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Map Of Wyoming - Beating the retreat

A round trip, indeed -- not to mention rather long and a little bit strange. Dale Duncan -- self-proclaimed "art director" of the collective known as Map Of Wyoming, whose self-released debut CD is titled Round Trip -- truly has come full circle. Point A, circa 1984, was

Michael Hurley - Primary Colors

No matter the circumstance, Michael Hurley is a quintessential practitioner of the less-is-more dictum. As a writer of riveting and timeless songs, his phrases are short and potent, in service to verses at once elegantly concise and mysteriously layered. In conversation he favors one-word answers, though if he's

Love Always, Patsy: Patsy Cline's Letters To A Friend

In the fall of 1955, Patsy Cline struck up a correspondence with Treva Miller, a teenage country music fan from Tennessee, who wrote offering to set up a fan club. Cline, who'd just released her first single, "A Church, A Courtroom And Then Goodbye", the previous

Tom Waits - Beacon Theatre (New York City, NY)

We are waiting. The light...cuts through the darkened hall, twists, turns...searching for something. It swoops to the rear door, finds its spot. Into the light slides the 13-years-absent Mr. Waits, entourage behind him, pushing up the aisle now, toward the stage, bullhorn in hand, bantamweight champion of the

Gram Parsons Tribute - Sessions At West 54th (New York City. NY)

Billed as "Emmylou Harris, the Mavericks and more," this taping for the PBS series "Sessions At West 54th" promised a considerable range of possibilities as to who "more" would be. Waiting in line to get in, it seemed everyone either thought they knew or

Charlie Walker - Pick Me Up On Your Way Down

It's a neat coincidence that this collection arrived on my doorstep just days after I heard that Procter & Gamble, maker of Charmin toilet paper, was going to resurrect Mr. Whipple, the long-retired character who pitched the brand. For those not old enough to remember, Mr. Whipple'

Bob Dylan - Bob Dylan's Greatest Hits, Vol II

As the '60s bled into the '70s, Bob Dylan evinced a growing discomfort with his persona. Whether fueled by the lingering effects of a near-fatal motorcycle accident, an increasing dissatisfaction with the masks of stardom, or a general sentiment in the air, the artist became obsessed with stripping