“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 […]
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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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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What is history? The French poet Victor Hugo described it as “an echo of the past in the future and a reflex from the future on the past.” And artist Marcus Garvey put it this way: “People without the knowledge of their past history, origin and culture is like a tree without roots.” For author […]
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I’m in a new Joan Baez video. But you won’t get to see it and I’m certain I won’t. It was filmed on her Fare Thee Well Tour when she stopped at the Ferguson Center on the campus of Christopher Newport University in Newport News. I’m pretty sure only Joan will look at it. […]
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“It’s great to be here at the Astrodome,” Adam Carroll said in a sly Texan drawl. “I’ve always wanted to play here.” Standing onstage in the cavernous basement of Hill Country Barbecue in Washington DC, Adam Carroll and his wife Chris Carroll must have felt like they were a long way from home. But here […]
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