Evan Bartels' Complicated Relationship With His God
Listening to Evan Bartels (backed by his band, The Stoney Lonesomes) on his stellar debut album The Devil, God & Me calls to mind the words of his fellow Nebraskan Matthew Sweet, "I cannot understand my god/I don't know why it gets to me/One day
Carla Olson: ‘Gene Clark Taught Me So Many Things About Singing’
Carla Olson sang, played guitar, and was a leader of the highly respected Los Angeles-based rock band the Textones long before she met Gene Clark. Yet she credits the late Byrds singer for providing her with a musical education.
“Gene taught me so many things about singing,” Olson says, “He
A Jan & Dean Album That Should Have Stayed in the Vaults
Though never on a par with the Beach Boys, Jan & Dean had their moments. This wasn’t one of them. In fact, my first reaction when I heard Filet of Soul Redux echoed the famous opening line of Greil Marcus’s review of Bob Dylan’s Self-Portrait: “What is
Prime Prine
On Sept. 23, 1978, John Prine rolled into Chicago’s Park West for an evening of rollicking rock and roll. Although the night’s performance was captured on tape, the recordings languished, lost in Prine’s basement, for the next 40 years. On Record Store Day in April 2015, Oh
Portland, Oregon Singer-Songwriter's 5th Album Has A Unifying Spirit
Portland-based Americana singer-songwriter and acoustic guitar/harmonica player John Craigie has put together a basically fine collaboration with musician-friends on his “No Rain, No Rose” 13-song collection. To my ears, the majority of the songs are of a high quality and the performances are stellar. But there are some issues,
Al Green's Gospel on Film
Al Green is a man possessed. That should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever witnessed Green live. The spirits dwelling in that shelter come pouring out when Green opens his mouth. You can see and hear them fighting for dominance, tumbling over one another in their rush