While there's no denying that Heroes (Willie Nelson's first album back on Sony Music) and Let's Face The Music and Dance are very entertaining records, one has to wonder how long it will be before Willie Nelson – arguably one of the greatest, most...
If the measure of a songwriter's talent and influence can be found in the list of performers who agree to appear on a tribute album to him, then it's possible that John Denver might be the dark horse winner for being the most influential songwriter of his...
On Mosquito, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs seemed determined to tap into our deepest fears. Just a glance down the song titles reads like a list of phobias: “Sacrilege,” “Subway,” “Mosquito,” “Slave,” “Buried Alive,”...
I'm not much of a hip hop-head. Maybe I haven't given it enough of a shot, but most of it just doesn't connect with me. I'm not going to try to debate or explain that here, I just bring it up to point out that, while the name Dan the Automator does ring...
The concept of “dance-punk" has always been a bit difficult for some punks to grasp/swallow. Some readers may scoff and say that's because those punks simply can't dance (this is possible), but think about it: one of the key elements of punk has...
Anyone familiar with the history of musicians who try to make the transition from a punk label (like Epitaph or Fat Wreck Chords, for example) to a major conglomerate will understand why both Frank Turner's fans and the singer's critics are looking so awfully...
As much as punk rock has polished up its image in recent years and no matter how many punk rockers aspire to be “artists” now in the twenty-first century, punk rock music still lives, breathes and thrives best in clubs in front of a live audience. Some...
In the early twentieth century, a few very bold writers (including Earnest Hemingway and F. Scott Fitzgerald) attempted to illustrate in their writing that there is no hell worse than the drudgery of modern life. It's easy to understand why those writers were...
These days, every musician over a certain age (and some well under it) seems to be writing their memoirs. But, if you're a musician, why write them? Why not sing them? James Cotton, a blues harp player who has been recording for over fifty years, has done just that...
There is a recurring debate in the art world, especially in art criticism, about how important biography is to understanding a piece of artwork. Does knowing that Fitzgerald was unwilling to propose to Zelda until he felt financially secure help us understand The Great...