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Mike Seely

Every Song Counts on Dori Freeman’s Sparkling ‘Every Single Star’

Every Song Counts on Dori Freeman’s Sparkling ‘Every Single Star’

Teddy Thompson has produced albums by both Dori Freeman — all of hers, in fact —and a more established twangy redhead, Allison Moorer. The latter woman's song, "A Soft Place to Fall," was the centerpiece of a scene in The Horse Whisperer in which Robert Redford and

Left for Dead, Chicago’s Carol’s Pub Reopens and Reclaims its Niche

Left for Dead, Chicago’s Carol’s Pub Reopens and Reclaims its Niche

I've eaten three fried-bologna sandwiches in my lifetime, each of them in Illinois. The first was in Diane Rhodes' apartment at the Samuel Gompers Homes, the oldest public housing development in East St. Louis. Rhodes' teenage son, Tommie Liddell Jr., and his friend, Mark Howlett, had

Ruthie Foster & Sunny Sweeney Trump Hate With Pink Power

Ruthie Foster & Sunny Sweeney Trump Hate With Pink Power

These are demoralizing times for most Americans, and it's at such historical junctures that music is most potent and therapeutic. Ruthie Foster couldn't have known it as she was recording her deeply satisfying new album, Joy Comes Back, but the tune "Working Woman" is

Ray Wylie Hubbard's Memoir Has No Quit in It

Ray Wylie Hubbard's Memoir Has No Quit in It

I’m not the biggest fan of Ray Wylie Hubbard’s music. I mean, I’m a fan, just not the biggest. Therefore, when I tell you that his economical, cleverly structured memoir, A Life...Well, Lived (Bordello Records, 174 pages, with Thom Jurek editing), is among the most compelling

With Nashville in the Rearview, Artists Thrive Elsewhere

With Nashville in the Rearview, Artists Thrive Elsewhere

Don Forgey was in his mid-20s when he met 18-year-old Kathy Ackerman at Washington state’s Whistlin’ Jack Lodge, a Depression-era hostelry in the woods east of Mount Rainier that’s named for a giant, noisy squirrel (the hoary marmot). Forgey, now 62, had just finished touring Canada with a

James McMurtry's Continental Riffs

James McMurtry's Continental Riffs

James McMurtry sits at the counter of an Austin diner called Snack Bar, its exterior illuminated by a giant neon phallus announcing the name of the adjoining motel. As he drinks red wine, he briefly discusses his hobbies, of which there aren’t many. He likes to fish and hunt,

Zoe Muth's Been Gone, But She Makes It Up to Seattle

Zoe Muth's Been Gone, But She Makes It Up to Seattle

Autumn rolled into Seattle in a very wet way last night, soaking the picnic tables and flatbed stage which comprise the outdoor performance space at Slim’s Last Chance Chili Shack. Located on the industrial outskirts of Georgetown, Slim’s is as close as Seattle gets to a genuine South