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From the late '60s to the early '70s, music made in the South achieved a convergence that put pop, rock, blues, soul, country and gospel all on the same page. As the key areas of Memphis, Muscle Shoals, Macon and Nashville moved in a unified groove; listeners could

By way of introduction: Quasi is one of the best bands in existence today. According to me. So there! Sam Coomes is the primary singer and songwriter in Quasi, but the abilities of drummer/singer/songwriter Janet Weiss can not possibly be overestimated, because Quasi is a band. And so

As though more evidence were needed, this reissue makes plain the fascinating consequences of the folk revival. Jody Stecher came of age during the second-wave revival of the '60s, taking Ralph Rinzler's slot as mandolinist in the Greenbrier Boys and then joining David Grisman in the New

Neil Young's 29th album begins to describe itself, not far from its end. "The flash of a distant camera, reconnecting thoughts and actions...Fragments of our missing dream, pieces from here and there...Fall in place along the line, disappearing between you and me..." A Neil

Depending on how you keep track -- that is, depending on how tight you want to wear your documentarian-geek beanie -- Transcendental Blues is Steve Earle's tenth album. Beginning in 1986, he blew the doors off Nashville with Guitar Town, blew their cover with Exit 0, and blew

Indulging his discursive wont, Greil Marcus breaks from Invisible Republic's examination of Dylan's storied Basement Tapes to excavate the remains of a forgotten frontier town, Smithville. Peopled by card sharks and confidence men, vengeful lovers and bewildered cuckolds, bombastic holy men and salt-of-the-earth farmers, Smithville is