Counting Crows “A Long December” (1996)
Music City, matted hair, and a message of hope: A short story via Nashville.... Read More
Alejandro Escovedo “Bottom Of The World” (2012)
You never know where you might meet up with a famous musician at South by Southwest, maybe even the granddaddy of the festival.... Read More
Oasis “Champagne Supernova” (1995)
They recorded some of rock's greatest songs, but broke up over a decade ago because the two leaders, brawling brothers, just couldn't take each other. Could Oasis ever be together again?... Read More
Billy Joe Shaver “I’m Just An Old Chunk Of Coal” (1993)
A true giant of Outlaw Country music and embodiment of its ragged lifestyle, is now gone. Still, Billy Joe Shaver will live forever; how else but through his "best of the best" songs.... Read More
Bottle Rockets “I’ve Been Dying” (1998)
Aptly capturing the 2020 year, with lyrics written over two decades prior, the Bottle Rockets do as they reliably do: out of a boulder of misery they can still chisel a rock and roll jewel.... Read More
Bob Seger & The Silver Bullet Band “Like A Rock” (1986)
So much of life is about perspective, and so much of one’s perspective changes as they go through life. Um, I think Bob Seger did a better job of explaining.... Read More
Thin Lizzy “Jailbreak” (1976)
Thin Lizzy's statuesque leader Phil Lynott, a beloved son of Dublin, and how he unexpectedly helped guide a long-awaited first local pint of Guinness. ... Read More
Cream “SWLABR” (1967)
The first rock supergroup with one of the great guitar intros in history, and a song title explained, if not pronounced.... Read More
ZZ Top “Blue Jean Blues” (1975)
..This is Billy Gibbons putting on a blues guitar clinic, of restraint and intensity. He’s not exactly holding back but he’s not showing off either. It’s all tone and feel, with attention to every note and lick, and the perfect intention..... Read More
Elvis Costello “Accidents Will Happen” (1979)
Elvis Costello has been a lot of things in his astounding forty-years-and-counting musical career: post-punk prototype, new wave renegade, encyclopedic musical raconteur, image-bending iconoclast, standards revivalist, acerbic pop culture polemicist, hook-mastering marvel, and whip-smart wordsmith. What he has never been is sloppy. So whether it was a quirk of his songwriting style, or a subtle...... Read More