Bob Dylan | Photo by Jason Gonulsen When I travel to see live music, I go in looking for a feeling. A part of me will always need these journeys away from home to seek something familiar in a different environment. I go to see what will happen. I go because I still believe in … Read more
When I hear the word “break-up” to describe an album, I think of Bob Dylan’s Blood on the Tracks, Ryan Adams’ Heartbreaker, or Frightened Rabbit’s The Midnight Organ Fight. You know, albums filled with songs that are mainly about past lovers, heartache, and your life pretty much starting over. Nicole Atkins’ new album, Mondo Amore … Read more
Photo by Cary Norton Is there a void in your analogue-nomadic-folk record collection? Heralded as a cross between Bob Dylan and The Violent Femmes (and we’re thinking a slightly tripped-out The Tallest Man on Earth), Paleo (aka David Strackany) is the answer to your foot stompin’, midnight ghost conjurations in addition to your early summer desert … Read more
Photo credit: Marcelo Biglia Rough seas they carry me wherever I go… The more I listen to Josh Ritter’s latest album, So Runs the World Away, the more I’m convinced it’s about one simple thing: refusing to stand still. So many times in my life I’ve struggled with this notion — to rest on my … Read more
I’ll remember youWhen the wind blows through the piney woodIt was you who came right throughIt was you who understood This one’s for all the victims in Aurora, Colorado. Peace and love to all.
Photo by Melissa Madison Fuller Don’t let your silly dreams Fall in between The crack of the bed and the wall If good genes mean anything — and I’m led to believe that they most certainly do — Rayland Baxter should definitely have more than a fighting chance at being a special musician. His father, … Read more
Photo by Katie Guymon You and I, we’re the same Live and die, we’re the same These days, there are a few songs by The Avett Brothers that are hard for me to listen to, only because they hit too close to home. “I and Love and You” is one of those, and their new … Read more
Photo by Jo McCaughey My favorite Bob Dylan album is, and always will be, Desire. (And yes, I’ve played the wonderful Time Out My Mind and Blood on the Tracks to death.) As a lover of music, its songs first taught me the difference from being angry and being confident, and that telling the truth … Read more
I’ve told this story before, but now seems like a good time to revisit. I met Neil Young with my sister in 1999 at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis, after one of his solo acoustic shows. Since we had been sitting in the orchestra pit that night, we were invited to a Bridge School … Read more
I never laughed so loud I never laughed so loud I never laughed so loud Think I’m coming down Anaïs Mitchell’s “Coming Down” got us pretty good a couple months ago (like, flood of tears good). Such a simple song, but does it get more emotional? You tell us. You can find “Coming Down” on … Read more
When Elizabeth Ziman of Elizabeth & the Catapult responded back with her 10 to Spin playlist, our first one of 2012, her theme of “Awesome Broken Voices” intrigued me. I started listening to Ziman’s voice back in 2010 when we featured “Go Away My Lover,” taken from her 2010 album, The Other Side of Zero, … Read more
Song Preservation Society is comprised of three friends: Trevor Bahnson, Ethan Glazer, and Daniel Wright. Their brand of folk is streaked with Golden State sunlight and has been compared to the likes of Simon & Garfunkel, The Band, Fleet Foxes and Father John Misty. Together with just acoustic guitars and a charming stage presence, the … Read more
Photo by Jason Gonulsen I picked up my bags, I went looking for a place to hide When I saw old Carmen and the Devil, walking side by side I said, “Hey, Carmen, c’mon, let’s go downtown” She said, “I gotta go, but my friend can stick around” Bob Dylan, Jeff Tweedy, and Jim James … Read more
They’ve toured with Bob Dylan and Ryan Bingham, and they’ll soon cut loose on the road with Willie Nelson and ZZ Ward (including a 10/14 stop at The Firebird). Not to mention slots at Summerfest, Forecastle Festival, and the Austin City Limits Music Festival. You could say Nashville’s The Wild Feathers have a few things … Read more
Well, well, well. I’ve seen Brandi Carlile perform twice now, and she’s hit a towering home run both times. Out of the galaxy. No questions asked, except: Is Ms. Carlile from another planet? There isn’t much she can’t do. Her performance in Denver at the Paramount had a little bit of everything going for it … Read more
Neil Young at the 2012 Austin City Limits Music Festival | Photo by Nate Burrell The answer, my friend Is blowin’ in the wind The answer is blowin’ in the wind I love everything about this. The way Neil Young gracefully walks around the stage, like it’s no big thing that he’s playing one of … Read more
Imagine, if you will, that Jesus returned to earth for just one night in the early 1990s. He made two very specific house calls over the course of just a few short hours. One to a mansion in the countryside surrounding London. The other, only an hour or so later, was in New York City, … Read more
This afternoon, the sky ranges from cornflower blue to gunmetal gray with a tangerine line on the horizon. Nashville fades below as the brilliant colors swirl together up above. For a few moments, there is nothing but the wind, my breath and “Girl From The North Country.”
