Mandolinist Paul Buskirk, who played with Roy Acuff, Lefty Frizzell and Tex Ritter, died March 16 at age 78. A frequent collaborator with Willie Nelson, Buskirk co-wrote the classic “Night Life” and recorded one album, 1993’s The Nacogdoches Waltz…. Producer […]
Garrison Keillor doesn’t often smile in public. He can’t afford to, for deadpan drollness is crucial to his Lake Wobegon monologues. But when he sings with Robin & Linda Williams, he can’t help it. He beams like a lantern. I’m […]
It’s a long way from the front porch of the General Store in Bynum, North Carolina, to the small stage of the Borderline nightclub in London, England. The rooms are actually about the same size, but they’re a world apart […]
The story of what happened to Wilco in the past couple of years isn’t always a happy tale, but it does have a happy ending. So let’s start there. After countless delays, a split from their record company and the […]
It’s not surprising that treatments of Capitol Nashville’s 30th-anniversary reissue of Will The Circle Be Unbroken get headline descriptions like “the O Brother, Where Art Thou? of 1972,” and it’s not a bad comparison. It is, however, a limited one. […]
This third annual collection of new studies in country music is a book that any true country music lover would want in their collection. While a few of the articles might be beneficial only for those intent on archiving country […]
Louisiana bills itself as a “Sportsman’s Paradise” on its license plates for its hunting and fishing opportunities. “Music Paradise” would be an equally appropriate slogan for a state that has produced top-flight musicians in a vast range of genres, including […]
The story is told that sometimes at the pickin’ sessions held at Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge in Nashville during the 1960s, one of the songwriters would wax enthusiastically about a new idea he had for a song. Harlan Howard would reply, […]
Many will remember Dave Van Ronk as “The Mayor of MacDougal Street,” the folkie giant who let Bob Dylan crash on his couch back before anyone had ever heard of either of them. Many will remember Van Ronk for his […]
James Blackwood, the legendary Southern gospel vocalist, died February 3 at age 82, completing a career that spanned the genre’s history. Like so many Southerners of his generation, Blackwood learned four-part harmonies in a traveling singing school. James teamed with […]
