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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Millions of words have been written about The Grateful Dead. Indeed, it’s hard to think of a band that is more of a lightning rod in a way that is to a...
Here is a simple question: Why is Eric Clapton a great guitar player? To me, the right question isn’t “Why is Clapton great?” Instead, the...
Mountain played Woodstock and was an important band through the early part of the 1970s. The centers of attention were guitarist Leslie West and bassist Felix...
Among John Calu's memories are bringing flowers to Sarah Vaughan after a Monterey Jazz Festival performance, listening to Miles Davis backstage, chauffeuring...
Baseball can be used to explain just about anything. Jerron “Blind Boy” Paxton presents a problem that somebody who runs a music blog runs into...
A couple of friends said that somebody asked to jam with him and he should spend the evening at their studio. How was he to know that the someone was Etta...
There are lots of superbly talented musicians. But most genres have a single focal point: The Beatles and Louis Armstrong are two examples. Jimi Hendrix fills...
Billie Eilish is a teenage who has made it big. It's very important to listen to what she is singing about.
Above is “Feel It Still,” a great song from the band Portugal. The Man. The oddest thing about the group almost certainly is its name. There are...
Earl St. Clair — actually Earl Johnson II — is a talented young singer, songwriter and producer. NPR has a brief story on St. Clair, who was born...
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.