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Bill Bentley

Bill Bentley

Bill Bentley began writing about music in Austin, Texas during the 1970s. He started as a typesetter at the Austin Sun in 1974, and soon became the music editor at the new alternative newspaper. As the city exploded with music he got to cover every style. In 1980 he became the music editor at the recently established L.A. Weekly: another city, and another vibrant music scene. He has continued writing after a twenty-year career as publicist for Warner Bros. Records, with regular contributions to the Austin Chronicle. His one assignment for the Los Angles Times on Stevie Ray Vaughan in 1983 was killed when Vaughan walked out as lead guitarist in David Bowie's band the day before the tour began. Bentley is now director of A&R for Vanguard Records and writes the weekly column "Bentley's Bandstand" for online site The Morton Report, and drummer in ex-Moby Grape Peter Lewis' band the Lucky Brothers.

List of articles in the library by artist

Fabulous Thunderbirds, Jimmie Vaughan: Beacon Blues: Jimmie Vaughan's Lifelong Song

Retrospective and Interview by Bill Bentley, Austin Chronicle, July 2010

THE ONE KNITE was an oasis of soul. The room was a little box, sitting at the corner of Red River and Eighth Street. Cut ...

Mother Earth, Tracy Nelson, Boz Scaggs, John Andrews: Mr. Toad's Wild Ride: Tales from Austin's Big Bang

Retrospective and Interview by Bill Bentley, Austin Chronicle, October 2005

TIME IS A CONTINUUM that's sometimes hard to trace. Look too far back and things get hazy. Try gazing into the future and it's all ...

Red Krayola: The Other Sixties Garage Gods: Red Krayola

Retrospective by Bill Bentley, Austin Chronicle, December 2002

GARAGE ROCK is a hard elephant to describe, in the light or in the dark. In some ways, almost everything qualifies. In others, nothing quite ...

Velvet Underground: Up From The Underground: Sterling Morrison

Interview by Bill Bentley, Austin Sun, October 1975

THE VELVET UNDERGROUND was often accused of being ahead of their time. Not true. The band was very much of their time. But it was ...

Jerry Lynn Williams: The Lone Ranger: Jerry Lynn Williams

Retrospective by Bill Bentley, Austin Chronicle, January 2006

You say you want it and you want it bad And that you'd sacrifice all you ever had And that you'd be happy instead of ...

Dennis Wilson: The Mayor of Washington Boulevard: Dennis Wilson's California Dream

Retrospective by Bill Bentley, Austin Chronicle, August 2008

The first Beach Boys solo album, Dennis Wilson's Pacific Ocean Blue, washes back ashore after more than three decades. ...

List of genre pieces

New Orleans: The Heart of the Matter

Retrospective by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, September 2005

"I'm not sure, but I'm almost positive, that all music came from New Orleans."–Ernie K-Doe, 1979* ...

This Be an Empty World Without the Blues – So Clifford Antone filled it

Retrospective by Bill Bentley, Austin Chronicle, May 2006

THE FIRST TIME I met Clifford Antone, he sold me a sandwich. He had opened a shop on Guadalupe, right around the corner from the ...

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