Photo by Laura Wilson There’s pain in whatever, we stumble upon If I never had met you, you couldn’t have gone But then I wouldn’t have met you, and we couldn’t have been I guess it all adds up, to joy in the end When Josh Ritter visited St. Louis last July, I had no … Read more
Statues made of matchsticks Crumble into one another My love winks, she does not bother She knows too much to argue or to judge Bob Dylan and His Band make their return to St. Louis on Monday, May 11th at the Fox Theatre! We have a pair of tickets to give away to the show. Details … Read more
“Oh my Lord, why am I not strong?” Like the wheel. Like the branch that will take me home. Every word, every guitar sound Kristian Matsson produces always sounds so delicate, even if he’s singing as if he’s been stabbed by the King of Spain. I get it, you might not like his voice. That’s … Read more
“I feel your love, I feel your strong love. I feel the patience of unconditional love.” A lot has happened to Neil Young in 2010. He lost friend and producer L.A. Johnson to a heart attack in January, and just last July, his long-time pedal steel expert, the great Ben Keith, also passed. Young’s also … Read more
“Remember when we met/ We were so innocent/ I was so cautious, you were so cool/ The world was brand new…“ Those words come from the first Matthew Ryan song I ever heard, which was was “Devastation” off his 2001 album Concussion. That tune happens to be a duet with Lucinda Williams, another one of … Read more
Katie and I, with the help of Glide Magazine, created Strangers Almanac, a column devoted to singer-songwriters, two years ago, and we’ve had a lot of fun writing about some of our favorite singer-songwriters like Tift Merritt, Ryan Adams, Neil Young, Jenny Lewis, Regina Spektor, and Jeff Tweedy. It’s pretty crazy that we’re already on … Read more
Two years ago today, Jason wrote his first column for Strangers Almanac (Glide Magazine) on the one, the only Steve Earle. Since then, he and I have truly had a blast writing every month about our favorite singer-songwriters (along with our personal connections to the music) and sharing news, lyrics, and in general, a whole … Read more
Photo Credit: Keith Klenowski I have no idea what this song is about. I don’t care. I don’t want to know. Kinda like I don’t want to know what Bob Dylan really meant in “Gates of Eden.” Or why Liz Phair wrote “Black Market White Baby Dealer.” Sometimes, I just don’t want to know … Read more
To me, the best Matthew Ryan songs are the ones where you’re left feeling exposed, like he’s written something about you, something secret. Ryan is one of my favorite songwriters because of songs like “3rd of October,” “Your Museum,” and “It Could’ve Been Worse” – songs that are courageous because they tell the truth, even … Read more
Wow, the good news just keeps coming. For you Kristian Matsson, aka The Tallest Man on Earth, fans who have been waiting patiently for news of his next LP, well, wait no more. His new record label, Dead Oceans, announced today that The Wild Hunt will be released on April 12, 2010, featuring “ten perfect … Read more