Nashville singer-songwriter John R. Miller remembers playing a New Year’s Eve gig at age 15, recalls time spent working in restaurant kitchens, and talks about one reason he started a career in music.
A Few Words with Abe Partridge
Café Wha? opened in 1959 in a MacDougal Street basement in Greenwich Village, and it has long been an early stop for artists still building their audiences. Bob Dylan first played the room in January 1961, Jimi Hendrix worked through multiple sets a night there as Jimmy James in the mid-1960s, and Bruce Springsteen did […]
Keb’ Mo’: The Breakdown and the Long Way Home
Keb’ Mo’ has been making music for more than half a century, but he still approaches a song like there is something left to figure out. Born and raised in Compton, California, he came up listening to Nat King Cole, church singers and the blues guitarists who traced the music backward toward Mississippi. At 21, […]
A Few Words with The Damnwells’ Alex Dezen
The Damnwells’ Air Stereo turns 20 this year. It’s not old enough to drink yet, but the band is throwing it a party anyway with two special shows. The first was at Lodge Room in Los Angeles on September 10. The second is at Racket in NYC on Friday, October 9 (get tix). I’m not […]
Miko Marks on Music’s Healing Power and Never Breaking a Guitar String
Flint, Michigan–born singer-songwriter Miko Marks takes us inside Redtone Records, the red-walled basement studio where she rehearses, in a house tied to the founding of East Palo Alto. She also recalls her first gig, a second-grade show with a $25 fee she never saw, and talks about the day job she still holds as social director at a tennis club.
Levi Foster on Luxury Road Food and Wanting to Be Johnny Cash
Singer-songwriter and guitarist Levi Foster, a Rustburg, Virginia native now based in Nashville, recalls writing his first song at 13 in the back of an I Spy book. He talks about framing houses with his dad and brother and living in his van when he first arrived, and shares the one thing he wishes he’d known when he started in music.
Brody Price on Camping While on Tour and Terry Allen’s Day-Job Rule
Singer-songwriter Brody Price recalls trying to “do the Todd Snider/Guy Clark thing” by playing their old rooms like the Cactus Cafe and Old Quarter, and shares the three rules he and his band maintain.
Leon Majcen on Record Release Strategies and the Downside of Truck Leases
Leon Majcen recalls getting overpaid at his first gig at 13, describes his old day job at a Nashville tree company, and explains why he tailors every show to the room that he’s playing.
Clayton Nile Young on Working at the Mayo Clinic and Learning to Talk While Tuning
Singer-songwriter Clayton Nile Young talks about his tour meal strategy — since he doesn’t hit the road often, he treats touring like a vacation and eats accordingly. He recalls the 2023 house show in Jacksonville that became his first gig, which left him instantly hooked. Young also shares the story behind his first song, “Heart vs Mind,” written while he was in radiation therapy school.
Drivin N Cryin: Still Writing the Story
Several days after speaking with Kevn Kinney, I watched a storm roll across the mesas outside Taos, New Mexico. Purple lightning split the sky, eventually forcing Drivin N Cryin’s scheduled outdoor performance indoors. The band adjusted. Instead of the full-throttle rock show one might expect from a group that has spent nearly four decades making […]