One of the most surprising musical developments in Norway recently has been an ad hoc collaboration between veteran Norwegian singer-guitarist Jonas Fjeld and American neo-bluegrass quartet Chatham County Line, which has produced an album that has gone gold (15,000 sold) […]
PHOTOGRAPHER Jim McGuire from New Jersey, of all places was comparatively new to Nashville when he made his two most indelible images. Both centered around the end times of the Grand Ole Opry at the Ryman Auditorium. One, with lightning […]
R.I.P.: North Carolina guitarist DAVID ENLOE succumbed to complications from hepatitis C on November 27. He was a member of the Fabulous Knobs, the Woodpeckers, the Woods and the Carneys. He was 51…. Cult songwriter JIM FORD died November 18. […]
October 8, 2007, was Hank Thompson Day in Texas, officially proclaimed by the governor. Headlining a fair in his birthplace of Waco at 82, Thompson sat on the outdoor stage, electric guitar in his lap. Behind him, the latest incarnation […]
Proud To Be An Okie is the most important volume of country music history to emerge in years, a worthy companion to Gerald Haslam’s similarly west-coast-centered Working Man Blues from 1999. Drawing upon everything from old fan magazines to the […]
Can a blueblood go bluegrass? Mike Henderson, the veteran Nashville guitarist/songwriter/bandleader who has explained his style as half Muddy Waters and half Bill Monroe, is tilting toward the latter and making the transition with aplomb. For two decades, Henderson has […]
Other than a hiccup of piano and guitar, all that we hear during the opening bars of Shelby Lynne’s sublimely parched remake of Dusty Springfield’s “Just A Little Lovin’” is the 1-2-3 of the cymbal, set off, every other measure, […]
Based on his new self-titled album, you might expect Austin bluesman Seth Walker to have grown up in deepest Texas — sneaking off as a kid to hit the roadhouses and worship at the throne of Albert Collins, Lightnin’ Hopkins […]
“I don’t work like anybody else. OK, let’s put it this way. Until the last part is done, nobody believes it’s going to be a song.” –Otis Taylor Blues might travel best as a form recently arrived and itching to […]
Willie Nelson is known for his distinctive voice, the tone of his rugged Martin guitar named Trigger, and for the harmonica played by that tall lanky guy who imbues his sound with a timeless, rootsy quality. The man playing that […]
