Various Artists - The Excello Story: Vols. 1-4
In 1957, Nashville-based Excello Records released a doo-wop record called "Little Darlin'" by five-member vocal group the Gladiolas. Written by the group's soon-to-be semi-famous leader, Maurice "Stay" Williams, "Little Darlin'" was built around a cacophonous, faintly Latin rhythm that sounds
Various Artists - Return Of The Grievous Angel: A Tribute To Gram Parsons
If you were trying to explain to someone the difference between mainstream country and alternative country, one way to start might be to posit that alternative country artists are much more likely to be influenced by Gram Parsons. It's no mere coincidence that more than half the artists
Townes Van Zandt - A Far Cry From Dead
Like Dock Boggs, Townes Van Zandt was obsessed with death. Both men were shadowed by their own mortality, obsessing over it and collapsing under it time and again in song. Both men ran from death in their early years, but accepted its haunting abide later in life. On Boggs'
Alexander "Skip" Spence - Oar
Chances are you've heard of Alexander "Skip" Spence, but you probably haven't heard him.
You have, actually, in a sense at least, if you own either of the first two Moby Grape albums. During his 1966-68 stint in the legendary San Francisco band, Spence
The Old 97's - You can't please everyone, so you've got to please yourself
Almost all of them arise out of nothing, these unlikely collectives we call rock 'n' roll bands. Rarely are they set in motion with some grand master scheme finessed over weeks of research and planning; rather, it starts with two or three folks sitting around an apartment one
Monte Warden - Putting the wheels back on the wagon
"With all of my songwriting -- from the Wagoneers to yesterday -- my heart is firmly painted on my sleeve," says Monte Warden. "I leave to nothing to irony or conjecture; you know exactly what my songs are about."
From the song titles on his Asylum