Andria Lisle

Ryan Adams: Gold

Review by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, November 2001

I FELL IN LOVE with Ryan Adams the moment I first heard his voice. It was in the early fall of ‘97 and I was ...

Booker T & The MGs: Memphis Sunset: The Mysterious Death of Stax Heartbeat Al Jackson, Jr.

Retrospective by Andria Lisle, Grand Royal, Fall 1997

July 31, 1975 – Booker T & the MGs drummer and Stax session musician Al Jackson, Jr. is shot in the chest with a .22-caliber ...

Jeff Buckley: Our Glorious Spring: Jeff Buckley

Retrospective by Andria Lisle, Oxford American, The, Summer 2000

THERE IS A PICTURE, taken early in May 1997, at Ellen’s Soul Food Restaurant in Memphis. It’s a Sunday afternoon, and we’ve just arrived from ...

R.L. Burnside: R. L. Burnside: Burnside On Burnside (Fat Possum)

Review by Andria Lisle, Living Blues, January 2002

IN THE LAST decade R.L. Burnside, the best-known purveyor of Mississippi hill country blues, has become almost an anti-hero of the blues scene. His label, ...

Dixie Chicks, The: The Dixie Chicks: Weapons Of Mass Destruction

Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, October 2003

When they criticised President Bush's war, the Dixie Chicks went from being new country darlings to enemies of the state. Now they’re unlikely keepers of ...

Bob Dylan in Mississippi

Essay by Andria Lisle, Oxford American, The, Summer 1999

"Oxford Town in the afternoon,Ev’rybody singin’ a sorrowful tune.Two men died ‘neath the Mississippi moon,Somebody better investigate soon.Oxford Town, Oxford Town,Ev’rybody’s got their heads bowed ...

Grifters, The, Those Bastard Souls: Bastards No More: Life After Grifting

Interview by Andria Lisle, Raygun, July 1999

The Grifters’ David Shouse seeks redemption with THOSE BASTARDS SOULS. ...

Guided By Voices: Do The Collapse (TVT)

Review by Andria Lisle, Raygun, August 1999

GUIDED BY VOICES’ Bob Pollard has reinvented his rock’n’roll vision, trading his home recording ethos for a slick pop sound. This aesthetic change reflects other ...

Etta James: I'm Only Sleeping

Retrospective by Andria Lisle, MOJO, December 2002

"SOMETHING TOLD ME IT WAS OVER/When I saw you and here talking/Something deep down in my soul said, 'Cry, girl'/When I saw you and that ...

Rick James: Anthology

Review and Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, September 2002

CATEGORISING RICK James isn't as easy as one might think. Sure, he's the bad boy of black pop, a groove-minded funkster with a nasty attitude, ...

Lazy Lester: Blues Stop Knockin’

Review by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, January 2002

ONE OF THE LAST of that great fraternity of Excello bluesmen – and a throwback to the days when harp-blowers like Little Walter Jacobs, Jimy ...

Loretta Lynn: Van Lear Rose

Review by Andria Lisle, MOJO, June 2004

The Coal Miner's Daughter becomes a country music queen – with a little help from one of The White Stripes. ...

Jerry McCain: Absolutely the Best – The Complete Jewel Singles

Review by Andria Lisle, Oxford American, The, Summer 2001

BLUES HARMONICA fans beware: Jerry "Boogie" McCain's harp-blowing is anything but conventional, and this collection, featuring material cut a decade into his career, during the ...

Mighty Hannibal, The: The Mighty Hannibal: Hannibalism! (Norton Records)

Review by Andria Lisle, Living Blues, November 2001

THESE 28 TRACKS, spanning 15 years of the Mighty Hannibal’s career, epitomize Southern soul at its finest – and most obscure. ...

Mudhoney: Tomorrow Hit Today

Review by Andria Lisle, Raygun, October 1998

OVER THE PAST TEN YEARS, I've endured a recurring theme in my late night dreams: the Rolling Stones, finally realizing the vapid decline of their ...

North Mississippi Allstars: North Mississippi All Stars: 51 Phantom (Tone-Cool)

Review by Andria Lisle, Living Blues, January 2002

EARLIER THIS YEAR, the North Mississippi All Stars received a nomination for a Grammy (Best Contemporary Blues Album), the LB Critics' Awards for Best Debut ...

Odetta: Lookin’ For A Home

Review by Andria Lisle, Living Blues, November 2001

IN 1949, THE year that Leadbelly died, Odetta made her first appearance on stage – in a Los Angeles production of Finian’s Rainbow. ...

Ann Peebles

Retrospective by Andria Lisle, Oxford American, The, June 2001

When Ann Peebles and Gene "Bowlegs" Miller first crossed paths at the Rosewood Club in South Memphis, neither one would have called it destiny. ...

Ann Peebles: Soul Sensation

Profile by Andria Lisle, Oxford American, The, 2001

After thirty years in the biz, Ann Peebles has proven she’s much more than just the "female Al Green." ...

Robert Pollard, Guided By Voices: Robert Pollard: Last Call

Interview by Andria Lisle, Harp, March 2005

BY THE time you read this, Robert Pollard will have pulled the plug on Guided By Voices: The band's final concert occurred on New Year's ...

Elvis Presley: Sam Phillips: Rock'n'Roll Evangelist

Obituary by Andria Lisle, MOJO, September 2003

For Sam Phillips rock'n'roll was a religion And, boy, did he spread the gospel. ...

Robert Randolph: Sacred Steel… Live

Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, October 2001

Pedal-steel guitar virtuoso Robert Randolph delivers The Word at B.B. King’s. ...

Royal Trux: Veterans of Disorder

Review by Andria Lisle, Raygun, October 1999

Neil Hagerty and Jennifer Herrema, the "Glimmer Twins" of Royal Trux, have packed a lot of living into the past decade – including heroin abuse ...

Staple Singers, The: I'll Take You There: The Everlasting Legacy of the Staple Singers

Retrospective by Andria Lisle, MOJO, April 2001

The drive from Memphis to Drew, Mississippi, is a treacherous one even today. Highway 61 will take you as far south as Clarksdale, before you ...

Ike Turner: The Redemption Of Ike

Review and Interview by Andria Lisle, Stereotype, July 2001

ROCK AND BLUES trailblazer Ike Turner celebrates a new outlook, new album and his 50th year in music. ...

Othar Turner: Seven decades of blowin’ fife and hollerin’ goat: Othar Turner

Report and Interview by Andria Lisle, Pulse!, May 1998

"PURE FUNK and earth" is what Luther Dickinson calls the lilting blues played by 90-year-old Othar Turner, last surviving master of the cane fife. And ...

Andre Williams: Bait and Switch (Norton)

Review by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, August 2001

R & B LEGEND Andre Williams first achieved acclaim the mid-'50s on Detroit's Fortune Records with classics like 'Bacon Fat' and 'Jail Bait' on which ...

Yo La Tengo: The Outsiders

Interview by Andria Lisle, Harp, May 2005

"WE FEEL outside of things, and we like that feeling and we don't like that feeling, depending on our mood at the time or the ...

Roots-Music Renegades: Fat Possum Records

Report and Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, December 2001

With artists Robert Belfour, T-Model Ford, and Hasil Adkins, Fat Possum Records captures the last gasps of a dying art. ...

That Memphis Sound!

Overview by Andria Lisle, Downtowner, July 1998

There’s an old saying that goes like soKeep trying and you’ll get where you want to goWhen things get rough, buckle downDon’t give up – ...