“When death starts beating the door down, you need to be reaching for your shotgun,” Johnny Cash advises near the conclusion of Cash: The Autobiography. “And when you know he might be in your part of town, which is true […]
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Editor’s note: Upon hearing of the death on Nov. 20 of musician, producer and journalist Robert Palmer, we passed along the sad news to Ed Ward, who just a few days earlier had asked that his paycheck for the article […]
It took me a few days to notice the parallel, when I heard around mid-October that Butch Hancock was reviving his old self-run record label, Rainlight, to release his latest album. A little over a year ago, Butch left the […]
Right back at ya: Letter about a letter “I have to wonder if perhaps the alternative C&W and American roots music press has become infested with under-educated, under-experienced fans who fancy themselves to be writers, critics and chroniclers…” So reads […]
1 Steve Earle, El Corazon (E-Squared/Warner Bros.) 2 Bob Dylan, Time Out of Mind (Columbia) 3 Wayne Hancock, That’s What Daddy Wants (Ark 21) 4 The Blasters, American Music (HighTone) 5 Fred Eaglesmith, Lipstick, Lies & Gasoline (Razor & Tie) […]
“Mostly it’s the spaces between things where I feel comfortable. There are not usually crowded places.” With those words, Picking Up The Tempo: A Country Western Journal was launched more than two decades ago, its debut issue a mere eight […]
FAREWELL, ANASTASIA: It was an emotional evening at a packed Schubas Tavern on October 21 as Chicago’s alternative country community bid farewell to the club’s talent buyer, Anastasia Davies. During her five-year stint, Davies booked hundreds of great bands, including […]
“The seed is the word of God.” Luke 8:11 David Eugene Edwards composes alone, picking out brooding and intense melodies on his accordion, on his banjo. “I play until I find something that strikes me and then I bring it […]
“Oh man, it’s amazing, it’s opened up new neural pathways in my brain!” That’s what Willie P. Bennett had to say about Blackie & The Rodeo Kings, the tribute band that had just released a CD titled High Or Hurtin’, […]
Picture, if you will, the Fugs jamming on the soundtrack of the old black-and-white Steamboat Willie cartoon. Or the Replacements testing their Gershwin out on Prohibition-era speakeasy crowds. Or maybe Bill Monroe and Scott Joplin swinging together in the Whiskey […]
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