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1,380 articles

Brenda Lee — Only Fifteen but They Want Her for Hollywood

Profile by June Harris, Disc, 28 May 1960

"SHE'S DYNAMIC. For her age she's ridiculously adult, she knows exactly what she wants and goes all out to get it." This is Wham! producer Jack Good ...

Bob Dylan, The Greenbriar Boys: The Greenbriar Boys, Bob Dylan: Gerde's Folk City, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 29 September 1961

Bob Dylan: A Distinctive Folk-Song Stylist 20-Year-Old Singer Is Bright New Face at Gerde's Club ...

Bill Anderson, Lester Flatt, Uncle Dave Macon, Jim Reeves, Earl Scruggs, Ernest Tubb, Hank Williams: Durable Formula for Grand Ole Opry

Report by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 26 November 1961

NASHVILLE, TENN. After thirty-five years of broadcasting, the grand old dinosaur of American radio, Grand Ole Opry, is as boisterously alive as ever. The show ...

Maybelle Carter, Johnny Cash, George Jones, Tompall & the Glaser Brothers, Mac Wiseman: Johnny Cash, Maybelle Carter, George Jones, Mac Wiseman, the Glaser Brothers: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 11 May 1962

Troupe of Country Musicians Gives Program at Carnegie Hall ...

Jerry Lee Lewis: No Sneering — This Mr. Lewis Is Simply Great!

Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 12 May 1962

FOUR YEARS ago, Jerry Lee Lewis was booted out of this country with an extraordinary display of righteous nastiness. ...

John D. Loudermilk and Fred Foster: Nashville Men Take a Look at London

Interview by June Harris, Disc, 9 June 1962

TRAVELLING companions on a brief visit to London last week were songwriter and RCA recording artist John D. Loudermilk, and Fred Foster, the 30-year-old boss ...

Ray Charles: Mother Taught Ray Charles To Cope With Blindness

Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 31 August 1962

THOUGH HE has been blind since the age of six, one of Ray Charles' biggest hates is to be treated as a blind person. It ...

Chet Atkins, Floyd Cramer: Floyd Cramer and Chet Atkins: The Quiet Men from Nashville, Tennessee

Profile and Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 15 September 1962

THE TWO most dominant figures in the Nashville, Tennessee, music scene – a scene noted for loud noises – are QUIET men. Chet Atkins, we ...

Frank Ifield: U.S. Success Shakes Ifield

Interview by June Harris, Disc, 22 September 1962

"I THINK it's fantastic," said Frank Ifield over the phone from Brighton where he was appearing last week. "Suddenly 'I Remember You' is selling throughout ...

The Everly Brothers, Phil Everly: Maybe Mr. Everly can't spell — but he sure can sing

Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 13 October 1962

LIKE FALLING off a log, cried all the little boys up and down the country when they first heard the Everly Brothers six years ago. ...

The Crickets, Frank Ifield, Bobby Vee: Ifield's Hit Turns Bobby Vee To C And W!

Interview by June Harris, Disc, 27 October 1962

THE SUCCESS of Frank Ifield in America has really converted Bobby Vee to country and western music! "I had no idea that C and W ...

The Everly Brothers: Phil Everly: He Can't Spell But He Can Sing Like A Million Dollars

Interview by Maureen Cleave, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 11 November 1962

From MAUREEN CLEAVE in London ...

The Everly Brothers, Phil Everly: Phil Everly says Thanks

Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 16 November 1962

PALE AND drawn after his four week tour of Britain without brother Don, Phil Everly slumped into a deep armchair in his dressing room at ...

Patsy Cline: Patsy Cashes In on the C and W Boom

Profile by June Harris, Disc, 1 December 1962

LAST WEEK, when 'Heartaches' eased its way into our Top Thirty at 29, Patsy Cline became the first American country and western girl to get ...

Patsy Cline Overcame Grave Car Crash Injuries

Profile and Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 7 December 1962

PERSONAL tragedy is nothing to Patsy Cline, who sings of 'Heartaches' on her first big hit disc in Britain. Her fast-rising career was interrupted last ...

Marty Robbins, Patsy Cline: Grand Ole Opry Show: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 28 December 1962

C-and-W invades the New York concert world ...

The Springfields: Colder In Nashville Than Even Here Says Tom Springfield

Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 2 February 1963

MIKE PICKWORTH is the "new boy" of the Springfield's. He's the 21-year-old who took over when Tim Feild left to set up in the antique ...

Patsy Cline Killed In Air Crash

Report by uncredited writer, New Musical Express, 8 March 1963

A TRAGIC air accident again struck a cruel blow at the pop music world this week. Four years after Buddy Holly's death, country-and-western star Patsy ...

Buddy Knox: The Great Unknowns No. 2: Buddy Knox

Profile by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 23 March 1963

SEVERAL MONTHS ago a disc entered the top fifty by an artist who hadn't seen the light of the charts for many years. It was ...

Hank Locklin on Newcomers' TV Show!

Profile by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 12 April 1963

ONE OF America's biggest country-and-western stars, Hank Locklin, is arriving in London today (Friday) for his first visit to this country. Regrettably, most of his ...

Skeeter Davis: Alan Smith Conducts a Transatlantic Question-Time with Skeeter Davis

Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 26 April 1963

A MODEST, charming person who's far from being as sad as she sounds on her first British hit, 'The End Of The World'! — that's ...

Jim Reeves: Long-lasting Jim Reeves Takes Things Very Calmly

Interview by Ian Dove, New Musical Express, 21 June 1963

JIM REEVES comes from Texas, has that celebrated lazy Texan drawl and a relaxed attitude towards singing and his audience. Everything appears to be taken ...

Dock Boggs, Mississippi John Hurt: Alumni Hall, New York University, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 14 December 1963

2 OLD-TIMERS SHARE FOLK-SONG PROGRAM ...

Jim Reeves: "We just come through here once..."

Report and Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 15 August 1964

JIM REEVES, only a few weeks off forty but looking much younger, relaxed In the garden of his beautiful new home at Madison, Tennessee. He ...

