By Jeff Burger On first listen, Western Stars sounds like nothing Bruce Springsteen has ever done before. On second listen, though, you start to hear connections to the catalog. And by the third listen, you’re probably in love. Springsteen’s 19th album—his first studio release since 2014 and his first record of all-new original material since […]
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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By Jeff Burger “Wait a minute,” you might think, after hearing about The Rolling Thunder Review: The 1975 Live Recordings. “Didn’t Bob Dylan’s Bootleg Series already devote a volume to that concert tour?” Yup, and the very first paragraph of the liner notes for this new package concedes that the earlier one collected “what we […]
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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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By Jeff Burger Sometimes it’s difficult to believe that an entire half century has passed since the 1960s. Other times—such as when you watch the frequently surreal Rolling Stones Rock and Roll Circus film–that decade can seem even further in the past than it actually is. In a 1970 Rolling Stone article that is reprinted […]
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As anniversaries and May dates go, this one is special. It was fifty years ago this month that a then seventeen year old named Nils Lofgren walked into the Cellar Door in Washington, DC upon a band called Neil Young and Crazy Horse. The Maryland native approached the singer who handed him his guitar and […]
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by Jeff Burger If you listen to oldies radio or are simply getting old, you probably know of Shirley & Lee as the duo who scored a 1956 Top 20 pop hit (and R&B chart-topper) with “Let the Good Times Roll.” The song appears on countless compilations and is now regarded as a classic of […]
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Back in 1993, Bruce Springsteen guitarist Little Steven—who cofounded Southside Johnny’s Asbury Jukes in the mid 70s—teamed up with Southside to perform an acoustic benefit concert that aired on New York radio. The show, which embraced several of their best-known originals as well as a long menu of well-chosen covers, featured Asbury Jukes guitarist Bobby […]
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By Jeff Burger A few weeks ago, I wrote about The Spirit of Radio, a box set of Bob Dylan interviews and performances dating from as long ago as 1962. Those were early days indeed for the former Mr. Zimmerman, but another collection turns the clock back even further: Carnegie Chapter Hall, which originally appeared […]
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By Jeff Burger Think time machines are the stuff of science fiction? Then you probably haven’t heard the new 60-track Losing Touch with My Mind: Psychedelia in Britain 1986–1990. Like its companion, last year’s 64-track Another Splash of Colour: New Psychedelia in Britain 1980–1985, this collection will speedily carry you back to the late 1960s. The bands on the three-CD anthology—one of […]
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