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Whether it was intended to be autobiographical in context or not, as a longtime Keene fan, I felt a poignant twinge when I first heard "Never Really Been Gone", track four on Isolation Party, in which he sings: "There was a time that I felt so jaded/

Let's just cut to the chase: East Of Yesterday is one heck of a good record. Sweet melodies, rockin' guitars, irresistible hooks, twangy steel and fiddle, knowing lyrics, and straight-ahead singing combine to form a string of fine songs propelled by a great sound. Hailing from New

Back in 1995, when Nick Lowe was promoting his last superb album, The Impossible Bird, he was asked during a taping of NPR's "Fresh Air" program if he felt his current songs carried less irony than his previous works. Amid some laughter, he responded that while

Gram Parsons left the Byrds after making Sweetheart Of The Rodeo in hopes of achieving a synthesis of country, soul and rock 'n' roll he dubbed "Cosmic American Music." He realized that vision twice -- first, with the Flying Burrito Brothers, on The Gilded Palace Of

With the release of this compilation, John Fahey's project label has returned to print the late-'20s recordings of Moran Lee "Dock" Boggs (18981971), the Appalachian singer and banjo player from western Virginia whose voice could curdle strong beer and whose preoccupations with violence and

These 32 tracks of deep, nearly-forgotten hill music represent a curious intersection of rural African-American and European-American sounds. Most folks interested in the roots of American music know that modern banjo evolved from an African gourd instrument, that the clawhammer style of playing can be traced back to the mother