The fourth annual Spread Your Wings Benefit Concert for Breast Cancer was more of a regional affair than previous benefits, which have featured the likes of Alejandro Escovedo, Richard Buckner, Jim Lauderdale, Kevin Gordon, the Gourds and the Silos. This […]
The Zimmer twins are best known within the music industry for their long involvement with the now-defunct trade magazine Gavin Report (where the Americana radio chart began). They have also ghost-written autobiographies by Sonny Barger (the legendary Hell’s Angel) and […]
Sam Phillips famously said after hearing Howlin’ Wolf’s music, “This is for me. This is where the soul of man never dies.” Yet, for all his acclaim, this is the first comprehensive biography of the man who looms large — […]
The 2000 publication of Dolly Bull’s lavish Hillbilly Hollywood may well have inspired its successor, Nudie The Rodeo Tailor, written by granddaughter Jamie Lee Nudie and Mary Lynn Cabrall. Nudie is a bit less lavish (it has a similar die-cut […]
When IBMA Hall of Honor member Charlie Waller suffered a fatal heart attack on August 18, bluegrass lost one of the greatest interpreters and ambassadors the music has known. Lead vocalist and guitar player for the Country Gentlemen for nearly […]
Bandleader Isidro Lopez, who died in Corpus Christi, Texas, on August 16 at age 75, was to Tejano music what Ray Charles was to soul, or Clifton Chenier to zydeco. Lopez combined two popular genres — in his case, conjunto […]
If alternative-country has ever had a definitive drummer, it would be Kenneth A. Buttrey. After a long battle with cancer, Buttrey died at his Nashville home on September 12, 2004. He was 59. Buttrey brought the mercury to the thin, […]
Bassist William “Lum” York played in Hank Williams’ Driftin’ Cowboys band during the mid-to-late 1940s. Also known for his comic skills, York performed in Lefty Frizzell’s and Marty Robbins’ bands as well. He died on August 15 at age 85. […]
Under a purple evening sky, Bloodshot Records founders Nan Warshaw and Rob Miller took to the temporary stage that filled the street outside Chicago bar the Hideout. Capping a day-long celebration of their label’s tenth anniversary, the pair thanked a […]
When Laurie Stirratt launched her new life in 2002, it was like going home. Chicago welcomed her like a prodigal daughter, she got a job at the Hideout (a favorite watering hole among Chicago music scenesters), and she began writing […]
