Call it the Lambchop conundrum, or perhaps the Willard Grant Conspiracy conspiracy. In bands with a large membership, oftentimes the music actually feels less cluttered than that of smaller outfits. The more players, the more room to maneuver; that has […]
“It was so different back then, with the word-of-mouth thing. People weren’t looking it up on the internet, but were actually reading a magazine.” — Laurie Stirratt You can feel a joyful yearning wash over the Atlanta audience as guitarist […]
FLATT’S TOP GUITAR: Husband-and-wife country greats Marty Stuart and Connie Smith were joined by Earl Scruggs, Vince Gill, Ricky Skaggs, Eddie Stubbs and Harry Stinson in mid-February to help welcome Lester Flatt’s historic Martin guitar into the Country Music Hall […]
The year must have been 1991, the Gulf War was on, and Billy Bragg was giving a concert at Washington University in St. Louis. I was studying English literature but spent most of my time on a campus campaign against […]
One thing I’ll always admire Boy George for was his statement that he hated white people. True, it was just aimed to shock tabloid readers, but his explanation was that white was the absence of color, and without color, life […]
There may be no more impenetrable roadblock to the enjoyment and evaluation of music (and art generally) than the matter of taste. Yet while it’s always lurking about even when it goes unmentioned — call it the Taste Card — […]
This column has always been called “Film At 11,” in part for its location here in the “back of the book.” This last edition in print feels more like “Film at Five Before Midnight.” It has been a privilege to […]
Where to begin, this ending? With the thing that has always mattered most: The music. In the spring of 1998, the fourteenth edition of this magazine proclaimed Alejandro Escovedo to be Artist Of The Decade. It was a puckish thing […]
The last few days in the rush to deadline are always hectic. There’s far too much to do in too little time, and the candle gets burnt at both ends…but, truth be told, that’s also what has always made this […]
Goin’ where there’s no depression: Thanks, to all of you… I found No Depression magazine several years ago. It was a magazine that was written for me. Every two months I would look forward with great anticipation to the next […]
