THROUGH THE LENS: Byron Bay Bluesfest and Rooster Walk 2024
This week’s column features two festivals at opposite ends of the world that were held over two holiday weekends: Australia’s Byron Bay Bluesfest on Easter weekend and Rooster Walk in Virginia over Memorial Day weekend.
Bluesfest has been covered for this column several times by Steve Ford, including
In ‘Traveling,’ A New View of Joni Mitchell That Peers Through Mythology
As singer-songwriters who began their careers in the 1960s go, Joni Mitchell is one of the more mythologized. Numerous books have been published about her, granted, but they typically follow the traditional biography route, as though examining and re-examining the same set of stories about her boyfriends and creative meanderings
ALBUM REVIEW: Gangstagrass Cooks Up a Summery Blend on ‘The Blackest Thing on the Menu’
Gangstagrass’ The Blackest Thing on the Menu is a summer record.
It hearkens back to the late ’90s, when a certain music reviewer was a teenager. It sounds like speeding aimlessly down country roads in a rusted old hatchback, windows down, cranking burned CDs through blown speakers. Thing is, it
FRESH TRACK: Luther Black and the Cold Hard Facts – 'Let the Light Back In'
Luther Black and the Cold Hard Facts combine elements of folk, blues, gospel, and rock on their gritty new single, "Let the Light Back In." The title track of their third album, it is a rousing tale of redemption and rebirth, a stirring song full of drama that
No Depression Sessions at WinterWonderGrass Tahoe: Two Runner
The third installment in our No Depression Session series from WinterWonderGrass finds us back at Shadyside Lounge on Lake Tahoe's West Shore for noontime mezcal beverages and a delicious performance by Two Runner. Northern California songwriter Paige Anderson and fiddler Emilie Rose bring the harmonies while bassist Sean
BONUS TRACKS: Lukas Nelson and POTR Announce Hiatus + More Music News
After 15 years as a band, Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real announced this week they’re going their separate ways, at least for a while. In a social media post, the band said they’ve “decided to take a well-earned hiatus, and begin a new creative chapter in