In Mark Wills’ 2003 hit “19 Something”, Wills waxed nostalgic about the ‘80s, cataloging Reagan-era American pop-culture touchstones, one of which was “watch[ing] MTV all afternoon”. It was a revealing claim, given what aired on MTV afternoons in the late […]
John Hiatt–The Open Road–New West The last we heard from John Hiatt, he was singing “Let’s Give Love a Try”, the final tune from 2008’s Same Old Man. On that song, Hiatt admitted, “Sometimes I don’t like being where I […]
Johnny Cash–American VI: Ain’t No Grave–American/Lost Highway The newest, and purportedly last, installment of Johnny Cash’s “American series”, the priceless Rick Rubin-produced string of albums that rounded out Cash’s life, is American VI: Ain’t No Grave. This is the second […]
Emmitt-Nershi Band–New Country Blues–SCI Fidelity Few musical styles are quite as polarizing as that of jam bands. The haters deplore the never-ending and meandering solos, the emphasis on instrumental improvisation over singing and melody, and the conspicuous uniformity of the […]
Emmitt-Nershi Band–New Country Blues–SCI Fidelity Few musical styles are quite as polarizing as that of jam bands. The haters deplore the never-ending and meandering solos, the emphasis on instrumental improvisation over singing and melody, and the conspicuous uniformity of the […]
Emmitt-Nershi Band–New Country Blues–SCI Fidelity Few musical styles are quite as polarizing as that of jam bands. The haters deplore the never-ending and meandering solos, the emphasis on instrumental improvisation over singing and melody, and the conspicuous uniformity of the […]
Patty Griffin–Downtown Church–EMI It’s hard to think of an artist in a more enviable position than Patty Griffin. Fifteen years ago, she had a guitar, a sweet voice, and a crush on Bruce Springsteen, but no recording contract. Today she’s […]
I’m late on this one, but I wrote a short review for this record, originially published over at PopMatters. Caroline Herring Golden Apples of the Sun (Signature Sounds; US: 10 Nov 2009; UK: 14 Dec 2009) Folk singer-songwriter Caroline Herring’s […]
Here a piece I cowrote with Juli Thanki for PopMatters year-end lists. Check ou the article with audio/video links here. For bluegrass fans, 2009 was a great year for music, a bad year for frugality. Though we’re only listing the […]
Hi, folks. As a staff writer for PopMatters, I was asked to write that magazine’s Top Ten list this year for Americana. Here’s what I came up with. You can see the actual article here along with audio/video clips. 10. […]
