Steve Leftridge has written about music, film, and books for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch, No Depression, and PlaybackSTL. He holds an MA in literature from the University of Missouri, for whom he is an adjunct teacher, and he’s been teaching high school English and film in St. Louis since 1998.
Features
Wednesday, December 7 2011
The Best Bluegrass of 2011
While last year was distinguished by a heavy dose of newgrass, jamgrass, and progressive bluegrass, 2011 was defined by a return to traditionalism.
Thursday, December 16 2010
The Best Americana Music of 2010
2010 was a splendid year for Americana releases; then again, that’s something you can say about any year given the sprawling range of sub-genres under Americana's vast umbrella, a point reinforced again by this year’s Top Ten.
Wednesday, December 15 2010
The Best Bluegrass of 2010
All in all, it was a banner year for bluegrass. With so many of the genre's most exciting bands in action in 2010, bluegrass fans were offered quite a smorgasboard.
Friday, July 2 2010
Bonnaroo 2010: A Rock Smorgasbord for the Ages
No other festival can touch Bonnaroo for its eclectic mix of first-rate artists from a staggering cross-section of genres. In fact, Bonnaroo, in the festival's ninth year, offered more incredible live music than you can possibly stand to take in.
Tuesday, April 6 2010
Ted Nugent: When in Doubt, He'll Whip It Out
The Nuge storms Vegas and opens up about his musical history, Washington bailouts, conservation, and the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Columns
Friday, April 22 2011
Fit to Be Tied: Country's Angry Women
Modern country music is in love with a new trend: women inflicting violence on men, when the men deserve it... and even when they don't.
Wednesday, August 18 2010
Sam Bush: Still Rockin' That Bluegrass Train
In the pantheon of bluegrass pickers, Sam Bush is the default leader. Still, Bush remembers playing onstage with Bill Monroe in the early '70s, and after he showcased his kinetic picking technique on the mandolin, Monroe leaned over and told him to “stick to the fiddle”.
Monday, June 14 2010
The Importance of Being Ernest: Easton Corbin and the Country Boy Hemingway Code
Easton Corbin's debut reads like a 'Farewell to Arms' for the truck-pull set and lays out a hero's code for existentialist country boys everywhere; that is, the practical application of action over thought.
Thursday, April 15 2010
Pour Some Sugarland on Me: Why Country Music Is the New Classic Rock
Question: Since everyone seems to love the big arena-rock of the '80s, why don't they make records like that anymore? Answer: They do. It's called country music, now.
Monday, February 8 2010
Willie Nelson in the Twilight Glow
At 77, Willie's hair is now down to his tailbone, and you can see his trademark red locks fade to gray about midway up his back -- it's like examining the rings of a tree.
Reviews
Monday, March 5 2012
Bruce Springsteen: Wrecking Ball
Springsteen continues his remarkable resurgence with a crackerjack set of pissed-off folk, gospel-influenced rock, and rambunctious, Seeger Session-style Americana.
Thursday, March 1 2012
Punch Brothers: Who's Feeling Young Now?
Chris Thile returns with a third set with the Punch Brothers, as these five prog-grass cats push their craft further into the string-band mindwarp.
Thursday, July 28 2011
Telluride Bluegrass Festival: 16 - 19 June 2011 (Sunday)
Four days of sun, banjos, snow, Mumfords, fiddles, and rock gods at 10,000 feet.
Wednesday, July 27 2011
Telluride Bluegrass Festival: 16 - 19 June 2011 (Saturday)
Four days of sun, banjos, snow, Mumfords, fiddles, and rock gods at 10,000 feet where, by Saturday, things get challenging.
Tuesday, July 26 2011
Play Me Some Mountain Music: The Telluride Bluegrass Festival 2011, Part 2
Four days of sun, banjos, snow, Mumfords, fiddles, and rock gods at 10,000 feet.
Blogs
Monday, December 5 2011
Bubbling Under the 75 Best Songs of 2011: The Belle Brigade
Today we presented our Best 75 Songs of 2011. Here are several more just bubbling under the top 75...
Thursday, May 27 2010
American Idol: The Season Finale
Season 9 comes to end as a sweet, shy kid from Chicago takes the crown. But it was Crystal Bowersox who kept American Idol from going down in flames.
Wednesday, May 19 2010
American Idol: The Top Three
It's been a maligned season, but as we chug toward next week's finale, it could be an epic showdown as good as any in Idol history.
Wednesday, May 12 2010
American Idol: The Final Four
If this were Survivor instead of American Idol, Michael Lynche would be the dude to beat. He appears to be forming alliances not with the other contestants but with Satan himself. How else to explain how this guy has made it this long when no one seems to be supporting him.
Wednesday, May 5 2010
American Idol: Week #10, The Top Five
With Mad Marg gone, you no longer have to watch the show through your fingers, but things have gotten reliably lackluster, perhaps accounting for the show’s worst ratings since 2002, even getting tromped one night by Dancing with the Stars, for heaven’s sake, results that must have had Idol producers seeing visions of Paula Abdul in their sleep.
