Self-Deprecating Nonchalance: ‘Prine on Prine’
The “interviews and encounters” in Prine on Prine reveal John Prine’s care for others, and his self-deprecation and nonchalance about his accomplished career.
Josh Friedberg
Josh Friedberg is a music historian, teacher, singer-songwriter, and sometime radio DJ based in Chicago. He has a Master's degree in English from Northeastern Illinois University, and his PopMatters article, "'Blue', 'Tapestry', and Oil: Or, Oil Capitalism in Two Key Singer-Songwriter Albums" won first place in the Illinois Woman's Press Association competition for Arts & Entertainment articles from 2019.
10 Best Contemporary Books That Blend Music and Personal Narrative
Music and writing are both deeply personal but meant to be shared, as seen in these 10 best contemporary books that blend music and personal narrative.
James Baldwin Digs Into the Roots of American Music
James Baldwin’s writing about music illuminates the significance of racial slavery for all American music. Black American music can help America to move forward if used properly.
A Lost Revolution? 35 Years of ‘Tracy Chapman’
Today’s world needs a revolution. If Tracy Chapman teaches us anything, it’s that we need fundamental change to reckon with the issues she writes about.
12 Contemporary Books That Will Have You Rethinking Music History
The best contemporary music books on this list are specific and sweeping, creating new narratives that challenge dominant orthodoxy on music and its histories.
Racializing Rock: The ’60s and the White Sounds of ‘Pet Sounds’
The Beach Boys’ Pet Sounds is not a racist text, but its impact was racist because it further encoded rock as a white genre, perpetuating the institutionalized prejudice that relegated African Americans to the margins of rock.
Universal Songs? Interpreting Stevie Wonder’s ‘Songs in the Key of Life’
Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life is 45 years old. It’s a towering masterpiece in the histories of soul, pop, American music, and Black music worldwide.
‘Blue’, ‘Tapestry’, and Oil: Or, Oil Capitalism in Two Key Singer-Songwriter Albums
Joni Mitchell’s Blue and Carole King’s Tapestry were fueled by petroculture, which powered the rise of feminism in music. How? Read on.
Is Miles Davis’ ‘Bitches Brew’ a Tradition-Carrier or a Sellout?
Miles Davis’ Bitches Brew does not sound like any mainstream popular music in the US from its time. What made this album different?
‘Live at Carnegie Hall’ Captures Bill Withers at His Grittiest and Most Introspective
Bill Withers' Live at Carnegie Hall manages to feel both exceptionally funky and like a new level of grown-up pop music for its time.
Matchbox Twenty: Aren’t We All a Little “Unwell” in the Time of Coronavirus?
Say what you will about Matchbox Twenty – I know I once did. But during this COVID-19 pandemic, we're all going "crazy" and feeling "a little unwell" in this time of isolation, and I'm turning to their music.
‘Piano Duets’ Asserts Ella Fitzgerald’s Interpretive Greatness
Though called "The First Lady of Song", Ella Fitzgerald is more lauded for her spectacular vocal sound than for her interpretations of lyrics, but a new reissue should help correct that understanding of her art.