History hasn’t truly recognized the Browns (Jim Ed, Bonnie and Maxine), the trio of Arkansas siblings whose 1959 single “The Three Bells” became one of the Nashville Sound era’s biggest crossover success stories. Their hit streak wasn’t lengthy, lasting roughly […]
We all know well the trials that have beset New Orleans over these past few months. Most of us appreciate the immeasurable contributions that the city has made to America’s music. We’ve also tracked the survival of the city’s most […]
A cluster of major life changes struck all at once for singer-songwriter Jon Nolan a couple years ago. Say Zuzu, the band Nolan started with his brother and their mutual best friend, broke up after fourteen years and seven albums. […]
This magazine exists largely to draw attention to undervalued artists, and yet in ten years we have managed to devote only one feature and a few small reviews to Gatemouth Brown, who died September 10 at age 81. He should […]
The pair of tracks that open I’ve Got My Own Hell To Raise, the transfixing new album by soul singer Bettye LaVette, vividly map the record’s prickly yet fecund emotional terrain. The first is an a cappella reading of Sinead […]
Hurricane Rita huffed and puffed but did not blow down the Austin City Limits Music Festival. Because predictions said nearby Houston would suffer a direct hit, it was assumed ancillary storms would force cancellations of a portion or all of […]
On consecutive August nights at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium, Neil Young performed the entirety of his new Prairie Wind with close to three dozen musicians coming and going to fulfill the roles they played on the original recordings. Then, after a […]
Every day after hurricanes Katrina and Rita brings another hint that nothing will be the same in New Orleans. President George W. Bush said, “We’ll not just rebuild, we’ll build higher and better.” Experts talk about bringing the Orleans Parish […]
Not long ago, fiddler Vassar Clements attended a concert in Nashville of the fictitious heavy metal band Spinal Tap. Vassar was called up onstage to jam. Not realizing that the band was a spoof, Vassar simply dove in and fiddled […]
I was in Hawaii when my sister called in a panic to tell me that it looked like a hurricane was going to hit the Louisiana Gulf Coast in the next 36 hours, and we had to figure out what […]
