You and Me, Cassidy
The first time I ever heard the words "Grateful Dead" were in the same breadth as Workingman's Dead. I was a nerdy nine or ten year old but curious and quizzical with a tendency to ask others older than me what they liked. Maybe I was
Lavish Expansion of 1968 and 1970 Woody Guthrie Tribute Concerts
Bear Family’s lavish three CD, two book set collects material from two live tribute shows, featuring performances by Arlo Guthrie, Pete Seeger, Judy Collins, Bob Dylan (his first appearance after his motorcycle accident), Odetta, Joan Baez, Richie Havens, Jack Elliott, Country Joe McDonald, Tom Paxton and Earl Robinson, along
Bird in the Belly Premiere New Song "Horace in Brighton"
Poetry is often a source of inspiration for songwriters, offering up perspectives on rythym and imagery that aren't necessarily found in traditional songwriting. For British folk group Bird in the Belly, that inspiration is integral to their own songwriting, so much so that their new song "Horace
Sousa Saw it Coming
My wife Annie sent me an interesting column, written by Kat Eschner for Smithsonian.com. It was about none other than the fantastic military marching music maker himself, John Philip Sousa. The inspiration of the Sousaphone (which everyone knows is the hybrid of a tuba and helicon -- what the
The Road Goes On Forever
Somewhere last night, a child was born while his dad was at a gig. A wife worried at home, anxious about her husband on the road. A teenage boy looked into the stands to see if his father had managed to get to the big game. A daughter wished she
Carlene Carter Will Never Forget Linda Ronstadt at the Troubadour
Carlene Carter tells me she’s “always been a rockin’ country kinda woman,” and who can argue with that assessment?
Carter, the daughter of June Carter Cash and stepdaughter of Johnny Cash, has repeatedly stepped out of the mystique of her country music family and done things her own way.