Roy Acuff, Roger Miller, Buck Owens: Albums from Roy Acuff, Buck Owens and Roger Miller

Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 21 March 1965

Nashville's Modern Folk ...

The Everly Brothers: Rock 'n' Soul (Warner Bros. WM 8171); Gone, Gone, Gone (Warner Bros. WM 8169)

Review by Peter Jones, Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 1 May 1965

2 wild albums from Everlys ...

The Everly Brothers: Looking back, the Everly Brothers rather dig the last 25 years (except those cowboy suits of course)

Profile and Interview by Maureen Cleave, The Evening Standard, 8 May 1965

THERE'S ONE thing the Everly Brothers are really good at and that's survival. Quite soon they will celebrate their silver anniversary of 25 years in ...

The Everly Brothers: Everlys Thrilled Over British Tour

Interview by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 9 July 1965

"WE'RE looking so much forward to going back to Britain," exclaimed Don Everly on the phone from Decorah, Iowa, to my office in California. "We're ...

"Opry", 40, Shows No Sign Of Aging

Report by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 23 October 1965

Nashville Marking Event's Birthday on Joyous Note ...

Chet Atkins, Johnny Cash, Gordon Terry: The Nashville Sound

Report by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 28 November 1965

NASHVILLE — ALTHOUGH there have been no birthday cakes visible, this music center has been savoring its sweet desserts during this anniversary year. ...

Roger Miller: '65's Pop Surprise Man

Profile by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 8 January 1966

WITH THE Old Year now just a part of history, there is one man in this world of pop who must undoubtedly have been quite ...

Bobby Bare, Little Jimmy Dickens, Roger Miller: Roger Miller & Little Jimmy Dickens: A Happy Thing Happened On Our Way To Hullabaloo

Report by Jane Heil, Hit Parader, April 1966

ISN'T THAT Roger Miller standing over on the sidelines at the Hullabaloo rehearsal? Are those tears in his eyes? What's he doing here, anyway; he isn't even ...

Eddy Arnold: "Eddy's son digs Beatles not C&W!"

Interview by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 2 April 1966

EDDY ARNOLD — we know all about him. The soft-singing country and ballad singer... deep brown voice and old country guitar and the straight and ...

Bob Dylan, Foggy Mountain Boys, Charlie McCoy, Elvis Presley: "Recording Sessions I Have Known" by Charlie McCoy

Interview by Jim Delehant, Hit Parader, May 1966

When you hear a harmonica wailing in the background on currently popular blues, country, folk or pop recordings, it's probably being played by an ultra-talented guy ...

Jim Reeves: Kimberley Jim (RCA Victor)

Review by Peter Jones, Record Mirror, 14 May 1966

WHEN JIM Reeves last visited London, he and I talked long and earnestly about what he wanted to do with his career. He had hit ...

Johnny Cash — The C&W Legend Also Beloved By Rockers

Interview by Richard Green, Record Mirror, 21 May 1966

JOHNNY CASH has become almost a country and western legend in the twelve years that he's been recording. Rock 'n' roll fans in this country ...

Chet Atkins, John D. Loudermilk: Nashville: The Town With The "Fresh Sound"

Report by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 19 June 1966

It started with Grand Ole Opry ...

Roger Miller: A Punny Man

Profile and Interview by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 2 July 1966

"A WOMAN'S place is in the stove," Roger Miller drawled over the babble of four housewives sitting behind him in a plush Encino restaurant. ...

Jim Reeves: Jim's First Number One

Report by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 23 September 1966

From Tennessee Mrs. Mary Reeves says thanks for Jim's first number one ...

Jim Reeves: Mary Reeves Tells Alan Smith About Jim's Greatest Tribute

Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 18 February 1967

"THE MOST loyal people in the whole world" — those were the warm words with which Mary, widow of the late Jim Reeves, described British ...

Hoyt Axton, Kaleidoscope: the Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 24 February 1967

Hoyt Axton Sounds of Sad, Glad ...

Sandy Posey: Sandy's a Single Girl who goes for R&B

Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 25 February 1967

"SHE'S DIFFICULT to interview — she's very quiet and she's only interested in music and people concerned with music." That was the advice I was ...

Lester Flatt, Hearts & Flowers, Earl Scruggs: Flatt & Scruggs, Hearts & Flowers: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Tracy Thomas, New Musical Express, 26 February 1967

Down in the dumps ...

Chet Atkins, James Brown, The Mothers Of Invention, Sam & Dave: LP Reviews: Sam & Dave, James Brown, Chet Atkins, and the Mothers of Invention

Review by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, April 1967

  Sam And Dave: Double Dynamite (Stax 589003) ...

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Seeds: Popular Records: Dirt Band and Seeds Sprout Hits

Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 2 April 1967

TWO LOCAL groups straddling different sectors of pop music, each of which ripened amid the musical upheaval of the past year, have emerged from months ...

The Doors, James Brown, Joe Tex, Lonnie Mack, McKinley "Soul" Mitchell, Petula Clark, Roy Orbison, Sonny & Cher: New Albums From The Doors, Roy Orbison, Sonny & Cher et al

Review by Peter Jones, Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 22 April 1967

Orbison Gibson album — a fine LP but could be depressing... ...

Tim Buckley, Pat Paulsen, The Stone Poneys: Pat Paulsen, Tim Buckley, the Stone Poneys: Troubadour, Los Angeles

Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 1 June 1967

Pat Paulsen Sparkles at Troubadour Outing ...

Charley Pride — America's Coloured Cowboy

Profile by John Abbey, Record Mirror, 5 August 1967

ASK ANYBODY who knows anything about Country Music to name an artiste with a bright future in this field and you'll hear the name Charley ...

Bobbie Gentry Reveals Message Behind 'Ode'

Interview by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 26 August 1967

WHO KILLED Billy Joe McAllister? Or did he jump? What was thrown off that bridge? And why? These are just some of the questions raised ...

