99 Hits from 1956 and Two Blasts from the Blasters’ Past Most multi-artist anthologies have a musical theme, such as a genre or subgenre (The Bakersfield Sound 1940–1974, for example) or the work of a particular artist (Ladies Sing Lightfoot, for instance). One exception is a series of box sets from Acrobat, a reissue label, […]
What music comes to mind when you think of rock and roll’s earliest years? For many people, the answer is probably the sort of material that signaled a major break from the overly polished, sanitized pop that previously dominated the charts—manic, upbeat rockers like Jerry Lee Lewis’s “Whole Lotta Shakin’ Goin’ On,” Elvis Presley’s “Hound […]
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Bentley’s Bandstand: January 2026 Ed Alstrom, THIS IDEA OF HUMANITY.There are moments in anyone’s life when the Hammond organ sounds like the only instrument that could possibly rule the world. Its notes are ready for action, no matter the mood, and it swings with a fullness that sounds like the holy ghost has taken over […]
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Garage rock is an amorphous label, embracing virtually anything from the mid-1960s that sounds intense and energetic and isn’t overly polished. The term has been used interchangeably with punk rock and has been applied to surf music, psychedelia, and more. That’s one reason why you’ll find extremely disparate material on the three-CD Steppin’ Out: The […]
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When The Country Grieves, Springsteen’s There For Us Again In the aftermath of 9/11, Bruce Springsteen was walking in his hometown of Freehold, New Jersey when a fan yelled out, “Bruce, we need you.” The comment kick-started Springsteen into writing songs for The Rising which summed up the country’s collective grief and provided hope when […]
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Lucinda Williams’s nearly half-century recording career has always been characterized by literate lyrics and strong musicianship, but just as importantly, by heartfelt sentiments. It still is, though recent events have ostensibly prompted the singer to change the focus of those sentiments. On early standouts like “Passionate Kisses,” “Something About What Happens When We Talk,” and […]
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The career of England’s Orange Bicycle was as commercially unsuccessful as it was brief. Thanks to a mistranslation of the text on a French EP’s cover, the psychedelic pop sextet has often been said to have had a chart-topping single in that country. In fact, Orange Bicycle had no hits, much less chart-toppers, anywhere on […]
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Bob Weir photos by Melissa Clarke Fare Thee Well, Bob Weir I don’t remember the exact year but somewhere in the early Nineties I left Madison Square Garden in New York snapping my fingers as Bob Weir led the Grateful Dead through an exhilarating finale “One More Saturday Night.” I’m pretty sure it was a […]
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Bentley’s Bandstand: Favorite Albums of 2025: (second half) Rodney Crowell, AIRLINE HIGHWAY. There is something about artists like Rodney Crowell that shares such a powerful sound from note one that there is never any question they’ve hit it out of the park. Again. It’s been that way forever with the best music. The song starts […]
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Music Reviews: Fabulous Thunderbirds, plus Lester Young and Anthologies of Rockabilly and Appalachian Music The Jimmie Vaughan Story, a limited-edition five-CD set released in 2021, includes performances from every stage of the Austin, Texas–based blues-rock guitarist and singer’s career. If you missed that compendium or want more, however, you can find it in The Jimmie […]
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