Jason & The Scorchers “Absolutely Sweet Marie”
Jason & The Scorchers influenced scores of future bands by blazing an alt-country trail. And they started it all by covering Bob Dylan.... Read More
Bottle Rockets “Better Than Broken”
I lost one of my best friends of the last 20 years this week, the Bottle Rockets, when the band stunningly announced that they were calling it quits. The decision actually came solely from the group’s ornery but always inspirational..... 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
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