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Henry Carrigan

Chip Taylor's Sly Humor Gets at Human Truths on ‘Whiskey Salesman’

Chip Taylor's Sly Humor Gets at Human Truths on ‘Whiskey Salesman’

Chip Taylor tells engaging stories of love and lessons learned from hard drinking and gambling. Best known for writing “Wild Thing” and “Angel of the Morning,” Taylor knows how to draw us into a song, to drive us around its curves with a nod and wink, and to deliver the

New Collection Shows the Many Sides of John Hartford

New Collection Shows the Many Sides of John Hartford

This has been a good year for John Hartford fans. In the summer of 2018, Hartford’s daughter, Katie Harford Hogue, assisted by fiddler Matt Combs and musicologist and musician Greg Reish, compiled and narrated John Hartford’s Mammoth Collection of Fiddle Tunes (StuffWorks Press Inc.), an astonishing anthology of

Rosie Flores' 'Simple Case of the Blues' Showcases Depth of Playing and Influences

Rosie Flores' 'Simple Case of the Blues' Showcases Depth of Playing and Influences

Rosie Flores is one the top ten guitarists playing today, and on her new album she displays her versatility and her pure, clear, always-on-the-note playing. Produced by Charlie Sexton, Kenny Vaughan, and Dave Roe — all of whom also play on the album — Simple Case of the Blues illustrates Flores’ ability

THE READING ROOM: Going Off the Rails with Whiskeytown

THE READING ROOM: Going Off the Rails with Whiskeytown

Thomas O’Keefe tells a great story, and he has plenty of them to share with us in his bumptious, roaring, swooping roller-coaster-ride account of his years with the enfant terrible of alt-country, Ryan Adams. O’Keefe, now the tour manager for Weezer, was the tour manager for Whiskeytown from

Nashville Songwriters Tell the Stories behind Their Songs

Nashville Songwriters Tell the Stories behind Their Songs

Books by and about songwriters are too few and far between. There are notable exceptions, such as Steve Dorff’s recent I Wrote That One, Too: A Life in Songwriting from Willie to Whitney (Backbeat Books). Dorff’s engaging memoir focuses not just on the details of his life; he

Jeff Tweedy Invites Us into His Life

Jeff Tweedy Invites Us into His Life

This fall, one music memoir stands above the gelatinous glut of words that have oozed onto bookshelves and into our lives. Jeff Tweedy’s Let’s Go (So We Can Get Back): A Memoir of Recording and Discording with Wilco, Etc. — the main title is a phrase his father used

Dreaming Our Dreams of Dylan

Dreaming Our Dreams of Dylan

In what is likely Shakespeare’s final play, The Tempest, Prospero, the great magician who has controlled much of the play’s action, reminds us of the razor-thin line between our waking life and our sleeping life: “We are such stuff / As dreams are made on; and our little life