Bobbie Gentry: 'Billie Joe' girl moves to modelling

Profile and Interview by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 15 October 1967

SHE'S beautiful. She's talented. She has a song at the top of the hit parade and this week she will make even more news by ...

Bobbie Gentry: Bobbie — On The Tallahatchee Bridge To Fame

Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 21 October 1967

ALAN WALSH meets the 'Ode to Billie Joe' girl ...

Buck Owens: Village Theater, New York NY

Live Review by Robert Shelton, The New York Times, 13 November 1967

Country-Rock by Buck Owens Suggests New Musical Trend ...

Roger Miller: In The Red For Eight Of His Ten Singing Years

Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 2 December 1967

ROGER MILLER – both on and off record – has a quiet, relaxed, uncomplicated approach to his music and to life. Yet he's had 10 ...

The Stone Poneys: Linda Leading Stone Poneys To Gold Water

Interview by Tony Leigh, KRLA Beat, 30 December 1967

THERE IS A new type of singing group at the forefront of the pop music industry — the group that is led by a female ...

Bob Dylan: John Wesley Harding (Columbia)

Review by Lillian Roxon, Sydney Morning Herald, the, 14 January 1968

Bob Dylan makes a comeback ...

Buck Owens: Carousel Ballroom, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 11 March 1968

Exhilarating Time With Buck Owens ...

Sydney Nathan Dead

Obituary by uncredited writer, Record World, 16 March 1968

Pioneered C&W Wax, Then R&B ...

Blue Cheer, Bobbie Gentry, The Human Beinz: Albums from Blue Cheer, Bobbie Gentry and the Human Beinz

Review by uncredited writer, KRLA Beat, 23 March 1968

VINCEBUS ERUPTUM (Philips) Blue Cheer 'Summertime Blues', 'Rock Me Baby', 'Doctor Please', 'Out of Focus', 'Parchment Farm' and 'Second Time Around'. ...

The Byrds: Some of the Byrds Fly the Musical Coop

Interview by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 21 April 1968

THE BUFFALO Springfield replaced Bruce Palmer with Jim Messina. Grace Slick joined the Jefferson Airplane when Signe Anderson left. Paul Revere has had 27 Raiders. ...

The Byrds, Penny Nichols: Troubadour, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Pete Johnson, Los Angeles Times, 27 April 1968

'New' Byrds Make Bow at Troubadour ...

Bobby Goldsboro: Before 'Honey' I Had Almost Given Up Hope, Says Bobby Goldsboro

Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 4 May 1968

HIT AFTER HIT has been written by Bobby Goldsboro, but for other people as far as Britain is concerned. His own songs have taken him ...

Johnny Cash: 'Dylan — He's The Best Songwriter Around Now...' said Johnny Cash

Profile and Interview by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 11 May 1968

IN THE YEAR 1956, one of the most formidable of the small American labels was Sun records, owned and run by Sam Phillips who was ...

The Byrds, Gram Parsons: The Byrds: Middle Earth, London

Live Review by Norman Jopling, Record Mirror, 18 May 1968

HIGH FLYING BYRDS TRIUMPH WITH A BRITISH AUDIENCE... ...

The Byrds: The Changing Face of the Byrds

Interview by uncredited writer, Melody Maker, 25 May 1968

"THE BYRDS have changed. In looks, line-up and partly in repertoire. Gone is the long hair, which, back in 1965, earned them the description of ...

Bobbie Gentry: 'I'll Never Tire Of Billy Joe'

Profile and Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 8 June 1968

STANDING around, waiting to meet Bobbie Gentry, I glanced through the two press handouts about her. ...

Lester Flatt, Earl Scruggs: Flatt & Scruggs: hungry i, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 2 July 1968

Fine Flatt-Scruggs Sextet ...

Merle Haggard: Home-fried Humor and Cowboy Soul

Profile and Interview by Al Aronowitz, Rolling Stone, 10 August 1968

COUNTRY MUSIC is blowing in like a fresh wind from the West. America can't be defined by its pay-toilets and its smog. Merle Haggard never ...

Jerry Lee Lewis: Country, Cabaret, and Rock — It's The New Look Jerry Lee Lewis

Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 17 August 1968

THE MAN who rivals Little Richard as rock and roll's King of Excitement arrived back in London last week for a fleeting visit. Jerry Lee ...

Bill Anderson, The Byrds, Jack Greene, Jan Howard, Loretta Lynn, Ernest Tubb, Conway Twitty, Kitty Wells: Country albums from the Byrds, Loretta Lynn, Kitty Wells et al

Review by uncredited writer, Disc and Music Echo, 12 October 1968

Byrds switch to country music... and it's great ...

Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (CBS 63308)

Review by Geoffrey Cannon, The Guardian, 12 November 1968

2018 note: The quality and impact of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison is not because of the songs. It is because of the behaviour and ...

Jeannie C. Riley: A Wild Jeannie

Interview by Alan Smith, New Musical Express, 30 November 1968

PARAGON PUBLICITY use a Rolls and a chauffeur to get me to Jeannie C. Riley ("it belonged to the Beatles," says the man proudly, "but ...

Jeannie C. Riley: 'Harper Valley' Characters Come To Life via Jeannie C. Riley

Profile by Lon Goddard, Record Mirror, 7 December 1968

VISIONS OF the Mississippi Delta again grace the charts as does a rather lovely face while 21-year-old Texas-born Jeannie C. Riley nips at the top ...

Chet Atkins: The Day Elvis Split his Pink Britches

Interview by Alan Walsh, Melody Maker, 8 March 1969

WHEN ELVIS Presley recorded 'Heartbreak Hotel', the record that launched him to adulation level in Great Britain, he really tore the studio apart. ...

Merle Haggard, Waylon Jennings, George Jones, Conway Twitty, Tammy Wynette: George Jones & Tammy Wynette: The Playroom, Atlanta; Waylon Jennings, Conway Twitty: City Auditorium, Atlanta

Live Review by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 10 March 1969

THE LAST two weeks have been good ones for country music in Atlanta. George Jones and Tammy Wynette were at the Playroom; Merle Haggard's latest ...

