My First Vinyl: Seattle Old-Time String Band The Hurricane Ridgerunners
The first vinyl I bought for myself was at the wonderful, tiny record store House of Records in Eugene, Oregon. I bought it because I saw my friend Jerry Gallaher on the cover. I’d been playing music at French-Canadian jam sessions in Seattle with Jerry and loved his
Bittersweet by Kasey Chambers: Beer, Music, and Place
The stereotypes swirling around Australia often have the effect of mythologizing the country while also tempting the mind to view it in offensively cartoonish terms. Negative stereotypes of Australians are unabashedly floated, and unfortunate images of overly laid-back, borderline alcoholics pervert the perspectives of those who have never been
Steam Punk Fred Eaglesmith
Even though I wasn't yet familiar with Fred Eaglesmith, I am extremely glad I made it to this show, because this was a night of fabulous music that left me smiling until I went to work the following morning.
Currently touring as the Fred Eaglesmith Traveling Steam Show,
A New "Stupid Heart" Brings out the Best in Shawn Mullins
On the gray March days between winter and spring, Shawn Mullins recorded My Stupid Heart in the Tennessee foothills outside of Nashville. His first album in five years is a new beginning for the Georgia singer-songwriter who is singing with a voice that is stronger without cigarettes, writing from
The Unsettling World of Dillard Chandler
"Stark" doesn’t even begin to describe the singing of Appalachian balladeer Dillard Chandler. "Otherworldly" might be a better descriptor. His singing sounds outside of our modern reality, so deeply rooted in the past that it’s almost exotic. Folk revival icon John Cohen certainly felt
Bob Dylan, "Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window?" (Take 1)
“Can You Please Crawl Out Your Window” is one of my favorite Dylan songs, with its tumbling wild rhymes and the intense, excited, almost-shouted challenges. It’s a song that never found a home on an album in 1965 or 1966, but works as a bridge – or maybe an