Marc Ribot has been an activist for years. For 2018, though, he’s doing something new. He’s been a “rank and file” activist with his union, as he puts it. He’s attended Occupy rallies. He’s never been much for established party […]
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Ruby Boots has lived the hard-nosed country music ideal, but she’s done it her own way. Left home as a teenager? Check. Punched the clock at a tough manual labor job (also as a teenager)? Check. Eventually drifted to Nashville […]
At its best, country music is tragicomic. Think about it: that’s why a good honky-tonk songwriter can write about the heaviest, bleakest subject imaginable without toppling the listener under the weight. They know how to wink at the listener, how […]
I know this is completely irrelevant and probably irreverent as well, but the first thing I did when I pressed play on H.C. (Heather) McEntire’s Lionheart was sing “I fell in the pit / you fell in the pit” along […]
What is even wrong with you, 2017? I mean, I’d thought 2016 was rough. For one, my estranged dad died. He was a monstrous clod of a man, a selfish beast with awful habits like showing up at karaoke in […]
There are some bands and musicians that simply cannot be covered. Sure, I try to keep myself open to exceptions here, but more often than not something integral is lost in translation. Songs by Sigur Rós, the Beastie Boys, St. […]
There are plenty of musicians who play impressive renditions of old, old songs. There are plenty of people, too, who can tell you exactly why these tunes continue to resonate. In Richie and Rosie, the folk duo of accomplished banjoist […]
Turnpike Troubadours’ 2015 self-titled hit me right where it counts. It was one of those “where has this been all my life?” albums that simply demanded to be played at top volume. It was anthemic and intimate, often at once, […]
Bluegrass just didn’t make any sense to me as a kid. On paper, you’d think it would. I grew up in backwoods rural North Carolina, in an economically disadvantaged county with a single stoplight (today it has two). Yet bluegrass […]
In the midst of touring and playing reimagined folk songs at FreshGrass with Harmony, Bill Frisell released something in a different vein. On Sept. 15, Hurricane Harvey Relief dropped on the inventive jazz guitarist’s site. All proceeds, including the royalties […]
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