Robert Earl Keen - Picnic
It was a telling statement that I recently saw attributed to Robert Earl Keen, the one in which he mentioned he "was kind of burned out on being the 'yuck, yuck, pluck, pluck' guy." Now, Keen has always been much more than just a funny singer-
The Alan Lomax Collection - Southern Journey (Vols. 1-6)
"The business of documenting the expressive culture of the world." That's how Anna Chairetakis Lomax describes her father's work. Is there anything quite like Alan Lomax's achievement, not just in the history of music, but in history, period? Remove his work and
A Tribute To Townes Van Zandt - Cactus Cafe (Austin, TX)
"HOUSEBOAT IN HEAVEN"
Townes Van Zandt played the Cactus Cafe in Austin, Texas, for the last time on Saturday, October 13, 1996. He died on January 1, 1997, the anniversary of the death of Hank Williams, one of his true heroes. During the radio tribute I did to
Guy Clark & Mickey Newbury - Old friends
It's a cloudy January afternoon when I first get Mickey Newbury on the phone. "How's the weather down there?" he asks. I'm in San Francisco, he's in Oregon, and we're both patiently awaiting what excitable weather reporters have
Goody Blick & The Country Kind - Hailing from the state of cornfusion
"Say we're from Ballard, not Seattle." These are the first words spoken by Goody Blick and Anne Marie Ruljancich as we sit down at the Crocodile Cafe for an interview. Ballard is a sleepy Seattle neighborhood that's home to a large contingent of aging
Various Artists - Straight Outta Boone County
Just what kind of moonshine are those folks at Bloodshot Records drinking anyhow? After three excellent compilations of what they like to call insurgent country and a stable full of like-minded recording artists, the Chicago label has gotten downright conceptual with Straight Outta Boone County. WLWs Boone County Jamboree