Finding America’s Musical History Along the Mississippi River
In 2015, I set out on a journey down the Mississippi River with my music partner Joe Seamons. The year before, Joe and I had started working on a musical project exploring old and obscure American roots songs. But to interpret the music truly and justly, we couldn’t just
Justin Townes Earle Shines at Historic Ryman Auditorium
You could have heard a pin drop most of the night at the Mother Church of Country Music as Justin Townes Earle turned in a mesmerizing, enrapturing performance. I've seen Justin enough in concert now--most recently at Bell's Brewery in Kalamazoo in May, last time at
Hell Is Naked With Mean Mary James
I’ve just watched footage of Mean Mary James as a six-year-old singing “Long Tall Texan” live on the Country Boy Eddie TV Show back in ‘86. Wide brimmed hat, guitar larger than her torso, a drawl and a charm and a stage presence buoyed by a fascinating mix of
Jerry Rubin: From Yippie to Yuppie
Fifty years ago this week (Aug. 23-26, 1968), Jerry Rubin, Abbie Hoffman, and many others organized The Festival of Life in Chicago on the eve of the Democratic National Convention. Coming at the end of an already violent year — with the killing of Martin Luther King Jr. in April and
LSD: (L)ucinda Williams, (S)teve Earle, (D)wight Yoakam in Nashville
The thing one notices about Nashville these days is the confusing amount of construction and the cranes that litter its skyline. So it was quite a juxtaposition to drive into a town with near empty streets, deserted by any reasonable standard. Yes, I know the public schools had just replenished
The Poetry of Democracy: Rosa Parks, Jesse Jackson, and Aretha Franklin
“When American leadership boasts of exporting democracy,” a regal and majestic Jesse Jackson, wearing a three piece suit behind an ornate pulpit declared, “They do not talk of Jeffersonian democracy.” Any system that includes the enslavement of citizens with a certain skin pigmentation, the subjugation of women, and the disenfranchisement