Turnpike Troubadours with Lucero and Reckless Kelly at the Anthem In July 1990, I attended a songwriters’ workshop and acoustic show that featured Guy Clark, Joe Ely, John Hiatt, and Mary Chapin Carpenter at Houston’s Tower Theater. The show was part of the Marlboro Music Festival, and the press kit included coupons and a […]
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Robert Earl Keen sauntered slowly onto the stage at The Birchmere, waved to the crowd, and proceeded to say that he “didn’t have any answers” for his appearance at the venerable Northern Virginia club last week. Sitting in a chair with nothing but an acoustic guitar and two water bottles on a table beside him, […]
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Patty Griffin made an unusual decision for a touring musician, deciding to stay off the road this summer to focus on new music. Given that she lives in Austin, a city where temperatures reached more than 100 degrees for 40 days in a row in July and August, it was a choice she came to […]
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James McMurtry at Birchmere with BettySoo Toward the end of James McMurtry’s sold-out solo acoustic show at The Birchmere, the songwriter decided to perform what he described as a “happy song.” “It does maintain a certain amount of cynicism that McMurtry songs require, but nobody dies in it, so it’s a happy song,” he said […]
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John Doe zigs when others zag. At an age where many are content to look back and rest on their laurels, the 70-year-old is fronting tours with punk icons X, recording a new album, playing with a folk trio, and promoting an independent film noir in which he is the lead. “I’m fortunate,” he says […]
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Jason Isbell at Wolf Trap with SG Goodman Years ago, Steve Earle had an infamous quote: “Townes Van Zandt is the best damn songwriter in the world, and I’ll stand on Bob Dylan’s coffee table in my boots and say that.” I don’t own cowboy boots, and I don’t know where any of Dylan’s coffee […]
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B.J. Barham photos by Glenn Cook at Union Stage show B.J. Barham picks up the phone and apologizes. He needs to delay the start of our conversation. The 38-year-old American Aquarium frontman, a self-described extravert who talks a mile a minute and is known for his high-energy tightrope walking shows, is picking up his daughter […]
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The Avett Brothers — Wolf Trap 5/25/2023 Two plus decades into their career, The Avett Brothers have established a robust live following thanks to high-energy concerts that feel like both parties and family reunions. And more than 7,000 of those followers were rewarded Thursday as the North Carolina duo opened the summer concert season at […]
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Kathy Mattea is sitting outside the green room at the Culture Center Theater, working her way through a salad with grilled chicken as she talks about an experience that has changed her life. “At first I was like, ‘There’s no way. There’s no way I’m going to go host a radio show. I’ve got […]
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For Tim O’Brien, performing on Mountain Stage is a homecoming. The Grammy Award winning country and bluegrass musician, songwriter and in-demand session player has played on the National Public Radio show more than any artist over the past 40 years. “I’ve got a cycle of writing songs, recording them, and then releasing them on a […]
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