The Carter Family, Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash: "Ain't Nothin' Too Weird For Me"

Report and Interview by Michael Lydon, The New York Times, 16 March 1969

  BACKSTAGE AT the Amarillo, Texas, Civic Auditorium, a fresh kid with glasses held out a plastic cup of coffee. ...

Charley Pride: Country Pride

Comment by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 17 March 1969

IT WAS COUNTRY Music Week in Nashville, Tennessee, during the fall of 1966. Several of us from the Southern Student Organizing Committee were in town ...

Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash! The Man, His World, His Music (PBL; dir. Robert Elfstrom)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Miller Francis Jr., Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 24 March 1969

TO SAY THAT the 90-minute Johnny Cash PBL special was the best television show I've ever seen is to detract from the compliment; perhaps it ...

Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Georgie Fame, Simon & Garfunkel: Johnny Cash & Bob Dylan: Mind blowing duo

Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 29 March 1969

NME's Richard Green talks to their producer, Bob Johnston ...

The Byrds, Albert King: Rose Palace, Pasadena CA

Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 20 May 1969

Byrds in Spotlight at Pasadena Rose Palace ...

Johnny Cash, Jerry Lee Lewis, Carl Perkins, Elvis Presley: Sun Records: Country Meets Rock

Retrospective by Guy Stevens, International Times, 23 May 1969

An occasional series which looks into pop music and its antecedents is the latest plot to swell our readership figures, thereby making the fuzz look ...

Johnny Cash, Bob Dylan, Doug Kershaw, Joni Mitchell: The Johnny Cash Show (ABC TV/Screen Gems)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 12 June 1969

TV CASHES IN ...

Bobbie Gentry Explains The Trouser Suit Scene

Interview by David Griffiths, Record Mirror, 5 July 1969

BOBBIE GENTRY has written so many songs she's lost count. Maybe around two hundred. Since she's constantly travelling to various countries (as well as moving ...

The Everly Brothers: Roots (Warner Brothers-Reprise 1752)

Review by Miller Francis Jr., Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 7 July 1969

"Roll along, along Jordan,Roll me on my way. Roll along, along Jordan,Roll me home today. " ...

Johnny Cash: At San Quentin (CBS mono and stereo 63629; 37s. 6d )

Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, August 1969

CASH RECORDS SMASH IN JAIL ...

Linda Ronstadt: Bitter End, New York NY

Live Review by Danny Goldberg, Billboard, 9 August 1969

Bitter End Entranced By Linda Ronstadt ...

Conway Twitty: Darling, You Know I Wouldn't Lie (MCA mono and stereo MUP 386; 37s 6d.)

Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 23 August 1969

COUNTRY TWITTY ...

Poco: The Pavilion, Flushing Meadow Park, Queens, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 25 August 1969

West Coast Band Pavilion Winner: Poco Plays Country Music in Flushing Meadow Park ...

The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers: Burritos and Byrds: A talk with Gram Parsons and Chris Hillman

Interview by uncredited writer, Helix, 4 September 1969

THE FLYING Burrito Brothers, in their own bittersweet honkytonk way, have become the subject of much foolish controversy. Hailed by numerous critics, fans, and even ...

The Chambers Brothers, Albert King, Poco: Albert King, Poco, the Chambers Brothers: The Pavilion, Flushing Meadows, Queens NY

Live Review by Danny Goldberg, Billboard, 6 September 1969

King of the Blues Courts Fans ...

The Doors, Floating Bridge, The Fugs, Elmer Gantry's Velvet Opera, The Groundhogs, High Tide, Lightnin' Hopkins, Junior's Eyes, Gordon Lightfoot, Loretta Lynn, Gene Pitney, The Sir Douglas Quintet, The Stooges: Doors' Soft Parade leads US underground LP releases

Review by uncredited writer, Record Mirror, 13 September 1969

THE DOORS: The Soft Parade — 'Tell All The People'; 'Touch Me'; 'Shaman's Blues'; 'Do It'; 'Easy Ride'; 'Wild Child'; 'Runnin' Blue'; 'Wishful Sinful'; 'The ...

Johnny Cash: Country Boy

Profile and Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 20 September 1969

Hard life of the legendary folk star ...

David Bromberg, Paul Geremia, Doc Watson: Doc Watson, Paul Geremia, David Bromberg: Gaslight Café, New York NY

Live Review by Danny Goldberg, Billboard, 27 September 1969

'Watsonia' Dazzles in 'Village' ...

Jerry Lee Lewis: Sings The Country Music Hall Of Fame Hits Vol. 1 and 2 (Mercury)

Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 11 October 1969

Jerry Lee's good examples ...

John D. Loudermilk

Interview by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 20 October 1969

The brother runs the camera, and the sister gives the cues/The uncle is the producer, and the old man writes the news/This family named JonesThat ...

The Byrds: Thelma's, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by John Mendelssohn, Los Angeles Times, 25 November 1969

Byrds of a Different Feather Open at Club ...

Area Code 615: Now — Funky Country!

Profile and Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 29 November 1969

That's the sound on Area Code 615, a new album by Nashville musicians who have backed Dylan. It could be as significant as Music From ...

Johnny Cash: Madison Square Garden, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 7 December 1969

20,000 AT GARDEN HEAR JOHNNY CASH ...

Commander Cody: Cody's Airmen On the Way Up

Profile and Interview by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 15 December 1969

THE NATIONAL pop music compass needle has been pointing toward Nashville for over a year and now it is digging into the past of country-and-western ...

Charlie Rich: Life's Little Ups And Downs

Review by Greil Marcus, Rolling Stone, 27 December 1969

BOB DYLAN HAS SAID more than once that Charlie Rich is one of his favorite musicians – as a songwriter and as a singer. Nik ...

Area Code 615: Area Code 615 (Polydor)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 3 January 1970

AREA CODE 615. 'Southern Comfort'; 'I've Been Loving You Too Long'; 'Hey Jude'; 'Nashville 9-N.Y.1'; 'Lady Madonna'; 'Ruby'; 'Crazy Arms'/'Get Back'; 'Why Ask Why'; 'Li'l ...

