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Donald Gibson's Blog (17)
Adam Cohen: The Man Comes Around
His father may as well be Odysseus for all the reverence and mythologies ascribed to his lineage, but today Adam Cohen comes across as having struggled less with the notion of living in Leonard Cohen’s shadow than with living up to his own artistic potential.
That's not to say the 39-year-old singer/songwriter has relished contending with the sort of scrutiny other progenies of influential figures so often face.
In fact for years he resisted it, embellishing some of…
ContinueAdded by Donald Gibson on September 4, 2012 at 1:30am — 2 Comments
Singer/Songwriter Megan Reilly: Music and Motherhood
“I know when I’m writing something and I just get this feeling that comes over me,” singer/songwriter Megan Reilly explains. “And that’s really spiritual and powerful.
“But it doesn’t always come,” she says in the next breath, “and that’s frustrating.”
The Memphis native is no stranger to the vicissitudes of her muse, or to the patience it requires at its most elusive and unpredictable. However, when…
ContinueAdded by Donald Gibson on August 22, 2012 at 8:30pm — 1 Comment
Interview: Listen Up, It's Buddy Guy
“It’s kind of scary,” says Buddy Guy, his voice quivering with ominous unease. “Blues music is like an endangered species almost.
“The few of us that’s still left,” he adds, “they don’t play our music for some reason much anymore, hardly any.”
Guy, 75, knows of which he speaks. In a narrative steeped with down-home candor reflective of his Louisiana roots, his new autobiography, When I Left Home: My…
ContinueAdded by Donald Gibson on June 25, 2012 at 12:00am — 3 Comments
Exclusive Premiere: Hurray For The Riff Raff - "Look Out Mama"
Sounding like something The Band would’ve had playing on a Victrola while making Music From Big Pink in Woodstock, the title track from Hurray For The Riff Raff’s upcoming LP Look Out Mama is a dustbowl cluster of folk, roots, and blues. Singer/songwriter Alynda Lee Segarra is the calm in…
Added by Donald Gibson on April 16, 2012 at 8:30am — No Comments
Good Old War: Getting Better All The Time
If the members of Good Old War share an abiding ambition for the music they make, it’s that each new record should be better than the last one. With their latest, Come Back as Rain (Sargent House), the indie-folk trio—Keith Goodwin (vocals/guitar/keyboards), Dan Schwartz (vocals/guitar), and Tim Arnold (vocals/drums)—nurture the fluent harmonies and shimmering acoustic guitars that distinguish their sound while…
Added by Donald Gibson on March 14, 2012 at 7:30am — No Comments
An Interview with Bill Frisell
Once guitarist and composer Bill Frisell began working on an album in tribute to John Lennon, memories and emotions he'd long associated with the late legend's music, both with The Beatles and as a solo artist, caught up to him. "Thinking about almost 50 years ago hearing some of those things for the first time," he says, "it ended up being kind of a heavy thing to do."In collaborating with a few friends – guitarist… Continue
Added by Donald Gibson on September 5, 2011 at 9:30am — 1 Comment
An Interview with Steve Cropper
Like the most righteous of revelations, the one Steve Cropper experienced as young boy was a watershed. “I was probably a good 12 or 13 years old before I was allowed to listen to a radio,” the guitarist recalls. “I heard gospel music for the first time and it just, I don’t know, it just took me by whatever. It was the greatest stuff I’d ever heard. It was good-feeling music and it was very honest music; and that’s just something that drew me into it.”
Cropper…
Added by Donald Gibson on July 14, 2011 at 1:30pm — 1 Comment
In Review: Emmylou Harris - Hard Bargain
Few artists can render a song with as much unaffected grace and sincerity as Emmylou Harris.It’s a gift she’s conveyed time and again as an interpreter, covering Texas troubadours (Townes Van Zandt, Rodney Crowell) and Nashville traditionalists (Harlan Howard, Billy Sherrill) with equal conviction. And that authenticity highlights her extensive catalog, one which has not only challenged her audience throughout her… Continue
Added by Donald Gibson on April 27, 2011 at 7:00pm — 1 Comment
Getting to Know Singer/Songwriter Haroula Rose
Haroula Rose sings with the spirit of a gypsy soul, always searching for meaning or a seed of truth in each fleeting moment. Her voice is at once intimate and solacing, its gentle inflections betraying a subtle, plaintive sway that enriches moments of guitar-driven folk with the pathos of classic country.
