Sid Griffin said he shouldn’t but couldn’t resist jumping anyway during the Long Ryders’ finale and signature song “Looking For Lewis & Clark” at Pearl Street Warehouse in Washington, D.C. Not even the suspenders that held up Griffin’s Levi’s and a bad knee could keep the lead singer of the Long Ryders earthbound for a […]
Early in the evening of what would be a ten-hour event at the Outlaw Music Festival in Virginia Beach, Bonnie Raitt was still thinking about the night before. She had to follow Warren Haynes at the Mann Center in Philadelphia. “Phew,” she said her eyebrows rising and facial expressions saying she had her work cut […]
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“The name of the man you need to see is Stanley Coles.” I can still remember the stern British accent and directness of the words. I was a fifteen-year-old aspiring music writer standing in a hotel lobby near the Springfield Civic Center in Massachusetts. A publicist from A&M Records had confirmed I’d be on the […]
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Brandi Carlile was standing in the Basement East in Nashville when someone approached her, drink in hand and carrying a proposition. “I want to start a band called the Highwomen and I want you to be in it,” Amanda Shires told her. Maybe it was the alcohol that helped her get the courage up. Or […]
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Since time began we’ve marveled at the notion that we could create a machine and go back in time. Growing up watching Samantha Stevens of Bewitched, slipping back into history was as simple as twitching your nose. This week it felt like Carlos Santana had perfected the art of transporting us between yesterday and today. […]
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At one point watching Kasey Tyndall barrel through twenty plus songs barely stopping to catch her breath, I became convinced that having come into the world and given her first cry, she immediately reached for a mic and never let go. The saying goes that you can’t choose your parents and Tyndall is a hybrid […]
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It was a Sunday we’ll never forget. On a morning when the country was still reeling from the tragedy in El Paso, we woke up to learn of the massacre in Dayton. Amid the disbelief that “it can’t happen here,” was the sobering realization that yes it can and it is seemingly happening all around […]
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“You’ve heard of the three tenors,” Jim Lauderdale said to the audience gathered at the Hamilton in Washington, D.C. “Well this is the Cosmic Honky Tonk Revue.” There was no resemblance in pitch or look to Luciano Pavarotti, Jose Carreras and Placido Domingo. Jim Lauderdale was referring to himself and friends Chuck Mead and Jason […]
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As is sometimes the case when going in the studio, Jim Lauderdale is prone to call friend and co-writer Odie Blackmon with a question. “Hey Odie, do we have anything?” For Lauderdale’s new album From Another World, Blackmon responded with a yes, reminding his friend that they had written “When You Can’t Have What You […]
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“Now that the singer is gone…..where shall I go for the song?” The question was posed by lyricist Robert Hunter in the aftermath of the death of his writing partner and Grateful Dead guitarist Jerry Garcia. If history is any guide, the question was answered long ago. Just go on the road. For the past […]
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