In the 1960s, soul, gospel, and blues permeated the air in Chicago. Curtis Mayfield, Jerry Butler, The Dells, Gene Chandler, The Chi-Lites, The Flamingos, Eddy “Chief” Clearwater, Jimmy Burns, James Cotton, and Buddy Guy filled clubs, churches, and the street […]
Fruition releases its latest album, Broken at the Break of Day, on Jan. 17, quickly following their November 2019 release of Wild as the Night. Guitarist, songwriter, and vocalist Jay Cobb Anderson took a few moments out of the band’s […]
Christmas is supposed to represent a time when light shines in the darkness: the darkness of winter’s bleak, short days; the darkness that shrouds the hearts of men and women in society; the darkness that blankets any hope for renewal. […]
Elton John is never going to let the sun go down on him. His rollicking memoir Me opens the curtains to reveal the highs and lows, the hopes and dreams, the rapid ascent to stardom and the just as rapid […]
It’s been a good year for music books, and thank goodness, for they have been a refuge in an otherwise stormy publishing world that’s focused on the corruption rampant in American politics. Almost every book in my list below could […]
Many of us recall the first 45s we bought at the local dime store, department store, or, if the town was big enough, record store. Long before we had enough money to plunk down for a new album, we could […]
In 2016, music historian Ed Ward explored the early years of rock and roll in The History of Rock & Roll, Volume I: 1920-1963 (Flatiron Books). He took a leisurely and long view of the development of the music that […]
For as long as he can recall, Booker T. Jones, the legendary Memphis musician who helped put Stax Records on the map, has been fascinated with music. “Music just came naturally to me,” he said in a recent interview with […]
The first measureable snow fell yesterday in the Chicago area, and today the temperatures are hovering around 15 degrees, though the sun is shining, giving the illusion of warmth. As winter sets in, I start to reflect on the past […]
There is no end to the stream of Beatles books published for collectors and fans. Now, in the year that celebrates the 50th anniversary of the release of Abbey Road, Peter Asher has put together an abecedary of Beatles lore […]
