Don’t Get Trouble In Your Mind: On Film, An Emotional Journey With The Carolina Chocolate Drops It seems like such a long time since The Carolina Chocolate Drops came upon us and helped to redefine roots music, in turn winning a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album for their innovative album Genuine Negro Jig. In […]
This December Day Still Haunts Us The first thing you see when you open the cover of Laurie Kaye’s memoir is an inscription inside the book. “To Laurie, Love, Yoko Ono, December 1980 and John Lennon, 1980. Lennon adds a drawing of the couple’s eyes that is distinct with his glasses and nose. It was […]
Continue Reading
“Down On The Corner (Adventures In Busking & Street Music)” In the digital age, the ancient art of street singing or busking might seem like an anomaly. But in his new book Down On The Corner – Adventures In Busking & Street Music (Jawbone Press) author Cary Baker makes the case for its continuing vitality–while […]
Continue Reading
(Bruce Springsteen and Steve Van Zandt At Nationals Park. Photo by Kelly Wosahla) The cool air of the first post-Labor Day weekend had the feel of what Bob Seger once described as “autumn closing in.” When Johnny Van Zandt stepped to the edge of the stage at Jiffy Lube Live amphitheater in Bristow, Virginia, he […]
Continue Reading
On Memorial Day, Our Fallen Deserve Better Sometimes a few musical notes can trigger a swarm of unconscious emotions. I was listening to Bruce Springsteen’s stunning live show from Cork, Ireland on Nugs. During “Last Man Standing,” his tribute to the late Castiles bandmate George Theiss, Springsteen reenacts his years on the Jersey Shore circuit […]
Continue Reading
Dickie Betts photo by Kirk West photography On a weeknight in summer 2002, I was on vacation in Dewey Beach, Delaware. After putting the kids to bed, I headed over to Bottle & Cork where Dickey Betts was playing with his solo band, Great Southern. It seemed like too small a room for someone who […]
Continue Reading
Tommy Purify photo (Thom Loverro) at FAME Studios Margo Price announced that she recently came to New York for a piano recital at Carnegie Hall. But after leaving the storied building that has been graced by Maria Callas, George Gershwin and the Beatles, Price snuck out to sing karaoke to a room full of strangers […]
Continue Reading
New Book Provides Lively History Of Rounder Records and Roots Music Canon When aspiring fiddle player. Alison Krauss played a record on the Rounder Records label, she knew she wanted to make one someday for them. Years later when a young Sierra Hull saw a Rounder logo on the backs of albums made by her […]
Continue Reading
Eric Brace & Last Train Home Strike Up The Magic In Richmond When the calendar turns to January, it’s time for Long Train Home. You can count on Last Train Home to make their annual trek of the Mid-Atlantic. The one time band which originated in the Washington, DC area in the late Nineties, is […]
Continue Reading
Journey: Worlds Apart “History is a funny thing,” keyboardist Gregg Rolie observed during a recent Journey reunion. In Nick DeRiso’s riveting and lively new book about the complicated fifty-year history of Journey entitled Journey: Worlds Apart, Rolie’ role that night went largely unrecognized while singing the song he popularized while in Santana, “Black Magic […]
Continue Reading