With the exception of his final years of deteriorating health, it would seem far-fetched to describe Elvis Presley in any of his professional incarnations as Continue Reading

“The reason American art is so good and holds one’s attention is that it is built on the underlying psychosis that results from truly fending Continue Reading

“…we’re fighting slogans with slogans. We’re trying to unify and you can’t do that by being convoluted and murky. This isn’t an essay in the Continue Reading

60. Thin Lear – Wooden Cave [EggHunt Records] Queens-based singer-songwriter Matt Longo, who records under the moniker Thin Lear, may only be in his mid-30s, Continue Reading

25. Frank Jacket – You Say Adios (Mula) Chilean artist Frank Jacket is a living testament to the far-reaching quality of honest-to-goodness classic country movement. Inspired by Continue Reading

10. Bridget St. John – Ask Me No Questions (1969, Dandelion) Singer-songwriter Bridget St. John became a British cult figure in the wake of her critically-lauded sophomore LP Continue Reading

Yes, the band created the template for heavy metal and thrash, but even now, it’s instructive to acknowledge just how unique Black Sabbath were when Continue Reading

In the 1960s, there was a band that changed the way popular music was made forever. They challenged conventional ideas regarding harmony, form, and instrumentation Continue Reading

Kelsey Waldon said she feels a special responsibility as a Southerner to improve the human rights of people living in America. She has cited racial Continue Reading

When it comes to the rather expansive catalog of Tom Waits, there tend to be two flagship albums in the running for the title of Continue Reading

These days it seems that all you hear in the news is about how America is divided. Understandably many see nothing but doom at the Continue Reading

20. Broken Social Scene – You Forgot It in People [Arts & Crafts/Paper Bag] The diffidently-sung “Anthem for a Seventeen Year-Old Girl” will reach you, even if Continue Reading

40. Bright Eyes – I’m Wide Awake, It’s Morning [Saddle Creek] Released in 2005 alongside the stylistically opposed Digital Ash in a Digital Urn, I’m Wide Awake, Continue Reading

Excerpt of Chapter Five from Black Diamond Queens: African American Women and Rock and Roll by Maureen Mahon reprinted with permission by Duke University Press Continue Reading

100. Nickel Creek – Why Should the Fire Die? [Sugar Hill] Why Should the Fire Die? is both the title of Nickel Creek’s best 2000’s record and Continue Reading

Sometime between the home recording of “Crawling Back to You” on Wildflowers & All the Rest and the version that ended up on Wildflowers itself, Continue Reading

10. Kanye West – 808s & Heartbreak (2008) We should have known better than to underestimate Kanye West. After a multi-platinum trilogy of albums, 808s & Heartbreak Continue Reading

Peter Frampton has certainly lived the life of a rock star to the fullest. With so many ups and downs, experiences that ranged from Rocky Continue Reading

There’s a passage in music historian Peter Guralnick’s new anthology Looking to Get Lost: Adventures in Music and Writing that rings bells with me. It Continue Reading

1. “Southern Accents” – Southern Accents (1985) For many fans Southern Accents is a mixed bag of song quality, as it contains some of Petty’s Continue Reading