Bob was born and raised in the Northeastern US. He graduated from SUNY Geneseo with degrees in English and Philosophy and completed his MA in English at Boston University. Since escaping graduate school, he’s resided in Ithaca, operating No Radio Records, an independent record store and performance space, as well as DJing under the name AutoMatic Buffalo. His first book, The Gilded Palace of Sin, on the slight rise and quick fall of the Flying Burrito Brothers, is due out later this year from Continuum Press.
Features
Friday, March 20 2009
Stay All Night (Stay a Little Longer): One More Time with the King of Western Swing
Today, many performers play a revivalist form of Western Swing, but even more may be tipping a hat to Bob Wills without even knowing it. Chomping down on his cigar, Wills and his legacy strut around the stage of musical history, rarely taking the lead but now and then giving a holler of approval.
Columns
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.
Reviews
Tuesday, July 28 2009
Secret Identity Crisis by Matthew J. Costello
In a move fairly common to comics scholarship, Costello at times overstates the case for superhero comics as a product of their times rather than a product of a particular individual’s creative choices.
Wednesday, July 22 2009
Frankly, My Dear by Molly Haskell
Alas, this does little to ease a skeptic’s misgivings about a film whose scope and beauty at times feel like a Technicolor gloss on one of the darkest periods in American history.
Monday, April 20 2009
William Eggleston: Photographer
A museum tour guide analysis of Eggleston’s work -- exactly the type of analysis both Eggleston and his work staunchly resist.
Monday, April 20 2009
The Spy Collection Megaset
Rather like the the pu pu platter, there’s too much of one thing, not enough of another in this collection of British spy TV
Monday, March 2 2009
Our Man in Havana
A lost gem from the team that crafted The Third Man finally shows up on DVD.
