A comprehensive dissection and depiction of the songwriting process and the uncertain world in which the songwriter must live, Jimmy Webb’s brilliant new book is both a textbook and a behind-the-scenes glance, gloriously woven by the writer’s heartfelt love of […]
Sometimes the good breaks are lurking in the midst of disasters. When Tim Easton’s band, Columbus, Ohio, roots-rockers the Haynes Boys, made their first appearance at the South By Southwest Music Festival in Austin, Texas, in 1995, they were eagerly […]
I’d heard stories for years about how Lyle Lovett had written for the Texas A&M student newspaper, The Battalion, during his college days in the late 1970s. Kathleen McElroy, another former Aggie I’d worked with at the Austin American-Statesman in […]
The last thing I heard, first thing this morning, was the sound of Mark Olson and Victoria Williams singing together, on their latest self-released Creek Dippers album, Pacific Coast Rambler. These final weekends are always a struggle, and a pleasure. […]
Sometimes traditions were meant to be broken. The Cigar Store Indians found this out by way of a happy accident that ended up having a lot to do with what they became. Formed seven years ago by singer/guitarist Ben Friedman, […]
1 Lucinda Williams, Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (Mercury) 2 Billy Bragg & Wilco, Mermaid Avenue (Elektra) 3 Gillian Welch, Hell Among The Yearlings (Almo) 4 Nanci Griffith, Other Voices Too (Elektra) 5 Emmylou Harris, Spyboy (Eminent) 6 Lucinda […]
Even though it’s the middle of the afternoon, the Romweber household west of Chapel Hill is dark. The blinds are drawn, all the lights off. In fact, the only source of artificial light anywhere in the house is the television […]
Watching Lucinda Williams step on the Rose Garden Arena stage as the crowd of 14,000 filed in, I recalled the first time I saw her perform, in 1989 at a small club in Chapel Hill, North Carolina. Her tentativeness that […]
After playing Friday and Saturday in the main room at First Avenue opening for Twin Cities darlings the Jayhawks, Philadelphia misfits Marah ventured next door to the intimate 7th Street Entry later Saturday night to play their third gig in […]
The first night of Son Volt’s 16-date “acoustic tour” was at this 500-capacity club on a college town’s bohemian strip. The Blue Note is home turf to Jay Farrar, the single most important venue in his early career, the right […]
