"You know, a bunch of years from now, all these people, all these assholes are gonna be writing about all this shit I write. I don't know where the fuck it comes from. I don't know what the fuck it's about. And they're gonna write about what it's about. *chuckles*" -Joan Baez recalls a conversation... Continue Reading →

What is it that makes an artist special? Certainly, talent plays a part: no amount of hard work would have made Sinatra "The Voice" without his God-given ability to sing. Naturally, hard work and practice allow an artist to grow and improve their abilities over time. Of course, luck plays into it, where an artist... Continue Reading →

Today, few figures in Rock and Roll are as beloved as Bruce Springsteen, but that wasn't always the case. For his debut and sophomore albums, Greetings from Asbury Park, N.J. and The Wild, the Innocent & the E Street Shuffle, Columbia Records marketed their spirited young signee as "The New Bob Dylan" and as a... Continue Reading →

"An artist, if he is truly an artist, is only interested in one thing and that is to wake up the minds of men, to have mankind and womankind realize that there is something greater than what we see on the surface." -Marvin Gaye What's Going On is the 11th studio album by the "Prince... Continue Reading →

As it exists today, R&B is inextricably connected to hip-hop music, but it wasn't always that way. Originally closer to pure rock and roll music at the hands of early greats Little Richard, Fats Domino, Ray Charles, shades of Chuck Berry, and of course the Turners, Ike and Tina, the genre evolved slowly and surely... Continue Reading →

My preparation for writing this blog was loads of fun, for many reasons, but I really just couldn't help but be overwhelmed by my nostalgia for it. Released in 2011 by English singer-songwriter, Adele, 21 was absurdly successful and, as a stupid 11 year old who's entire musical experience was via the radio in Mom's... Continue Reading →

"Oh everybody wants Frank" the cashier and owner of Jellybeans in Corunna said to me as I purchased a used copy of Strangers in the Night by Frank Sinatra on vinyl. "You know who I really like?" he asked, not caring if I really wanted to hear what he had to say, "Dean Martin. My... Continue Reading →

As a talent, as a creative, as a personality, or as an icon, they really don't make them quite like Freddie Mercury anymore. Which is not to say, of course, that we don't have great singers or clever songwriters anymore, but when it comes to comparisons I think most of us would be hard pressed... Continue Reading →

Janis Joplin was a unique talent. Few voices have been as iconic as hers and it is not by accident that 50 years after her death her music continues to be beloved by old fans and discovered by new ones. Having only released 2 solo albums before coming to an early demise, famously, at the... Continue Reading →

I recall a conversation that I once had with my cousin Maggie, a much more frequent listener of the women of country music than I, in which Maggie remarked that female country music is almost an entirely different genre from male country. You know what? I think she's 100% correct. Not only is themes and... Continue Reading →