A TRIBUTE TO BILL WITHERS
Soulful singer-songwriter Bill Withers died on March 30, 2020. Born in the coal mining town of Slab Fork, WV, and raised in the town of...
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By Alan Richard
- Mar 27, 2020
- 11 min
Jim Lauderdale: COUNTRY, SOUL and BLUEGRASS
Jim Lauderdale is a musical chameleon of sorts. One of the best living country songwriters, his incredible range of styles is an amalgam...
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By Alan Richard
- Mar 5, 2020
- 13 min
STAX IN ’68: SOME OF MEMPHIS’ BEST MUSICAL MOMENTS
One of my favorite box sets is Stax ’68: A Memphis Story, a compilation of the legendary label’s dozens of singles and B-sides during a...
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By Alan Richard
- Feb 18, 2020
- 10 min
MEMPHIS MAGIC
Producer Matt Ross-Spang discusses his work with the Rev. Al Green, John Prine, Margo Price, William Bell, and other greats Few young...
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By Alan Richard
- Feb 2, 2020
- 6 min
MARTY STUART'S MUSICAL PILGRIMAGE
Twenty years after Marty Stuart’s concept album The Pilgrim was released, it’s out again, with a deluxe edition that includes a coffee...
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By Alan Richard
- Feb 1, 2020
- 1 min
COUNTRY MUSIC FOR ALL
Cindy Emch and her band are making a new album, and everyone’s invited to the party. The Secret Emchy Society, as the alt-country,...
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By Alan Richard
- Jan 9, 2020
- 16 min
BLACK COWBOYS
Dom Flemons’ latest musical journey explores folk music, American history, the West, and the African-American experience Growing up in...
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By Alan Richard
- Dec 4, 2019
- 1 min
BLUEGRASS PRIDE
It’s a long way from San Francisco to Mississippi, but singer-songwriter and banjo player Tyler Stegall of The High Water Line has...
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By Alan Richard
- Nov 17, 2019
- 1 min
ELTON JOHN'S GAY COUNTRY SOUL
Elton John and songwriting partner Bernie Taupin were star-struck when the members of The Band filed into John’s dressing room after a...
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By Alan Richard
- Nov 11, 2019
- 4 min
EMMYLOU LIVE: RED DIRT REQUIEM
Emmylou Harris is one of the most important artists in country and American roots music. Beyond her stunning voice, which always soars...
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By Alan Richard
- Oct 28, 2019
- 3 min
BLUEBIRD CAFE MAGIC STILL ALIVE AND WELL
On any given night in Nashville, magic can happen, legendary songwriter (and my friend) Marshall Chapman often says. This certainly was...
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By Alan Richard
- Sep 27, 2019
- 15 min
BLACK AND COUNTRY
The African-American influence--and white appropriation--in country music goes even deeper than Ken Burns’ important new documentary...
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By Alan Richard
- Sep 1, 2019
- 1 min
SPEAKING WITH KEN BURNS
I spoke in depth with filmmaker Ken Burns a few weeks ago about his forthcoming eight-part documentary, Ken Burns: Country Music, which...
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By Alan Richard
- Aug 14, 2019
- 6 min
BLUES SURVIVOR
FEW BLUESMEN AS AUTHENTIC (AND AUDACIOUS) AS BOBBY RUSH: Bobby Rush came from Louisiana and Arkansas, fled to Chicago, played the blues,...
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By Alan Richard
- Aug 10, 2019
- 5 min
A TREASURE OF BLACK MUSIC
SMITHSONIAN INSTITUTION’S NEWEST MUSEUM SHOWS RELICS OF SOUL, GOSPEL, COUNTRY AND MORE The National Museum of African-American History...
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By Alan Richard
- Jul 7, 2019
- 6 min
WHEN GOSPEL GOT FUNKY
LEGENDARY STAX COLLECTION SHOWS OFF GOOD-NEWS GROOVES One of my favorite soul albums is actually a gospel album. The Gospel Truth: The...
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By Alan Richard
- Jun 28, 2019
- 6 min
WILL KIMBROUGH'S 'ALABAMA'
Nashville songwriter laments modern-day lynching, finds family in blues and Americana "Picked up by some folks Took to me to the woods...
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By Alan Richard
- Jun 23, 2019
- 3 min
RY COODER'S LATEST BLUES, GOSPEL TRIBUTE
Los Angeles-based master guitarist Ry Cooder’s remarkable 2018 album The Prodigal Son is perhaps the best--out of his many--records that...
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By Alan Richard
- Jun 20, 2019
- 4 min
MARY BRAGG, KYSHONA: BACK IN GEORGIA
Two of Nashville's best emerging singer-songwriters, Mary Bragg and Kyshona (Armstrong), brought their show to Eddie’s Attic, the music...
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By Alan Richard
- Jun 17, 2019
- 4 min
CASH, COODER SALUTE 'MAN IN BLACK'
Rosanne Cash told the audience at the Ryman Auditorium how she’d spent 40 years mostly avoiding playing her father’s songs. But the...
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