Author Archive

Update: What’s the Big Idea

I began work on my third music-related book a few months ago. I’ll be delivering the finished manuscript for What’s The Big Idea: Great Concept Albums to my publisher (HoZac […]

Album Review: Delta Wires – If Somebody Told Me…

When blues harpist Ernie Pinata was a student at Oakland’s California College of Arts and Crafts, he assembled a band as a class project. Designed to showcase the development of […]

Album Review: Sax Kari and His Orchestra – Swinging the Blues

With the benefit of hindsight, the live and career of Chicago-born Sax Kari seems worthy of a biographical tome or perhaps even a film. A musician proficient on multiple instruments, […]

Album Review: Cyril Davies & His Rhythm & Blues Allstars – Hullabaloo

The British blues boom that launched the careers of Eric Clapton, Peter Green and Mick Taylor didn’t start with John Mayall’s Bluesbreakers. Though Mayall employed each of those guitarists (and […]

Have You Got it Yet? (Part 2 of 2)

Continued from Part One… A musician himself, Bogawa had long been intrigued by Barrett’s life and legend, and held a special fascination for Barrett’s unconventional approach to songwriting. “I had […]

Have You Got it Yet? (Part 1 of 2)

New Film Dispels Myths About Pink Floyd’s Visionary Founder Syd Barrett Syd Barrett is the stuff of legends. The founder of Pink Floyd, Cambridge-born Barrett was also its front man, […]

Five Top Hits from Joan Jett

Joan Jett & the Blackhearts are a rock institution. Inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 2015, the group has sold millions of records and landed eight […]

Five Great Joe Satriani Guest Spots

Guitar hero Joe Satriani first achieved wide fame with 1989’s Surfing with the Alien, his second LP. That instrumental record won a Grammy, as did its highlight single, “Always With […]

30 Days Out, September 2023 #2: Damien Jurado, Durand Jones, Henry Rollins, Margaret Glaspy

Asheville has a stellar array of musical artists based here. And I would encourage you to support them as enthusiastically and often as possible; they’re worth it, and their music […]

Album Review: Graham Parker and the Goldtops — Last Chance to Learn the Twist

Across his nearly 50 years as a recording history, Graham Parker has had it both ways: he’s made fiery, passionate, rocking music, and he’s delivered subtle, stripped-down solo/acoustic work. But […]