I took a trip down a Chris Knight rabbit hole this weekend, straight back to the beginning. Here’s “It Ain’t Easy Being Me” from his self-titled debut. Lyrics don’t come more potent than this: Why do I do the things I do?Was I born this way or am I self made fool?I shoot the lights […]
Calista Garcia – A Beautiful World
Like many of us over the last couple of years, Calista Garcia found herself consumed by the negative events in the world. As an antidote, she decided to focus on all the good things she saw around her. She transcribed that awareness into a collection of songs that became her new EP, A Beautiful World. […]
Brandy Zdan on Music Industry Priorities and Touring in “Townes Van Zdan”
Brandy Zdan talks about singing the Canadian National Anthem at hockey games as a teenager, hustling for gigs, and surviving as a middle class musician.
Monday Morning Video – Stephen Kellogg’s Thanksgiving
It’s been a few years since we’ve shared Stephen Kellogg’s ode to – and hopes for – Thanksgiving. This seems like a good year to share it again. Oh Thanksgiving, the harvest draws to a closeRedemption is a bugle humility composedSweet forgiveness, thawing across frozen groundCasting light eternally, carrying its sound
Gov’t Mule – Heavy Load Blues
In the eighties and early nineties, post one Daley and pre another one, one of the safer areas of Chicago to go see live blues was a short stretch on North Halsted Avenue. There were half a dozen blues clubs in a stretch of just a few blocks, where the headliner rarely went on before […]
Ian Jones on Acrylic Fingernails and Hiring a Producer
Singer-songwriter Ian Jones talks about getting hooked on applause at his first gig and being a general contractor (and using the experience to build his home rehearsal space).
JD Wilkes on Virtue-Signaling and Getting His Start In Music
JD Wilkes of The Legendary Shack Shakers talks about driving for the Nashville Auto Auction and “the quickly evaporating spoils of the American Music Biz”.
Monday Morning Video – Jack Ingram
Last week was long and this week is shaping up to be even longer. Jack Ingram’s “I’m Drinking Through It” may be about dealing with heartbreak but seems like a suitable anthem for the week.
Nathan Evans Fox – Wasted Love
North Carolina born and currently residing in Nashville, Nathan Evans Fox sometimes talks about “accent”. Not just the way you talk, but how you react to certain things, how you behave, even some of your values. The French use the word “terroir” similarly to describe what’s imparted by a place of origin. Fox decided to […]
Video Premiere: Mike Donello & the New Essentials – Southside
One of the things I like about live music towns is how a group of musicians will just sort of start playing local gigs and end up becoming a well-known part of the music scene. They can make a living, or at least have a healthy side hustle, performing frequently without ever having to sleep […]