The Claudettes have come a long way from their early days in Chicago dive bars, when blues pianist Johnny Iguana and percussionist Michael Caskey were hired and occasionally leased out by a bar owner named Claudette. Six years ago, Iguana […]
Soul is not dead. It’s been slumbering for a while, but in recent years it has been resuscitated by a handful of flamekeepers with the care and the tonsils to bring the music back to its former glory. Pittsburgh native […]
It hurts like a slap in the face with a coal shovel. Loretta Lynn has left us. She died in her sleep Tuesday at her home in Hurricane Mills, Tennessee, at age 90, according to a statement from her […]
If you’ve ever wanted to sing and play along with your favorite blues personages, Tim Duffy and assorted cohorts come to your aid on Music Maker Foundation’s latest release, Deep in the South: A Music Maker Songbook. Since 1994, Tim […]
Jimmy Hall always sounds like he’s about to bust wide open, the music bottled up in him struggling so hard to get out that he can barely contain it. It’s like he’s in church worshiping a rock-and-roll god, raising all […]
New Orleans birthed rock and roll. It may have been conceived elsewhere, but the Crescent City was the place where all the ingredients — funk, soul, R&B, blues, gospel, and jazz — were commingled into a steaming cauldron, left to […]
Shemekia Copeland has never had any trouble being heard. With her blast furnace, in-your-face delivery, she gets her message across loud and clear. Although she’s usually tagged as a blues singer, Copeland transcends that label with a mix of styles […]
If you’re gonna have a tribute album done for you, it’s always better to have it done before well-wishers throw dirt in your face for a final farewell. John Anderson didn’t ask for his recent honorarium, Something Borrowed, Something […]
Lee Bains has gone folky on his latest release, Old-Time Folks, but he ain’t no easygoing troubadour. His lyrics resonate with folk-flavored protest themes, but his delivery system is nowhere near the stool-perching acoustic pundits of yore. The Alabama native’s […]
Once upon a time in Raleigh, North Carolina, for about 10 bucks total, you could get the best sandwich in town and a dose of red-hot rockin’ honky-tonk courtesy of Kenny Roby. Like a punky John Prine, Roby rocked the […]
