David Bromberg has played everything with everyone, or at least it seems that way. His profile is deep and wide: Bob Dylan, Levon Helm, George Harrison...
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MetroNews, a site in West Virginia, posted an interesting feature this week on the premiere of a documentary about old time music in and around Clay County...
The sense from “Feel Good Blues” is that this was the Count Basie Band just having a whole of fun. There are smiles all around and Basie talks over...
There is confusion between two sources on when Nina Simone’s debut album, “Little Girl Blue,” was released. On This Day in Music says that it...
Things sometimes have a nice way of coming full circle. Some time ago, my daughter suggested that Tank and the Bangas would be a good subject for a post at...
I’ve often wondered how “Americana” is distinguished from other genres of American music. The answer seems to be that the powers-that-be have...
Taj Mahal is a national treasure. Two albums of his that I recommend are “Giant Steps”/”The Old Folks at Home” and “Ohhh So Good...
The last three paragraphs of this post were published a few years ago, though I changed them to not look odd after Dr. John’s death. With some...
Blitzen Trapper, a band from Portland, OR, has been around since 2000. The high point was a two page feature in Rolling Stone in 2008. The band seems to be on...
The seventy-fifth anniversary of D-Day (my dad was at Omaha Beach) and the deaths of Leon Redbone and Dr. John got me thinking about the passage of time. A...
“All Down the Line,” a great Rolling Stones song, probably is in the band’s second tier in terms of popularity and recognition. It’s...
Reading Music
The stories of the great bands and musicians are fascinating. Musicians as a group are brilliant, but often troubled. The combination of creativity and drama makes for great reading.
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Here are some books to check out.
Duke Ellington brought class, sophistication and style to jazz which, until that point, was proudly unpolished and raucous. His story is profound. The author, Terry Teachout, also wrote "Pops," the acclaimed bio of Louis Armstrong. Click here or on the image.
What else is there to say? Here is the story behind every song written by The Beatles. Click here or on the image.
The Grateful Dead don't get enough credit for the profound nature of its lyrics. Many of the band's songs are driven by a deep and literate Americana ("I'm Uncle Sam/That's who I am/Been hidin' out/In a rock and roll band" and "Majordomo Billy Bojangles/Sit down and have a drink with me/What's this about Alabama/Keeps comin' back to me?").
David Dodd's exhaustive study tells the story, song by song. Click here or on the image.