artists as essential as Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan and Kris Kristofferson. He was a driving force of the bluegrass revival. His discography includes more than three dozen titles and his playing can be heard on the soundtrack of movies […]
The Hares Catch Fire With Their Debut Album, “Smoking in Bed”
Distinctive sounds and great music do not always go together. But the Sautex label has a nose for finding acts combining both, whether on the stage or in the recording studio. They do not disappoint with one of their newest finds, San Antonio roots rockers, The Hares. Their debut album, Smoking in Bed, offers twelve […]
Complicated Songs: James McMurtry’s “Complicated Games” Showcases a Master Storyteller.
By Jon Black (photo: Shane McCauley) The world James McMurtry paints through his songs is distinctive: a place of stark isolation, of desperate hope struggling against unbeatable odds and where tragedy and beauty make strange but eternal bedfellows. Little wonder his work has been praised by artists as diverse as John Mellencamp, Jason Isbell and […]
Never Past the Point of Rescue: Hal Ketchum Overcomes Challenges of MS to Release New Album
By Jon Black (Photos: Pete Lacker) At its heart, county music is about the struggles we face and our efforts to overcome them. Few artists know more about struggle than veteran country musician and songwriter Hal Ketchum. After his diagnosis with Multiple Sclerosis (MS) several years ago, Ketchum went into a self-imposed exile in the […]
Billy Joe Shaver – Long in the Tooth
I’m always excited about a new Billy Joe Shaver album – especially one with almost all new songs (“The Git Go” first appeared in 2012 on “Live at Billy Bob’s.”). This one even kicks off with a duet with Willie Nelson on “It’s Hard to be an Outlaw,” an enjoyable tune that sets up the […]
Cory Branan – The No-Hit Wonder
Cory Branan is a hard guy to peg, but he seems aware of that fact. His sound mixes enough influences that he called his last album, “Mutt.” While “Mutt” did showcase some strong songwriting, it simply didn’t cohere perfectly as an album. “The No-Hit Wonder” is a different beast. While there are still plenty of the […]
Glen Campbell Will “See You There” – The Rhinestone Cowboy’s Latest Album Still Sparkles.
By Jon Black That “See You There,” the new album by country legend Glen Campbell, exists at all is remarkable enough. Diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease in June 2011, there was wide expectation that “Ghost on the Canvas,” released the same year as Campbell’s diagnosis, would be the artist’s final album. With “See You There” Campbell […]
A Coffee Table Fable with Deer Tick
The night I first heard Deer Tick is the night I fell through a glass coffee table. For the past seven years the third weekend of October has been reserved for my annual “poker” trip, otherwise known as “Veiny Balloon Weekend”, which takes place somewhere along the Virginia/North Carolina border with seven lovable scoundrels with […]
Jason Isbell – “Southeastern”
Jason Isbell has seen some major changes in his life in the last couple of years — chief among them marriage and sobriety. If anything, those changes have been positive for Isbell as a songwriter. Listening to “Southeastern,” Guy Clark repeatedly comes to mind in terms of Isbell’s handle on the power of a lyric […]
Get Primitive with Daniel Bachman: Seven Pines Album Review
Daniel Bachman is an intriguing young artist. At 22 years old he is the torchbearer for American Primitivism, a little-known genre started by John Fahey in the late 50’s which is derived from the country blues and string band music of the 20’s and 30’s. Just to clarify, no real torches will be carried. Fahey […]
A Look at The Wild Feathers
“And I don’t know how I got this far down with the ceiling,” cries Taylor Burns, one of five vocalists for The Wild Feathers, on their first single, The Ceiling. However, with each opening set for Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson and Ryan Bingham, respectively, that ceiling–a retractable roof–opens wider to reveal the sky-high limit for […]
Wing and Hollow’s Signal Fire: EP Review
See the billowing smoke in that faraway clearing? Down below Jill and Haven Lamoureux are stoking the flame. Their Los Angeles-based band, Wing and Hollow, is trapped in the dense wilderness of criminally neglected Indie Rock. Signal Fire, their third EP, may change that. The EP opens with Cage a Bird, which was recorded at […]
