Blessed with hindsight, you could easily consider the music that Sally Spring was making in the ’70s to be what’s known these days as Americana. Her 1978 album Bird sported contributions from a guitarist and a bassist who were longtime […]
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When as a young child you are called by the Lord to rise from your metal folding chair in the basement of the Moose Hall and commit your life to Christ upon the commencement of the final chorus of “Close […]
If Scott Nelson’s fascinating assemblage of research and folklore is correct, John Henry was a free black man from Elizabeth City, New Jersey, who stood 5-foot-1-and-a-quarter-inches tall and ran afoul of the complicated racial and economic politics of Reconstruction-era Richmond, […]
Having carefully avoided video overexposure for more than a dozen years, the proprietors of Chicago’s in-surgery country/indo-rock monolith Bloodshot have just let loose a very well-packed DVD, Bloodied But Unbowed: Bloodshot Records’ Life In The Trenches. (With its performances by […]
BILLY PRESTON, long remembered as the Fifth Beatle, died June 5 in Scottsdale, Arizona. He had been in a coma caused by pericarditis since late in 2005. The keyboardist and singer had two significant hits in the ’70s (“Will It […]
Singer and songwriter BOBBY HARDEN died May 30. Originally (with his two sisters) a member of the Harden Trio, his songs were recorded by Mark Chesnutt, Loretta Lynn, and Reba McEntire. He also sang background vocals on recordings by Gary […]
Onetime Molly Hatchet guitarist DUANE ROLAND died June 19 in St. Augustin, Florida, of natural causes. He was 53.
Whither rockademia? In the decade or so since rock ‘n’ roll became an approved area for academic study, there’s been precious little published on it that’s of much use or interest to the engaged fan or non-academic scholar. Simon Frith’s […]
Mandolinist and singer VERN WILLIAMS died June 6 in Calaveras County, California. Half of the pioneering West Coast bluegrass duo Vern & Ray, he led a band under his own name and worked with his son Delbert, Jerry Garcia, Herb […]
There’s no better view from a festival stage than the one in Telluride, Colorado, facing vast escarpments, waterfalls and Lord of the Rings-worthy peaks. It’s easy to mark first-time performers because no matter how hip they are, the massive box […]
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