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Article first published as Book Review: Composed: A Memoir by Rosanne Cash on Blogcritics. Our last post on living, breathing artists led me to another crisis in confidence. Just what is this [...]

Those of you who’ve stuck with us over the past year might remember a post I wrote a while back called “Tim’s Top Six.” It was a less-than-subtle attempt to prove that I pay attention to music [...]

A 56-year-old rockabilly legend teams up with some hungry young hotshots… throws them 16 hard-bitten songs that are ready to burn… and then lets it rip in an old-school analog studio, where [...]

At what point did we know that the box set was deceased? Was it when the German Bear Family label released a 12-CD collection (with hardcover book) of Pat Boone’s complete ‘50s recordings? Or [...]

Remember the box set? Actually, in a year or two we might be asking ourselves, remember compact discs? I came fairly late to the CD party – which is probably a good thing, because a research team [...]

Ever find yourself on a long drive in the middle of the night, searching for those perfect songs to keep you awake but not wired? There I was, drinking a mocha-infused Starbucks cocktail, almost [...]

Alright, guitar fans. I know all of you have your favorite examples of six-string nirvana – Derek & the Dominos, The Allman Brothers Band at Fillmore East, Stevie Ray Vaughan’s first album, [...]

Sunday morning – a time of worship. And for me, that worship involves a cup of joe, the Sunday Times, and a playlist of soul-soothing music. (Hey, I did 12 years of hard time at parochial [...]

Here’s an album that came and went a couple of years ago, but I keep getting sucked back into its strange vortex. It answers the question, what happens when a fairly twisted French dude records a [...]

I have more than 21,000 songs on my iPod. And I wrap tin foil around my head to keep out the gamma rays. Do you think less of me? I’m referring to the iPod, of course. Normal people would find [...]

Nephew Dan is a busy man – touring the world and all – but he wanted us to check out this awesome clip of Otis Rush in his prime, playing in front of a polite but reverent audience [...]

I’ve played blues harp for years… not on the same level as, say, Charlie Musselwhite, but I can get the attention of a bar full of drunks. One band I played in never seemed to make it [...]

The recent reissue of the Rolling Stones’ classic “Exile on Main St.” made me nostalgic for the days when a new Stones album was something worth arguing about… Beatles or Stones? It’s one of [...]

Brother James takes us to the Dominican Republic – home of the “ripped parrot,” flame-throwing accordionists and the well-greased palm at customs. I will never forget the blast of [...]

I come from a big family of harmony singers. Myself, I can barely sing in unison… with Autotune. When my sister Caroline and I accidentally ended up at the same college for a year, she sat [...]

“This is the story of a love affair between a man and a woman whose backgrounds and experiences, whose cultures and class were so different, that the chances of them even meeting were extremely [...]

In my recent post on guitarist Robert Quine, I pulled together a few personal stories while carefully sidestepping any attempt to define his musical legacy. That’s better left to those who can [...]

Akron is full of entrepreneurs. Some do their work out in the open, others operate on the fringes. My old friend Jim Rauh exists somewhere in between, so when he first talked to me about his [...]

The Cavs crashed and burned, the team’s fragile chemistry in ruins. LeBron’s making noise about leaving town. The Indians can’t hold a lead, and Asdrubal Cabrera broke his arm diving for a ball. [...]

We now have nearly 40 posts completed and properly filed with the internet authorities. Not what you’d call a highly prolific output. But as my sister pointed out, what I lack in frequency I make [...]

This article was first published as “Guilty Pleasures” on Blogcritics.org. It’s all in the ear of the beholder, isn’t it? For a blues hound, a guilty pleasure might be ZZ Top. For a [...]