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...
Tag - rock music
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...
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...
The Daily Music Break is going to publish an eBook entitled “Beyond Boundaries: Great Music Beyond Eras and Boundaries” next week. The eBook...
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...
Like Neil Young, Bruce Springsteen has managed to remain relevant as a musician and as a lyricist despite being a superstar. Being a superstar likely leads to...
When I used to go to bars frequently–this is a long time ago–once in a while a band would rise above the very respectable, predictable and often...
“Check It Out” is a new and frequent feature pointing to good music found on the Internet. Chuck Berry was a hit machine who was one of the...
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.