The photos in the clip above were taken for the Farm Services Administration by John Vachon. This is Woody Guthrie’s centennial year, which is...
Category - Folk
The amount of talent on YouTube and similar sites is astounding. Many of the performers are not complete unknowns, but don’t have national followings. A...
There is a very nice piece in The Washington Post about The Newport Folk Festival, which starts runs from July 28 to the 29th at Rhode Island’s Fort Adams...
This site offers all the information that anyone can ask for about the great Gordon Lightfoot. It links to a number of other sites. One of the sites that is...
Happy Memorial Day. Here are some essential songs, including Grand Funk Railroad’s timeless classic “We’re an American Band.” Among...
The Daily Music Break is reposting some great music that appeared earlier. This post — with a different version of the same song — originally was...
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.
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.
Recent Comments