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
Charley Crockett “Run Horse Run” (2020)
Through a Texan drawl and a magnificent set of choppers, Charley Crockett sings of the old west in contemporary style.... Read More
Whitney Rose “In A Rut” (2020)
“Don’t ask me how I got this way / Oh, that’s asking too much” cries Whitney Rose amidst the whirlwind chorus as she rattles off the title line ‘I’m In A Rut’ an appropriately repetitive 28 total times. Only her delivery is so rapid-fire, gaps collapsed between the few words and syllables..... Read More
Tyler Childers “Ever Lovin’ Hand” (2019)
“Seinfeld” had a whole episode (“The Contest”) about a certain solitary pursuit, so, I guess, why not a pop song. The Divinyls’ sultry 1990 hit ‘I Touch Myself’ certainly addressed the subject most directly, but many more only slightly less obvious allusions have existed than one might expect: ‘Dancing With Myself’... Read More
Alejandro Escovedo “Faith” (2010)
To date, my musings in this blog have only covered music, and at times my personal relationship to it. I hope any readers may abide me a momentary detour, however, if for no other reason than that it eventually ties to a fantastic song by Alejandro Escovedo on which Bruce Springsteen also prominently appears.... Read More
Marcus King Band “Where I’m Headed”
Occasionally I come upon a new artist whose musical capacity – let’s say, whose musical beauty – is almost literally staggering, so as to challenge finding a proper description or appreciation. I felt this way a few years ago when I first discovered a heretofore unknown 20-year-old named Marcus King.... Read More
American Aquarium “The World Is On Fire” (2018)
While a fan-favorite standard-bearer of the Americana and Outlaw Country scene, American Aquarium isn’t the kind of band you’re likely to see on a Grammy stage or to receive much mainstream notoriety. Nevertheless, I suggest this as being a song for our times, our difficult and confusing times... Read More
Chris Stapleton “Midnight Train To Memphis”
I got back to the garden. Not MSG, not that garden, but the one about which Joni Mitchell wrote and Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young most famously sang: at the erstwhile home of Yasgur’s Farm, the mythical “garden” of Woodstock. This summer (this week, in fact) is exactly 50 years since “The Summer Of Love”...... Read More
Chris Shiflett “Sticks & Stones” (2017)
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... Read More