Area Code 615, Country Joe & The Fish, The Sons of Champlin: Sons of Champlin, Country Joe & the Fish, Area Code 615: Fillmore West, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 13 February 1970

Strong Debut by Nashville 9 ...

Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash — The Man, His World, His Music (Dir. Robert Elfstrom, Verité Production)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 21 February 1970

DON'T MISS THIS JOHNNY CASH FILM advises RICHARD GREEN ...

Johnny Cash Walks The Line...

Profile by Danny Goldberg, Circus, March 1970

JOHNNY CASH the Misfit: Drug induced and being busted for possession of benzedrine at the Mexican border happened long after he had made a name ...

Flying Burrito Brothers: The Flying Burrito Brothers

Profile and Interview by uncredited writer, Circus, March 1970

WHAT IS the world coming to when the Jefferson Airplane, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young and the Grateful Dead get cut to pieces by a ...

Kenny Rogers: Visual Scene Important For Kenny Rogers: The First Edition

Report and Interview by uncredited writer, Beat Instrumental, March 1970

‘THEY'RE a bunch of real nice guys,’ said the publicity man, talking about Kenny Rogers and the First Edition. Which is a very standard line ...

Hank Williams Jr.: Hank Williams, Jr.: Live At Cobo Hall (MGM stereo MGM-CS- 8116; 37s. 5d.)

Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 14 March 1970

IT WOULD be silly to try and compare Hank Junior with his late father, so a review must be done with a completely open mind. ...

Merle Haggard

Comment by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 16 March 1970

IF MERLE Haggard wasn't one of the two or three most creative persons in country music, it would be easy to dismiss him as just ...

Merle Haggard: Municipal Auditorium, Atlanta

Live Review by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 23 March 1970

Walk a Mile... ...

Great Speckled Bird: Village Gate, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 28 March 1970

COUNTRY-FOLK BAND MAKES LOCAL DEBUT ...

Don Gibson: Lonesome Number One: Profile of Don Gibson

Profile by Charlie Gillett, Record Mirror, 28 March 1970

DON GIBSON is the most original country and western singer of the past 15 years, and that's been his problem. While everybody else has been ...

Buck Owens And His Buckaroos: Tall Dark Stranger (Capitol stereo E-ST 212; 39s 11d)

Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 30 May 1970

BUCK OWENS is regarded very highly by country-and –western people, performers and customers alike, and his albums sell consistently well. Unfortunately, he has never had ...

Delaney & Bonnie, Flying Burrito Brothers, John Phillips: Delaney & Bonnie & Friends: On Tour; Flying Burrito Brothers: Burrito Deluxe; John Phillips: Wolfking of LA

Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 20 June 1970

THAT DELANEY AND BONNIE have been instrumental in reshaping a considerable part of the ethos of modem pop music is indisputable. Eric Clapton, the charismatic ...

John Phillips: John The Wolfking of L.A. (Stateside)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 20 June 1970

INSIDE THE Mama's and the Papa's, something better was waiting to get out – and this is it. ...

Roger Miller: Roger Miller 1970 (Mercury stereo 6338 001; 30s. 11d.)

Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 27 June 1970

BECAUSE ROGER Miller is such a good songwriter it's odd that only one of the tracks here is his own composition. It would be much ...

Ray Stevens: Everything Is Stevens

Interview by Val Mabbs, Record Mirror, 18 July 1970

SOUNDS OF laughter seem to be a constant surrounding to Ray Stevens. Although it was four in the afternoon and Ray was wading through a ...

Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons: Gram Parsons, The Burrito Ego Man

Interview by Jacoba Atlas, Melody Maker, 25 July 1970

LOS ANGELES, Tuesday: Gram Parsons, founder of the Flying Burrito Brothers, was a Byrd, a southerner and a Harvard College Drop-out. With the formation of ...

Arlo Guthrie, Linda Ronstadt: Civic Auditorium, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 17 August 1970

Singers Survive Frightful Sound ...

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: The Troubadour, Los Angeles

Live Review by Todd Everett, Phonograph Record, October 1970

FOR several years, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band has been a steady fixture in such local L.A. clubs as the Troubadour. ...

Merle Haggard: The Fightin' Side Of Me (Capitol)

Review by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 17 October 1970

MERLE HAGGARD is a tough ol' boy. While Johnny Cash broods about it, you have the feeling that Haggard might just get it done. ...

Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner: Porter & Dolly

Profile by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 30 November 1970

PORTER WAGONER and Dolly Parton were scheduled to appear in Atlanta this Saturday night to headline WPLO's Shower of Stars at the Municipal Auditorium. Last ...

Jerry Lee Lewis: Town Hall, Auckland NZ

Live Review by Tom McWilliams, Playdate, December 1970

"NEVER LET it be said that Jerry Lee didn't do his part o' the show..." ...

Burning Red Ivanhoe, The Byrds, MC5: The Byrds: (Untitled); MC5: Back in the U.S.A.; Burning Red Ivanhoe

Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 12 December 1970

BESIDES BEING ONE of the seminal rock and roll bands, the Byrds also possess perhaps the music's oldest case-history. Of the group which came out ...

Johnny Cash: Jailhouse, Jesus and H.G. Wells

Report and Interview by Philip Norman, The Sunday Times, 1971

THE HEAVY carved front door into House of Cash, Johnny Cash's state mansion, in Madison, Tennessee, swung inward to reveal blinding sunshine and the awe-struck ...

The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Chris Hillman: Chris Hillman: The Byrd who found his wings and began to fly

Retrospective and Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, 6 February 1971

Chris Hillman looks back on the Byrds and talks about his 'Brothers' ...

Bill Anderson, Bobby Bare, Tom T. Hall, Conway Twitty: Bill Anderson, Conway Twitty, Bobby Bare, Tom T. Hall: Shower Of Stars, City Auditorium, Atlanta GA

Live Review by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 15 March 1971

FROM TOP TO bottom, the Shower of Stars last Saturday night was really fine. The sound system was much improved and the sound it carried ...

