All Aboard the Blues and Gospel Train
These days, the blues is pretty much universally acknowledged as integral to the world’s music DNA. Even ad-men get it. But, fifty years ago, when a bunch of English white kids with names like Clapton, Jagger, Jones, and Page first fell in love with the music they were
Tyler Childers – Live On Red Barn Radio II
I’ve said before that Kentucky has a prospering music scene these days with both up-and-coming talents, such as Tyler Childers, to so-called “country music saviors” like Sturgill Simpson and the great Chris Knight. On May 1, 2014 Tyler Childers officially released his second EP, Live On
Australian Band T-Bones' New Album Was Indeed a Long Time Coming
When I joined the T-Bones back in the early 1990s, I was appalled to discover they couldn’t play covers. What sort of “country band”--genuinely from the country, to boot--could not fill a night with country and western classics, rockabilly, Cash covers, and so on? At the
Willy Porter's Classic Album Dog Eared Dream
It was 1996 and I was a senior in high school. As a huge fan of Tori Amos, I was determined not to miss her Pittsburgh performance at the Benedum. Back then, if you wanted to get tickets to a concert, you had to camp out, wait in lines and
The Everly Brothers - Songs Our Daddy Taught Us
2014 expanded reissue of the Everlys' deepest roots
The Everly Brothers second full-length album is extraordinary in many different ways. In addition to its basic triumph as roots music, its exposition of traditional folk and country songs was a nervy artistic statement by a duo that was helping
The Bigotry toward Americana
Last year Giovanni Russonello took to the Atlantic magazine to draw a narrow line from Bob Dylan's "Americanarama Festival of Music" showcase and the lack of diversity in the genre overall. ("Why Is a Music Genre Called 'Americana' So Overwhelmingly White and Male?