Alison Brown and Unbound Tradition
Alison Brown leans against a post at the back of the stage noodling on her banjo as the electric keyboard and full drum kit are placed onstage for the final show of Friday night. I sit down in my seat, and the man next to me mumbles something about drums
The Final Curtain: Elvis Way Down in The Jungle Room
Few American artists could claim territory in the national spirit like Elvis Presley. In a country where identity undergoes a constant process of multiplication and fluctuation, Elvis managed to pull everything together into a cohesive persona and performance. He was white with a black influence. He was masculine with a
Bruce Molsky, Spencer and Rains, and The Old Time Tiki Parlour
There is something special about kicking back in the comfort, peace, privacy and safety of your own home, flipping in a DVD and taking in music-video and audio. I do love live music and we pilgrim here and there to hear it and to play it. We go to
John John Brown and The Road Taken
Like the cat that has nine lives, John John Brown can claim some excellent survival skills. “During the middle of the recording of The Road, I fell down a 75 foot well and survived because my guitar broke my fall,” he says by way of introduction. That’s either an
The Tragically Hip Live Between Us
TORONTO -- I was seated in a small restaurant in my Toronto neighbourhood, fumbling with my tape recorder, nursing the latest in a succession of coffees and keeping an eye on the entrance. It hardly seems possible, but it was more than 15 years ago. I was waiting to interview The
The Appalachian String Band Festival in Clifftop, West Virginia
The Appalachian String Band Festival, in its 27th year, is known around the world as the preemiment event of its kind. If you listen to NPR, you got a taste of what it's all about when Noah Adams visted last week and did a piece for Morning Edition.