I was working in Greece recently — nothing to do with music, I was focused more on their pain and their miserable economic crisis. But I am a fan of Greek music, stretching back to the four and a half years […]
0
For a while on May Day – a celebration of workers’ rights in much of the world – one of the top trending topics on Twitter was #CountryMusicin5Words. Quite where it came from or what prompted it is a mystery, […]
On my recent trip to Washington DC , I came across a photograph of Marian Anderson, which I reprint here. Anderson was a celebrated African-American contralto who sang mainly opera but also some spirituals and traditional American songs. She lived from 1898 to […]
Tom Russell is nothing if not a dedicated advocate for creative Americana. Just two years ago he released “Aztec Jazz” , a compendium of his songs preformed live with the Norwegian Wind Ensemble. He has now created a massive opus […]
Imagine my delight during a recent U.S visit to be given a complete set of trading cards dedicated to the “Pioneers of Country Music”. Then add the joy of discovering that they were drawn by the great counter-culture illustrator R. Crumb. First, the […]
On a working trip to Greece, I stumbled on a small museum in a corner of Athens’ historic Plaka district that shows there is more to Greek music than “Zorba’s Dance” and “Never on Sunday.” In fact, the Museum of […]
Nashville singer-songwriter Gretchen Peters’ new album Blackbirds is out early in the year, but I am not going to review it as a whole. Suffice it to say that it is good and that parts of it were redolent of Leonard […]
Time for the third annual look back on the best music experiences I had over the past year. They are not in any “best” order: – Meeting Jimmy Page. It was not just that he is a true guitar god, a name-brand […]
John Mayall, the dean of British electric blues, turns 81 this week. But, when I asked him during his current British tour whether this might be it, he looked at me as if I were from another planet. Next year was […]
Dr. John has been playing New Orleans jazz, blues, voodoo rock, what have you, since the late 1950s. Now, at the age of 74, he reckons it is touch-and-go whether that special Big Easy culture and sound he so loves […]
SPOTIFY PLAYLIST
SUBSCRIBE NOW
SUBSCRIBE NOW
