Blueswomen Magness Takes On…. HerselfJaniva Magness — Hard to Kill There is a special thrill in listening to an album you have never heard before, especially from an artist you have never really listened to. And whole other, higher, level of thrill when the album turns out to be as strong as Janiva Magness’ Hard to […]
Show Review: Maggie Rose at the Rams Head Tavern, Annapolis, MD, June 29, 2022. You can learn a lot about someone by their choice of covers songs. At the Ram’s Head On Stage in Annapolis (MD) Maggie Rose, a great songwriter herself, covered Aretha Franklin, Carol King, Phish, and the Box Tops, and even a […]
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John Doe — Fables in a Foreign Land by Mark Pelavin[i] When Neil Young proclaimed that “it’s better to burn out than it is to rust,” those indeed seemed like the two choices artists had. Many burnt out, or died, or disappeared. And more than a few choose to rust, staying in the same place they […]
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Steve Forbert — Moving Through America I first saw Steve Forbert live in 1979, a year after his debut album, in an ugly concrete-walled multi-purpose room at my college just outside of Boston. It’s fair to say that if I had to travel any further (it was across the street from my dorm) or pay […]
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Jerry Jeff is the third and final of Steve Earle’s tributes to what he refers to as his “first-hand teachers, the heroes I was lucky enough to sit across the room from so I could listen and learn up close…” Jerry Jeff is, of course, Jerry Jeff Walker, best known for writing the perfect “Mr. […]
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The Wallflowers pulled into Annapolis on May 24, 2022 toward the beginning of a summer tour which will take them across the country and showcase them in a wide array of venues, from theatres to outdoor “sheds.” The Ram’s Head On Stage, which bills itself as “the best music club in the United States with […]
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Mavis Staples & Levon Helm — Carry Me Home I have long been campaigning to include Mavis Staples on Mount Rushmore. It is true that, technically, she never was President of the United States like those other guys, but her voice has inspired more people that any of them ever did. Carry Me Home, the wonderful […]
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