Grant Alden

What a difference a few thousand dollars can make. Originally recorded three short years ago by an unknown North Carolina band as the debut offering from an unknown North Carolina label (Mood Food), Faithless Street had about it the raw, scared urgency of a band that wanted desperately to get

One can only spend so many minutes kneeling on the floor, slipping CDs in and out of the player, before the subtle nuances fade into irrelevance. Lucinda Williams' third album has been remastered for reintroduction into the digital world, and is doubtless the better for that attention; certainly the

With the success of Charley Pride, major labels were, however briefly, emboldened to look for black country talent. Stoney Edwards was all three, a multi-ethnic artist whose resume included bootlegging, major health problems, and a lifetime of hard, honest work. Born in Seminole, Oklahoma (but discovered at a Bay Area

Prodigies rarely prove out, mostly burn out, the bright, fast flame of youth replaced by smoldering charcoal and endless dates before the Paducah Ladies' Performance Society. Mark O'Connor started winning fiddle contests before he could drive, toured and recorded with the best Nashville has to offer, and

Artists tend to work over safety nets that appear suspiciously like a charred mattress, hose-soaked at the edge of an unmowed lawn, a crowd on the corner standing and pointing. Reasons to fail, these are. Reasons to quit, to borrow from Willie Nelson. Excuses. There's safety in that,