Archives

Here’s a re-post in honor of the late, great Cowboy Jack Clement (briefly interviewed below) and Jerry Lee Lewis: His Own Story – an excellent new bio by Rick Bragg (excerpt here). I’m not [...]

With all the hoopla over the Rubber City’s favorite sons winning three Grammys (and a fourth for Dan for Producer of the Year), we shouldn’t overlook the fact that Lightnin’ [...]

(Listen to Eddie Cochran while you read.) Start with a good mystery. Then throw in some intimate and revealing images from the early years of rock ‘n roll. Therein lies the beauty of “1950s Radio [...]

Here’s a soundtrack for you multi-taskers out there: MDQ I’m not a Broadway musical kind of guy. I blame it on the gritty, gut-wrenching films I watched as a kid, like Mean Streets and The [...]

How many of you are heading to Akron for the holidays? Actually, once you get past the startling lack of color and “fresh as the driven slush” look of our winter landscapes, this time of year has [...]

Are there fan clubs for dead blues guys? I should start one for Lightnin’ Hopkins. I never get tired of the signature guitar riffs he played over and over again throughout his 50-some years as a [...]

I recently read that Jack White (White Stripes, Dead Weather, Raconteurs) produced a new album by rockabilly queen Wanda Jackson. Sounded like the perfect deal to me – love White and love Wanda. [...]

‘Tis the season for holiday music playlists.  As “the guy who collects music,” I’ve received a number of Christmas-mix CDs over the years from friends, co-workers and family members.  And, sad to [...]

The cover song is a proud musical tradition – and it dates back centuries. Let’s face it, many popular tunes and entire forms of music wouldn’t exist today without the act of appropriating [...]