Townes Van Zandt is a legendary singer songwriter. To some degree, he was the stereotype: A brilliant writer who was not hugely successful during his lifetime...
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Country Music Television notes that today would have been the 73rd birthday of country music star Tammy Wynette. Here is more on Wynette, who was known as the...
Blaze Foley was a highly eccentric but brilliant singer/song writer who lived and died in Austin. He led a hard life that came to a tragic end in 1989. Check...
Brenda Lee was born Brenda Mae Tarpley in Atlanta in 1944. Lee was a bigger star than most people would guess today: She was the top selling female singer of...
The Jack Grace Band — which bills itself as playing “experimental country art rock” — is a lot of fun. I heard “It Was a Really...
Writer singer, songwriter and producer T Bone Burnett has been on the scene since the late 1970s. He is perhaps the foremost crossover artist between the music...
Being the son or daughter of a celebrity seems to be a particular burden. Especially if the parent is extremely famous and if the kid goes into the same line...
The Nashville Scene this week reported that Mac Wiseman, Hank Cochran and Ronnie Milsap were inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame. Here is more on...
Editor’s note: TDMB is reposting great music from the early days of the site. This was originally posted on April 20, 2012 and some of the details are out of...
Lucinda Williams, a singer-songwriter born in 1953 in Lake Charles, Louisiana, mixes elements of blues, folk and country music. Her father, Miller, was a poet...
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.