Outside, the warm Gulf breeze is gently blowing the magnificent oaks to a rhythm guided only by Mother Nature. Â Inside the dance hall, the velvet tones of a skinny kid in a bolo tie are doing much the same thing to the couples two-stepping around the well worn floor. Â The piano has a sound that’s […]
Monday Morning Video – Grant-Lee Phillips “Cry Cry”
Apparently this is what happens when you invite an artist into a bookstore. Grant-Lee Phillips brought his guitar to Purple Crow Books in Hillsborough, NC and songs ensued. Here he performs “Cry, Cry,” his moving tale of the Native American Trail of Tears. The song can be found on The Narrows, his latest release.
Doug MacMillan of The Connells Makes Sparks at the Gas Station and Finds Cheap Eats on the Road
Doug MacMillan of the Connells on working with record companies (his present one excluded) and songs 1 through 7.
Monday Morning Video – Ian Hunter “When I’m President”
Tomorrow is election day and we at Twangville want to encourage everyone to vote. We’re not going to get political, we’re merely going to say that it is a right, a privilege and a responsibility for those of us in the United States to select the individuals who will lead our country. The US Constitution […]
The Sadies – Riverview Fog Premiere
A few years ago I opined The Sadies were the best rock and roll band coming out of Canada.  Like Canadian pathfinders, The Band, they adhere to a storyline that’s about seizing opportunity.  Some days it’s collaborating with stellar musicians like Neko Case, Jon Langford, or John Doe.  Other days it’s about brothers Travis and Dallas Good […]
Just Like Ringing a Bell – A Special Boston Playlist
Over the past few years there’s been a rush of overdue attention paid to the studio musicians responsible for some of the finest music of the rock and roll era. The Swampers in Muscle Schoals. The Wrecking Crew in LA. The Funk Brothers in Motown. I expect that many places, even today, have a collection […]
Monday Morning Video – Joe Ely “Dallas”
Legendary Texas singer-songwriter Joe Ely has a question for you this week. Have you ever seen Dallas from a DC-9?
Big Dave McLean – Better the Devil You Know
There are bluesmen in Canada. Â Some damn good ones. Â Folks like Jim Byrnes, Amos Garrett, and David Wilcox (no relation), have been tearing it up for decades, and relative newcomers like Sue Foley, Colin James and JW-Jones have blazed their own trails to excellence. Â But through the years, one of the mainstays of Canadian blues […]
Juliet Simms on Rockin’ a Kia Hybrid and Getting Fired From Her First Job
LA by way of Florida singer-songwriter Juliet Simms talks about why getting sick before her first gig turned out to be a good thing and how she earns a living in, or rather alongside, the music industry.
Monday Morning Video – David Ramirez
Austin-based singer-songwriter David Ramirez passed through Boston last week as part of his “Bootleg Tour,” for which every audience members gets a digital recording of the show). Standing alone on stage (save a coffee table with a lamp and a framed Bill Murray promo picture from the movie “Stripes”), Ramirez mesmerized the crowd with a […]