The Lost Tradition of Black String Bands
It is a summer day in 1975, and 76-year-old DeFord Bailey, the legendary harmonica pioneer of the Grand Ole Opry, is sitting on the porch outside his apartment entertaining visitors. Today he has decided not to play the harp, and has brought out a five-string banjo, which
Paul Brewster - Won't lose Ricky's number
Paul Brewster, tenor singer and guitar player with Ricky Skaggs & Kentucky Thunder, wants to be clear -- very clear. "I haven't got any plans to leave Ricky," he says. "I don't want people to get the idea I'm going out on
Neil Cleary - A less cautious tunesmith
"I've been around long enough, trying different things, and kind of hanging in the background, watching how things go, and now that I'm finally putting my chips on the table -- it feels cool."
So says singer, songwriter and multi-threat musician Neil Cleary, who
Jesse Sykes & The Sweet Hereafter - Dark, mossy energy
Shortly after singer-songwriter Jesse Sykes met guitarist Phil Wandscher, they took an off-road trip near Stevens Pass, Washington, getting lost on a rugged logging road in a downpour as darkness fell. "I was scared, but I was so in the midst of falling in love that I
Hank Williams III - The third man
"Lord, honey, you're a ghost," Minnie Pearl said when she first met Hank Williams III. I have the same reaction; he looks so much like his grandfather that it is unnerving. Tall and lanky, with sunken cheeks and keenly intelligent eyes, he is Hank Sr.'
Freddy Fender - The ballad of Baldemar Huerta
You saw my picture in the Corpus Christi Tribune. Underneath it, it said, "A man with no alibi."
-- Bob Dylan
I'm just a popular singer.
-- Freddy Fender
El Be Bop Kid is not a kid anymore. "Shit, I'm almost 65," he says,