Monday, November 2 2009
Keeping Some Dirt Under the Grass: John Hartford and the Roots of Newgrass
At a time when country music was shining like a new dime, John Hartford and his collaborators were digging into old time music to find something new.
Thursday, October 1 2009
Kris Kristofferson: Leonard Cohen-esque
Kristofferson at times evokes Leonard Cohen, with a voice that pulls the listener into the depths of darkened barrooms, whether to share a sob story or a bit of tongue-in-cheek sagacity. His 20th album is out soon.
Monday, August 3 2009
The Ghetto of Genre
Proehl discovered the secret Supremes country album. Now all the genre-restricting straightjackets bounding country music are off.
Friday, June 26 2009
Five Days in March: Uncle Tupelo’s Quiet Revolution
Wilco’s Jeff Tweedy may have left country behind, but in 1992, he helped redefine the sound of alt-country.
Thursday, June 4 2009
To Lefty to Willie to Phossy with Love
Even in railing against the influence of another, the musician must admit that influence and its inescapability. Like Br’er Rabbit and the tar baby, every blow struck just brings the two closer together.
Monday, April 27 2009
Killing Him Didn’t Make Her Love Go Away
Violence in music begets violence in music: female artists reclaim the murder ballad.
Monday, March 30 2009
Time for a Repress: ‘The Gilded Palace of Sin’
For people lucky enough to stumble upon the Flying Burrito Brothers, they made country cool. The music's simplicity and emotive directness, often derided and mocked by hipsters, could now be valid, vital and mean something to a modern audience.
Monday, March 2 2009
“Gone Country” and Hoping to Make It Back Alive
Going to Nashville to become country at this point is a little like going to New York City to become the Velvet Underground.
Monday, February 2 2009
Hank’s Other Side: Religion, Radio, and the Roots of Country Music
Hank Williams' recordings for WSM's Mother's Best Flour radio show challenge the modern listener's idea that country music reserves Jesus for Sunday morning.
Tuesday, December 9 2008
CMAs and the End of Genre or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Kid Rock
This year's CMA winners point to a future where the only thing necessary to be classified as country is a desire to join in and sing.
Monday, October 20 2008
Countrypolitik: What’s Right and What’s Left About Country Music
At a first glance, country music seems traditionally allied with the sort of down-home, small-town ethics and values touted by the Republicans. But the politics of country music has never been a simple red or blue.
