By Kyle McCraw If the last name sounds familiar, it should. Nathan McEuen is the son of John McEuen, one of the founding members of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – who also appears on the song, “Banjormous.” Nathan, like his […]
Jim Simpson is an award-winning fiction writer and freelance music critic. A native of the wilds of Florida's Gulf Coast, he now resides on the scruffy fringes of Atlanta, Georgia.
He frequently writes about music, with his taste spanning all genres: bluegrass, Americana, classic country, alt-country, western swing, blues, classical, rock 'n' roll, punk, reggae, klezmer, and British isles folk (to name but a few).
He once sang "Happy Birthday" (with about 10,000 other people) to Joni Mitchell, and has seen such legends as Miles Davis, The Incredible Jimmy Smith, Rockpile, Blue Rodeo, King Sunny Ade, David Bowie, Joan Jett, Robyn Hitchcock, R.E.M., Rosanne Cash, Elvis Costello and Bob Dylan live in concert. He has interviewed Those Darlins, John Linnell of They Might Be Giants, Marshall Chapman, Charlie Louvin, Derek Hoke, Jim Avett, the Secret Sisters, and Meghan McCormick.
Jim is a former editor for Awaiting the Flood and has written for The Atlanta Music Guide, Hellbomb, Earbuddy, The Weeklings, The Book Shopper, and The Nervous Breakdown. He recently finished his first novel, and if all goes well it should be in bookstores sometime before his death.
By Kyle McCraw If the last name sounds familiar, it should. Nathan McEuen is the son of John McEuen, one of the founding members of Nitty Gritty Dirt Band – who also appears on the song, “Banjormous.” Nathan, like his […]
By Kyle McCraw To get the bad news out of the way first, this is the first full-length from Earle without Cory Younts, the multi-instrumentalist who provided background vocals so good for Earle’s voice you might have wondered if they […]
By Krystal Dawn Muhlbach When I was sixteen my best friend and I got aboard a train that darts from our mundane little city to the bigger, more thrilling city of Los Angeles. Broke, underage, and with a borderline lethal […]
By Jim Simpson Don’t let her petite and pixieish looks fool you. Sally Spring is a bold songwriter with rock-solid vocals. A veteran who cut her performance teeth on the coffeehouse circuit of the 1970s, Spring has played with such […]
By Jim Simpson What were you doing when you were twenty? I was slogging through what would become a very average college career, partying and drinking copious amounts of beer, and maybe that’s why I’m a lowly hack music writer. […]
by Jim Simpson We wish Manda Mosher had run the title of her EP by us first. We might have said: “City of Clowns? Really? You sure? Clowns are scary. Even kids hate clowns. Remember Pennywise from Stephen King’s It? […]
Rosanne Cash (firstborn child of Johnny Cash and Vivian Liberto) simply exudes talent. Her fourteen albums have charted eleven number-one singles. She is the author of a collection of short fiction, Bodies of Water, and the children’s book Penelope Jane: […]
From AwaitingTheFlood Jim Simpson Composed by Rosanne Cash (Viking, 2010) Rosanne Cash, firstborn child of country music icon Johnny Cash and his first wife Vivian, was a writer long before she became a musician, singer and songwriter. A light went […]
From Awaiting The Flood by Jim Simpson The Junior League Band, fronted by Georgia native and current D.C. resident Lissy Rosemont, releases Jelly Roll, their third full-length album, this Friday. The title conjures thoughts of New Orleans, old-time Delta blues, […]
Originally appeared at Atlanta Music Guide By Jim Simpson Mary Gauthier (pronounced go-SHAY) has said that the best nights on stage involve losing herself in her songs, reaching that transcendent moment when she and the audience become one. This certainly […]