Charlie Rich: A Time For Tears (Sun 1231)

Review by Metal Mike Saunders, The Rag, 15 March 1971

CHARLIE RICH from Colt, Arkansas, came out in the mid-50's with a voice and delivery very similar to that of Elvis Presley's early Sun style, ...

Lynn Anderson: Pssst! Don't tell the British that Lynn sings Country!

Interview by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 20 March 1971

SUCH IS THE stigma attached to country music by a large number of people in Britain that before Lynn Anderson left America she was warned ...

Ray Stevens: 'Bridget The Midget' Man Says Religious Lyrics Will Be Next Big Thing

Interview by James Johnson, New Musical Express, 20 March 1971

People are getting sick to death of the 'put-the-world-to-rights songs' ...

The Scruggs Brothers: The Scruggs Bros.

Interview by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 29 March 1971

GARY AND Randy Scruggs, Earl's boys, have fine album out on Vanguard — All The Way Home. ...

Bobby Bare

Interview by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 5 April 1971

"It's a funny thing. I'd probably sold two or three millions for RCA before I realized that you got paid for it. Fact is, I ...

Grateful Dead, New Riders of the Purple Sage: Fillmore East, New York, NY

Live Review by Vernon Gibbs, Columbia Daily Spectator, 29 April 1971

One Stoned Evening With the Dead ...

The Carter Family, Johnny Cash, June Carter Cash, Carl Perkins: Cash

Report and Interview by Tom McWilliams, Playdate, May 1971

TALL, BROAD shouldered — Johnny Cash is a big man, bulky with a dignity weightier than his 39 years. Behind his black shirt front the ...

Clover: Forty Niner (Liberty)

Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 1 May 1971

IF CLOVER'S first album on Liberty was good, then this follow up is fantastic. The material is a rich variety of country music which brings ...

Hank Williams and Honky Tonk

Overview by Martin Hawkins, Record Mirror, 1 May 1971

MUCH HAS been written recently about the influence of Sam Phillips' Memphis Sun label on rock 'n' roll, especially since its British releases of recent ...

Tom T. Hall

Interview by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 3 May 1971

TOM T. HALL is one of Nashville's outstanding songwriters. He's turned out hit after hit like 'I Washed My Face in the Morning Dew', and ...

The Byrds: Byrd Watching (part 1)

Interview by Roy Hollingworth, Melody Maker, 8 May 1971

Roger McGuinn: into the mystic ...

The Byrds, The Kentucky Colonels: The Byrds: Byrd Watching (part 2)

Interview by Richard Williams, Melody Maker, 8 May 1971

THE COUNTRY consonants of Clarence White's guitar have fooled a lot of people — me included — into thinking that the man must have come ...

The Byrds: Colston Hall, Bristol

Live Review by Roy Hollingworth, Melody Maker, 8 May 1971

A PINCH of snuff, the eucalyptus stabs the eye. McGuinn fastens the tin and slips it into his suit pocket. The rest of the guy's ...

Linda Ronstadt: Fillmore East, New York NY

Live Review by Mike Jahn, The New York Times, 9 May 1971

Bright Song Style Of Linda Ronstadt Lights Up Fillmore ...

Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner: Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner: ...It's Awfully Hard To Just Let Them People Go By In The World And Not Say Something About It.

Interview by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 17 May 1971

PORTER WAGONER and Dolly Parton are country music superstars. Porter's been on the Grand Ole Opry for years and as much as anyone else has ...

Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner: Dolly Parton and Porter Wagoner: Country Music Is Exactly That Way. It Tells Of Life The Way It Is.

Interview by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 24 May 1971

THE EXCITING thing about Porter and Dolly's music is that it continues to grow — as their new albums indicate. Porter's latest is Simple As ...

Waylon Jennings: The Taker/Tulsa (RCA 4487)

Review by Nick Tosches, Fusion, 28 May 1971

EVEN THOUGH this album stinks it wasn't always like that for Mr. Jennings. ...

Waylon Jennings

Interview by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 21 June 1971

IT WAS ONE of those memorable evenings like accidentally catching Charley Pride's first Nashville appearance at the Ernest Tubb Record Shop, or watching Mel Tillis ...

Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty: Loretta & Conway

Profile by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 28 June 1971

LORETTA LYNN and Conway Twitty headline the WPLO Shower of Stars this Saturday night at the Municipal Auditorium. Both are established country stars. Loretta was ...

Loretta Lynn: Everybody's Got a Soul and a Heart

Interview by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 12 July 1971

(RBP editor's note: the intro to this article was written by Paul Connah, the interview undertaken primarily by Gene Guerrero) ...

Karen Dalton: In My Own Time (Just Sunshine/Paramount)

Review by Danny Goldberg, Rolling Stone, 22 July 1971

KAREN DALTON is a folk legend whose name is spoken with reverence on MacDougal St., in Woodstock, in Texas, or anyplace else where she has ...

Conway Twitty: The Lonely Country Blues Boy

Overview by Bill Millar, Record Mirror, 14 August 1971

WHEN discussing the history of rock 'n' roll, a number of writers have recently implied that the attention paid to black influences has long obscured ...

The Monkees, Michael Nesmith: Michael Nesmith

Interview by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 20 September 1971

MIKE NESMITH was a member of the Monkees, now he's doing his own thing, come see him at the press party at the Bistro. That's ...

Johnny Cash: Cash Conference

Report by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 25 September 1971

Sun Records have Cash, Presley, Jerry Lee, Carl Perkins tapes locked in vault ...

The Carter Family, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, The Statler Brothers: Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, the Carter Family, the Statler Brothers: Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Richard Green, New Musical Express, 25 September 1971

THE LEGEND that has grown up around Johnny Cash got its first in-person airing in Britain for three years at the Queen Elizabeth Hall on ...

