ARTS
Crucial Music: 20 Top Releases of 2017
Selective & subjective. My favorite music releases of 2017: The American Dollar – Music for Travel Brian Blade & The Fellowship Band – Body and Shadow CCFX – “The One To Wait” (single) The Church – man woman life death infinity Fleet Foxes - Crack-Up...
Irish-American Fiddler Eileen Ivers Connects Celtic and Americana, Looks to the Future of the Instrument
Eileen Ivers adopted a love for the fiddle at an early age. Fiddle music filled the air of her New York City home as a young child, so at age nine she took up the instrument herself. She's now an accomplished solo artist, a member of Cherish the Ladies and Riverdance,...
A.J. Croce Reconnects With Long-Deceased Father Jim Through a Shared Love of Music
A.J. Croce appeared on the music scene in the early 1990s with a seemingly anachronistic mix of classic songwriting and 'boogie-woogie'-style piano playing. But he's enjoyed modest success over a career of eight albums. He's also collaborated with Willie Nelson, the...
South African Musician Johnny Clegg on Nearly Forty Years of Transformation
Clegg passed away July 16, 2019. Here’s an archive interview I conducted with him in 2016, a few days before he performed in Durango, Colorado.
The Reincarnation of Os Mutantes
A conversation with Sergio Dias of the legendary Brazilian band.
Tom Russell and the Vanishing Poetry of ‘The Old, Weird America’
Tom Russell writes songs about champion fighting cocks, Edward Abbey, the Watts riots, Nina Simone, and the day Frank Sinatra played Juarez. For him, it’s all part of a grand tradition of American storytelling.
Bruce Cockburn: Music’s Traveling Correspondent
Bruce Cockburn’s career spans almost fifty years. The Canadian songwriter has garnered a large fanbase and critical acclaim for his astute lyrical observations and intense performances.
Divining Stories from Detritus
Davy Rothbart sees gold in other people’s trash. To him, notes, lists and scribbles long-forgotten are a sort of storytelling fuel. He’s learned that even the most unlikely experiences with eccentric people can teach him, and his readers, more about life.
‘Bloomsday’ Celebrates Joyce book and Irish Culture
A century-old book lives on as a reason to celebrate Ireland’s contributions to literature, out loud. Each year on June 16, or Bloomsday, people gather around the world to celebrate Ulysses through public readings.