There are just too many great “summer” songs to mention, but my best-of catalog would at least include ‘Summertime Blues’ by Eddie Cochran, ‘In The Summertime’ by Mungo Jerry (what a name), ‘Hot Fun In The Summertime’ by Sly & The Family Stone, ‘Summer Wind’ by Frank Sinatra, ‘Cruel … More The Lovin’ Spoonful “Summer In The City” (1966)
Chris Shiflett has, for around 20 years, been the guitarist in two different bands, with two vastly different levels of notoriety: Me First and the Gimme Gimmes, the greatest punk rock cover band ever (seriously, they are), and another one you’re more likely to have heard of, the Foo Fighters. Most recently, he’s set off … More Chris Shiflett “Sticks & Stones” (2017)
Something incredible happens when you tune in Sirius Radio channel 31. Supernatural, even. Tom Petty is still alive. Still there nonchalantly talking about music – his own, and that of multitudes of other artists. Still rambling from topic to topic in an excited but unhurried drawl. Still irreverent, a bit … More Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers “The Last DJ” (2002)
At the time that Johnny Winter signed his first recording contract with Columbia Records in 1968, his advance of $600,000 was reportedly the largest in the history of the music industry. Throughout his life, he did most everything else to excess as well … More Johnny Winter “Illustrated Man” (1991)
Dan Baird is everything I love about rock and roll. “Three chords and a cloud of dust,” as his website proclaims. Including his stint as a solo artist, he’s occupied the lead spot in four of my favorite bands of the last 4 decades. If you wanted to package up his work in a time … More Dan Baird & Homemade Sin “Licka Sense” (2017)
Chilling is the only word to describe the experience of listening to this beautiful and poignant song under its heart-wrenching circumstances. Just try to imagine: After all of the miles he had covered, Gregg Allman confronted the fact that – unlike one of his and the Allman Brothers most famous lines – the road does not, in … More Gregg Allman “My Only True Friend” (2017)
I guess the biggest of the “lies” here was that this delightful, melodic and catchy little song was not actually recorded by 4 mop-topped Beatles in Liverpool, England – as one might quite naturally assume – but by a garage band named The Knickerbockers led by a couple of brothers from Bergenfield, New Jersey. Apocryphal … More The Knickerbockers “Lies” (1965)
Their recording output was exactly one record. Not one album, mind you, but one song – a 45 single. And yet, last week Leigh Harris, aka Little Queenie, was inducted into the … More Little Queenie & The Percolators “My Darlin’ New Orleans” (1981)
Satchmo posed the enduring question: Do you know what it means to miss New Orleans? Can you conjure the sound of the Streetcar clickety-clacking it’s way up St. Charles Avenue? Could you spend hours listening to a brass band play both in a crowded club on Frenchmen Street or sitting alone in Jackson Square? Do you … More Louis Armstrong “Do You Know What It Means To Miss New Orleans” (1947)
As part of their 2018 series marking the tricentennial of the city of New Orleans and highlighting “300 people who have made New Orleans New Orleans”, The Times-Picayune, the city’s local newspaper, ran a feature on beloved local trumpeter … More Kermit Ruffins “Drop Me Off In New Orleans” (2001) [performed 2012]