Lynn Anderson, Charley Pride: Charley Pride, Lynn Anderson: Oakland Coliseum, Oakland CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 30 October 1971

Perplexing Popularity Of Pride ...

Opry

Report by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 1 November 1971

NASHVILLE, TENNESSEE — It was a combination pop festival and Lion's Club Convention — the 46th Anniversary Celebration of the Grand Ole Opry held October ...

Commander Cody, Shanti: Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen, Shanti: The Ash Grove, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 12 November 1971

THROUGH THE first few moments of its set, the listener may have trouble seeing exactly what it is that has so endeared Commander Cody and ...

New Riders Of The Purple Sage: New Riders Of The Purple Sage (CBS 64657, £2.08p)

Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 1 December 1971

"Unknown" Riders will please you ...

Chet Atkins, Ernest Tubb: The Cold, Cold Heart of Country Music

Report by Philip Norman, The Sunday Times, 1972

FOR ALL that Country and Western hopes nothing will change, its heroes die horribly fast. ...

The Everly Brothers: Growing Apart

Report and Interview by Philip Norman, The Sunday Times, 1972

PHIL IS THE fastidious one. Don was happy to stay at another motel with a northern draught sweeping its gallery and cows grazing round the ...

The Byrds: I Love The Byrds But...

Comment by Kim Fowley, Phonograph Record, January 1972

IN ALMOST 1972, the Beatles have broken up, the Stones are husbands and fathers, Sonny and Cher are famous again, Jimi Hendrix is dead, and ...

Tom T. Hall: In Search of a Song

Review by Richard Cromelin, Rolling Stone, 6 January 1972

FACT IS, In Search of a Song doesn't quite match the quality of any of Hall's three previous Mercury albums. Meaning only that a couple ...

The Carter Family, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, The Statler Brothers: Johnny Cash, Carter Family, Statler Brothers, Carl Perkins: Civic Center, Atlanta GA

Live Review by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 14 February 1972

Oil Commercials & Falling Idols ...

George Jones, Charley Pride, Tammy Wynette: Charley Pride, Tammy Wynette and George Jones: Municipal Auditorium, Atlanta GA

Live Review by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 31 February 1972

GOOD COUNTRY ...

Rick Nelson: How Ricky Became Rick

Interview by Caroline Boucher, Disc and Music Echo, 4 March 1972

A YEAR and a half ago and full of enthusiasm for his new band, Rick Nelson set off for Europe and a tour of American ...

Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson: Kris Kristofferson and Rita Coolidge: Kris and the Delta lady

Interview by Rosalind Russell, Disc, 13 May 1972

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON and the Delta Lady — Rita Coolidge — arrived in London last week to a hero's welcome. Could it be that people are ...

Hank Snow, Jimmie Driftwood, Jimmie Rodgers: Roots of Country: Jimmie Rodgers, Jimmie Driftwood, Hank Snow albums

Review by Tony Russell, Cream, June 1972

THESE THREE double albums (with a fourth by Eddy Arnold) open a reissue series presumably intended to uncover the roots of today’s country music. Each ...

The Everly Brothers: Roots

Interview by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 12 June 1972

LIKE MOST under 40/over 20 Americans, the Everly Brothers are very much a part of my life. 'Cathy's Clown' and 'Bye, Bye Love' are not ...

The Eagles: Eagles (Asylum).

Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 15 July 1972

BY WORD-of-mouth reputation alone, this debut album by the Eagles — born out of Poco and the Burritos — has suddenly become one of the ...

Willie Nelson: The Words Don't Fit The Picture (RCA LSP-4653)

Review by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 24 July 1972

Country Willie ...

Charlie Rich: Rich and Mellow

Discography by Bill Millar, Record Mirror, 12 August 1972

"ULTIMATELY there was Charlie Rich. Rich was a Georgia cotton farmer and he was into his thirties, he had grey hair and a paunch. Still ...

Dillard and Clark, The Eagles, Longbranch/Pennywhistle, Linda Ronstadt: Folk Rock Vets: The Eagles Take It Easy & Soar

Profile and Interview by Judith Sims, Rolling Stone, 17 August 1972

LOS ANGELES — The four Eagles — Bernie Leadon, Glenn Frey, Randy Meisner and Don Henley — had barely been introduced to each other when ...

Wilf Carter (Montana Slim), Lightnin' Hopkins, Hank Snow, Lester Young: Rocking Chair

Column by Michael Lydon, Fusion, September 1972

JUNE TODAY, not busting out in Boston where the sky is as grey as the pigeons, but here. My trip has continued from Bloomington across ...

Redwing, Seatrain: Seatrain, Redwing: The Whisky, Los Angeles, CA

Live Review by Jeff Walker, Phonograph Record, September 1972

I WISH there were something really great to say about Redwing; I mean, they've been playing together for a lot of years now, they happen ...

The Carter Family, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, The Statler Brothers: Johnny Cash, Carter Family, Statler Brothers, Carl Perkins: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Andrew Means, Melody Maker, 7 October 1972

FOR ONE reason or another, Johnny Cash has a rather fearsome image. It's been tempered in recent times by some of the songs he's written ...

Johnny Cash: Hard Cash To Cleanse Your Soul

Report and Interview by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 7 October 1972

IT'S 7.30 P.M. at the backstage entrance of the Albert Hall and strange things are happening. It's Wednesday, the second of Johnny Cash's performances at ...

Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen: Hot Licks, Cold Steel & Truckers Favorites (Paramount)

Review by Loraine Alterman, The New York Times, 15 October 1972

Truckin' the Blues Away ...

Dorsey Burnette: Here and Now (Capitol 11094)

Review by Gene Sculatti, Fusion, November 1972

REMEMBER THE Burnette Brothers? Johnny and Dorsey, that is, out of Memphis in the Fifties doing 'The Train Kept A-Rollin'' and mucho ace rockabilly? No? ...

Poco: A Good Feeling To Know

Report and Interview by Jim Esposito, Rock, December 1972

IT'S VIRTUALLY impossible to do anything even resembling country rock nowadays without being compared to Poco in some aspect or another, because if Poco didn't ...

