John Mellencamp - Trouble No More
John Mellencamp fought authority, authority usually won.
Still, Mellencamp was one of the few truly popular musical artists to protest George W. Bush's appointment to the presidency and the (then) gathering clouds of war with Iraq. "To Washington", a song Mellencamp made available for free download
Gillian Welch - Soul Journey
It may be that the greatest challenge an artist faces in the arc of a career is deciding when it's time to change direction.
The great ones seem to seize that moment. In the rock era, hallmarks remain the Beatles and Bob Dylan, both of whom established themselves
Rank and File - The Slash Years
Autobiography typically has no place in a record review, but let's make an exception here. There's no point in trying to sequester my evaluation of Rank And File's music from memories that are now (gulp!) twenty years old.
The time was 1983. The place
Earl Scruggs / Doc Watson / Ricky Skaggs - The Three Pickers
Count this recording of a December 2002 North Carolina concert as one of the dividends of O Brother, Where Art Thou? Without that soundtrack's reach into the PBS audience -- the show is being broadcast on the network's "Great Performances" series, and there's
Johnny Paycheck: 1938 to 2003
Obituary writers remembered Johnny Paycheck, who died February 18 at age 64, as an outlaw. For proof, most cited his 1977 hit version of David Allan Coe's "Take This Job And Shove It", for better or worse his signature tune. His peers praised his artistry. Yet
Howie Epstein: 1955 to 2003
For several years, hardly anyone in Santa Fe knew that Howie Epstein, longtime bass player for Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers, lived in the area. That changed in the summer of 2001 when Epstein and his longtime girlfriend Carlene Carter were arrested in Albuquerque for heroin possession.
Carter, daughter of