She grew up just outside Chicago, lives now in Los Angeles, and considering even a bit of what’s shaped her…
ContinueAdded by Donald Gibson on April 7, 2011 at 6:00pm — 2 Comments
Artist Profile: Singer/Songwriter Kina Grannis
The days of aspiring artists soliciting demo tapes to record labels through the mail are, if not obsolete, then certainly on the decline. The internet has not only revolutionized how consumers acquire music, but also how technologically savvy artists make their music most accessible. In recent years artists… Continue
Added by Donald Gibson on April 1, 2011 at 12:11am — No Comments
In Review: Diana Pops - For Bright Minds In Dark Corners
Canadian singer/songwriter Diana Pops makes a provocative and promising first impression with her recently released debut EP, For Bright Minds In Dark Corners.With her own rich piano playing at the forefront, she draws on rock, classical and melodic-pop elements to evoke a warm, sullen vibe, giving the four songs on this disc a unifying, austere distinction. Likewise, her voice is impassioned and in… Continue
Added by Donald Gibson on March 1, 2011 at 6:30pm — No Comments
An Interview with Nicole Atkins
After a near-four-year stretch of setbacks, false starts, and irreconcilable differences both professional and personal, singer/songwriter Nicole Atkins is back in a big way this week with her sophomore LP, Mondo Amore. On this, the follow-up her 2007 debut, Neptune City, she paints a canvas of kaleidoscopic rockers ("You Come to Me," "This is For Love"), sentimental weepers ("Hotel… Continue
Added by Donald Gibson on February 9, 2011 at 5:30pm — 1 Comment
An Interview with Daniel Lanois
GRAMMY®-winning producer Daniel Lanois has worked with some of music's most significant artists, but in collaborating with Neil Young on this year's explosive Le Noise, he found a kindred…
Added by Donald Gibson on December 27, 2010 at 11:35am — 3 Comments
An Interview with Jimmy Webb
The songs of Jimmy Webb occupy an indelible place in popular music. From the ones that everybody knows — "Wichita Lineman," "Galveston," "By The Time I Get To Phoenix," and “MacArthur Park” among them — to such standout performances as “Up, Up And Away” (The Fifth…
Added by Donald Gibson on December 20, 2010 at 4:30am — 3 Comments
An Interview with Stan Ridgway
His songs are like character sketches of the human condition, and in a career spanning thirty years — first with Wall of Voodoo, the band most known for its 1982 hit, "Mexican Radio," then as a solo artist — Stan Ridgway has produced a string of adventurous works that have endeared him to discerning critics and fans alike.
On his latest, Neon Mirage, he turns… Continue
Added by Donald Gibson on December 2, 2010 at 4:00am — 2 Comments
An Interview with Christina Perri
Despite any accoutrements that have accompanied her seemingly overnight success, Christina Perri is at heart a resourceful songwriter, musician, and vocalist with a deep, long-held commitment to her craft.
While at work on her full-length debut (due in Spring 2011), the 24-year-old Philadelphia native has released a preview of sorts with the five-song EP, The Ocean Way… Continue
Added by Donald Gibson on November 22, 2010 at 1:34pm — No Comments
An Interview with Marty Stuart
As one of country music’s most venerable artists and ambassadors, Marty Stuart wasn’t about to stand idly by while witnessing what he saw as the integrity of its heritage being compromised.
“The roots of country music were being ignored and disregarded,” says Stuart, a native of Philadelphia, Mississippi, “and it was slipping away. It seemed to me that…
Added by Donald Gibson on November 10, 2010 at 5:00am — 9 Comments
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