LIBERTY, NORTH CAROLINA — In the glorious “Mama’s Opry”, Iris Dement tells of her mother’s closeted desire to sing at the Grand Ole Opry. Like countless other backyard singers, Dement’s mama never made it to the Ryman stage, but her […]
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“Hey, we’re 6 String Drag, and we don’t know nothing ’bout playing no songs for y’all.” Singer Kenny Roby shambles up to the mike and addresses the audience with his denim locomotive engineer’s cap pulled low over his eyes. It’s […]
Bobby Bare Jr. was just 7 years old, but he remembers the last night the Ryman Auditorium hosted the Grand Ole Opry: “It was dark, and there were tons of people everywhere.” He was onstage, singing his duet, “Daddy What […]
It’s a predictable ending for Tremolo, a seven-minute song titled “Frog’s Lullaby” that slowly, quietly fades-to-black the hour-long musical excursion that preceded it. Such conclusions have been a trademark of most Blue Rodeo records, so you almost come to expect […]
The last song on Buttercup’s first album, Gold, is a suitable microcosm for what the band seems is about. “That Shirt” backs you into the corner of the ring and just socks you one with a hook that’ll knock you […]
Late last summer, Clodhopper visited the Tractor Tavern in Seattle to open for the Red House Painters. My lasting impression turned out not to be from he headliner, but rather the opening act, which energized the crowd with their take […]
Invisible Republic is the 275-page accompanying booklet to a Bob Dylan box set that doesn’t exist. The subject of Marcus’ scholarly examination is a body of performances known collectively as the Basement Tapes. In the summer of 1967, having left […]
PART I Throughout the ’70s, right up until his death 20 years ago on August 16, 1977, Elvis Presley regularly performed Hank Williams’ classic “I’m So Lonesome I Could Cry” at his sold-out arena shows. “I’d like to sing a […]
I was sold on the Flatirons in the amount of time it took for the first sound to move from singer Wendy Pate’s mouth to my ear. She has the gift — one of those strong, true voices that commands […]
A wry smile crept almost imperceptibly across his face as the casually imposing figure stood onstage — head bowed, his acoustic guitar poised for a solo performance. Over a room crowded with fans of headliner Guy Clark, the club’s announcer […]
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