A Desperado Waiting for a Train: Talking with Tamara Saviano about Guy Clark
Very few music biographies or music memoirs tell compelling stories in a spellbinding way. Most of these books flit fitfully across our view, scattering ephemeral bits in their wake, and leaving few memories of the lives and art of the artists.
Then along comes a music biography—well, it’s
Ray Charles' Atlantic Box
He could get more out of a moan than many singers could wring out of a career. Ray Charles was the voice of pain, agony set to music that bared his soul and exposed his genius to the world.
Rhino Records has resurrected Charles' early years on Atlantic with
Bob Dylan, "Tell Me, Momma," Live at the Royal Albert Hall
In 1966, Bob Dylan’s career had skyrocketed over the earth. Mary Campbell summed up what had happened in a lede that contains multitudes: “1965 was the big folk-rock year in pop music and slightly built, shy-spoken, gritty-voiced Bob Dylan was the big man of the year.
The High Flight and Quick Descent of Tower Records
All Things Must Pass – The Rise and Fall of Tower Records
Filmrise Studios, 2016
A five year fall from billion dollar sales to bankruptcy is a startling denouement, but not the message of Colin Hanks’ documentary on Tower Records. At the heart of the story is founder Russ Solomon, the
An Album of Inspired Covers From Former John Prine Lead Guitarist
I am usually apprehensive when I open an independent artist’s album and there is a cover of a famous song. But, this time, finding a collection with virtually every track a cover didn’t make me cringe – it made me curious. The artist is either completely insane, not creative,
Chely Wright Talks Emmylou, Rodney, and "I Am the Rain"
Country singer, guitarist, and songwriter Chely Wright’s coming out as a lesbian in May of 2010 not only liberated a woman from a secret she’d held since she was eight years old; it inflamed preexisting concerns within Music Row about promoting an openly gay artist. Wright was, after