Miss Tess talks about the virtues of pho and the hazards of humidity, dealing with a broken down van while listening to Bill Frisell and the benefit of blindly throwing herself into the music business.
Monday Morning Video – Eilen Jewell Covers the Ronettes
Singer-songwriter Eilen Jewell has a fine new album out (Sundown Over Ghost Town). Before we get to that, though, we thought we’d share this beautiful rendition of the Ronette’s “Be My Baby.” Jewell and her band, accompanied by the Sweetback Sisters, performed the song late last year to celebrate the 20th anniversary of her label, […]
Shinyribs – Okra Candy
On various patches of land continuously testing the boundaries of wet and dry in the sea level portions of southeast Texas, southwest Mississippi and southern Louisiana live a breed of men thriving on the margins of humanity.  For a 2 week stretch they manage to semi-control their impulses enough to be trusted by others of their […]
Tweed River Talk – A Few Words with Christopher Paul Stelling
You have to appreciate an artist who invites himself to a festival (see below for the full story). Of course, in this case, the festival organizers welcomed him with open, arguably ecstatic, arms. And why shouldn’t they? Christopher Paul Stelling is a compelling live performer who will undoubtedly captivate the Tweed River Music Festival crowd. […]
Mayer’s Picks – the Best of 2015 (So Far), the Albums
Here, in no particular order, are some of my favorite releases from the first half of 2015. COMPLICATED GAME by JAMES MCMURTRY As he celebrates the release of his first album in six years, there’s a part of me that wishes that McMurtry was more prolific. Then I remember that it takes time to craft […]
Readers’ Pick: Best of Spring 2015
THE SIDESHOW TRAGEDY, Capital beats out RAY WYLIE HUBBARD, Ruffian’s Misfortune by 28 votes as your favorite for the Spring of 2015. Readers’ Official Top 25 – Spring 2015 THE SIDESHOW TRAGEDY, Capital (50) RAY WYLIE HUBBARD, Ruffian’s Misfortune (22) DWIGHT YOAKAM, Second Hand Heart (21) EILEN JEWELL, Sundown Over Ghost Town (20) THE GRAHAMS, […]
Monday Morning Video – Greg Trooper’s Tribute to the Weekend
Sure, it’s Monday but let’s have Greg Trooper bring us back to the weekend with this pair of classics, “Another Shitty Saturday Night” and “These Sunday Nights.” Hopefully your weekend was better than those of the characters that inhabit these songs. Trooper has just released a new album, Live at the Rock Room. Captured at […]
Hey Baby, It’s the 4th of July (Dave Alvin & X)
Let’s celebrate the fourth of July with one of my favorite songs. Originally written by Dave Alvin, it was popularized by the punk band X on their 1987 album See How We Are. Here are two versions of the song. The first is Dave Alvin performing the song with his band the Guilty Ones. The […]
Tweed River Talk – A Few Words with Dan Blakeslee
Our latest interview is with Somerville, MA-based folk troubadour Dan Blakeslee. Blakeslee has released numerous albums, the most recent of which is 2014’s Owed to the Tangled Wind. The album was recorded at the Columbus Theatre in Providence, RI by Ben Knox Miller and Jeffrey Prystowsky (The Low Anthem) and earned Blakeslee recognition as the […]
Larry Campbell and Teresa Williams
Although Larry Campbell has released a number of his own recordings, he is known more for his associations than solo work. He is such a versatile musician it would almost be easier to list instruments he does not play. Most recently he garnered acclaim as a producer for Levon Helm’s final albums. Both albums, “Dirt […]