You’ve likely never heard of Dan Penn and, if that’s the case, one reason is probably that you’re not the sort of person who reads songwriting credits. If you were, you’d know this Alabama native from the many popular songs he has written or co-written—the Box Tops’ “Cry Like a Baby,” Janis Joplin’s “A Woman […]
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, […]
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Grooves & Cuts – December 2024 – #5 Part Two: Here are the real names of several older major artists. Some wisely changed their names for the sake of their entertainment value & others could’ve kept their birth names. Lady Gaga is Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta; Madonna is Madonna Louise Ciccone; Tony Bennett was Anthony […]
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Music Reviews: George Harrison Living in the Material World (Anniversary Edition), plus the Blasters and More George Harrison was dubbed the “quiet Beatle,” but he began his post–Fab Four career with a bang, releasing 1970’s chart-topping three-LP All Things Must Pass, which some fans and critics consider the best solo album ever released by any […]
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Bentley’s Bandstand: November 2024 By Bill Bentley Jeremie Albino, OUR TIME IN THE SUN. Sometimes there is a musician who walks into the front of the crowds and makes their presence well-known on the first verse of the opening song on a new album. It’s instantaneous, and can’t be plotted. It’s because the artist has […]
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Music & Book Reviews: Continental Drifters, plus Phil Alvin, John Surge, and Bento Box Trio The Continental Drifters are drifting into the spotlight more than two decades after they disbanded, thanks to a flurry of September releases. First came the 15-track White Noise & Lightning: The Best of Continental Drifters, which features material originally issued […]
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Bentley’s Bandstand: May 2024 BY BILL BENTLEY Eric Bibb, LIVE AT THE SCALA THEATRE. There are some blues singers that are so unique that it’s hard to really connect them with what blues is often heard as. Eric Bibb has always walked his own side of the street, and the sheer fact thar he’s still […]
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