Archives

A tribute to The Great American Trucking Song, with Red Simpson, Del Reeves, Kay Adams, Dave Dudley, Jim Lauderdale, The Bottle Rockets, etc.

Has mainstream country music ever been any worse than it is right now? Probably, but I just can’t take another Eagles tribute band playing some lame-ass ode to the Bubba lifestyle. Sorry, I [...]

So I get an email from my friends in Berlin asking their Rubber City correspondent to review a UK-produced compilation of Nashville’s groundbreaking country women. Makes perfect sense, right? [...]

Former street singer turned major-label recording artist Ted Hawkins would be 76 today (10/28). Here’s a re-post in his honor. Ever find yourself on a long drive in the middle of the night, [...]

OK, I’m done bitching about mainstream country. It’s like bitching about reality TV or big blockbuster movies or Applebee’s… things I can choose to ignore, thereby narrowing down the list of [...]

Cleveland. Where DJ Alan Freed first coined the phrase “rock ‘n roll” and hosted the form’s coming-out party, the infamous Moondog Coronation Ball in 1952. City that launched the careers of David [...]

What kind of town do you live in, musically speaking? Is it classic rock, country, jazz, polka, Tuvan throat-singing? I’m not referring to the kind of music you hear on the radio. I’m talking [...]

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 [...]

I’m guessing the first drinking song was written not long after the first alcoholic beverage was served. Something about draggin’ stone for the pharaoh – and my baby left me too. In other words, [...]

In the early 1980s, I lived in Cincinnati and edited one of those free entertainment newspapers you see blowing through the streets of big cities throughout the country.  The following piece [...]