John Trudell - Bone Days
John Trudell is one of the few recording artists who would include a review by the FBI among the blurbs in his press material -- right between kind words from Bonnie Raitt and a rave from the LA Weekly. "Extremely eloquent," some unidentified G-man wrote. Somehow it'
Waylon Jennings - Phase One: The Early Years 1958-1964
Release of this glance at the formative years of Waylon Jennings' career was slated well before anyone knew the disc would arrive just after the sad news of his passing. The timing only makes hearing these sides, recorded for a variety of labels long before the Outlaw years, all
Down From The Mountain - Rupp Arena (Lexington, KY)
Outside Rupp Arena, scalpers were asking as much as $125 a ticket for the sold-out opening date of the Down From The Mountain tour. A few years back, the only Rupp event that could have commanded such a price was a University of Kentucky basketball game. Lately, though, even
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