Rick Nelson: You're Not A Kid Anymore!

Retrospective and Interview by Todd Everett, Phonograph Record, December 1972

ROCK AND ROLL was here to stay. We knew it in 1957, and Danny and the Juniors put it into song in 1958. But what ...

Rick Nelson (1973) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1973

This is a transcript of John's audio interview with Rick. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Michael Nesmith: The Hits Just Keep On Comin' (RCA)

Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 13 January 1973

IT'S LITTLE known information, but Stephen Stills auditioned for the Monkees. So it follows illogically that CSN&Y was just Steve's ambition to be a Monkee ...

Flying Burrito Brothers, Emmylou Harris, International Submarine Band, Gram Parsons: Music Makers: Gram Parsons

Interview by Michael Oberman, Evening Star, The (Washington DC), 13 January 1973

WHEN GRAM Parsons formed the International Submarine Band (one of the first country-rock bands to surface in an era of rock and roll) in 1966, ...

Poco: A Good Feelin' To Know (Epic).

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 13 January 1973

I KNOW a lot of city-boy cynic rock writers like to put down this band, pointing out how lightweight they are and how they come ...

Johnny Paycheck: Somebody Loves Me (Epic)

Review by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973

FOR QUITE A few years, black American singers have milked Nashville for meaningful ballad songs. Joe Simon, Esther Phillips, Joe Tex and O.C. Smith are ...

The Rowan Brothers: Rowan Brothers: Rowan Brothers (CBS)

Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 27 January 1973

THESE TWO caballeros made their first appearance of note with the Grateful Dead at the Fillmore West: two downy-cheeked youths on acoustic guitars with Uncle ...

Charley Pride

Interview by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 1 February 1973

CHARLEY PRIDE has come a long way from Sledge, Mississippi, where he and ten brothers and sisters picked cotton alongside their parents. In 1971 the Country ...

Glen Campbell: Carnegie Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Ian Dove, The New York Times, 23 February 1973

Glen Campbell Adds To His Star Status In Carnegie Recital ...

Tammy Wynette: My Man (Epic KE-31717)

Review by Nick Tosches, Country Music, March 1973

THERE HAS always been something about Tammy Wynette that has set her slightly apart from the rest of country music's singing queens. Her songs deal ...

The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, International Submarine Band, Gram Parsons, The Rolling Stones: Ex-Byrd Gram Parsons Solos: He's No Longer in a Hurry

Interview by Judith (Judy) Sims, Rolling Stone, 1 March 1973

LOS ANGELES — Back in 1969 Gram Parsons, rhythm guitarist, keyboard player and vocalist, and Chris Ethridge, bassist, decided to form a country rock band ...

George Jones, Tammy Wynette: Shower of Stars: George Jones & Tammy Wynette

Profile by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 5 March 1973

ONCE AGAIN it's Shower of Stars time. A good chance to see some of country music's finest in person at pretty reasonable prices. ...

The Eagles: Eagles Make It Easy

Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 10 March 1973

THE EAGLES, who have got more mileage out of their debut album than most bands can reasonably expect, are set to make their first live ...

The Eagles: Takin' It Easy

Profile and Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 10 March 1973

IN A COMFORTABLE Chelsea flat, Texan Glenn Frey is looking a bit depressed as he sits surrounded by a pile of the latest rock albums ...

Dr. Hook and the Medicine Show: The Funny Side of Dr Hook

Profile and Interview by Danny Holloway, New Musical Express, 17 March 1973

DR. HOOK were unexpectedly thrust to popularity via their international hit 'Sylvia's Mother' last summer. The strange thing is, people were buying the song and ...

Linda Ronstadt, Neil Young: Neil Young, Linda Ronstadt: Winterland, Sand Francisco CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 22 March 1973

Neil Young: A Reminder of Mellower Days ...

Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen: Hot Licks, Cold Steel and Truckers Favorites (Paramount)

Review by Jonh Ingham, New Musical Express, 24 March 1973

IT WAS like driving through an infinite oven, the sun dancing in cool water-mirages across the four-lane asphalt. Wayne wiped the sweat from his brow. ...

George Jones, Tammy Wynette: Tammy Wynette and George Jones: Philharmonic Hall, New York NY

Live Review by Ian Dove, The New York Times, 27 March 1973

Wynette and Jones Present, in Songs, Flavor of Nashville ...

Gram Parsons: GP (Reprise)

Review by Charlie Gillett, New Musical Express, 31 March 1973

WELL NOW, there's country music, and there's country music. And this here's the second of the two. The first is what you would hear at ...

Hank Williams

Guide by John Morthland, Creem, April 1973

WHERE TO begin an article about Hank Williams! How about with the kind of gross overstatement that it's impossible to disprove (or prove)? To wit: ...

Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons: Gram Parsons: Parsons Knows...

Interview by Loraine Alterman, Melody Maker, 7 April 1973

Gram Parsons, former member of the Byrds and Burritos and now the proud owner of a solo album, talks to Loraine Alterman in New York ...

Joe South: A Look Inside (Capitol)

Review by John Swenson, The Village Voice, 12 April 1973

BEFORE HE recorded his first album, Joe South spent years honing down his material — from the age of 15 he had been playing steadily, ...

Freddie Hart, Loretta Lynn, Nat Stuckey, Conway Twitty: Conway Twitty, Lorette Lynn, Nat Stuckey, Freddie Hart: San Jose Municipal Auditorium, San Jose CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 20 April 1973

Country Music Show a Natural ...

Tammy Wynette, Toni and Terry: Tammy Wynette/Toni & Terry albums

Review by Charlie Gillett, Rolling Stone, 26 April 1973

Toni and Terry: Cross CountryTammy Wynette: My Man ...

Townes Van Zandt: The Late Great Townes Van Zandt (Poppy)

Review by Jeff Walker, Phonograph Record, May 1973

TOWNES VAN ZANDT is so much more than just another singer/songwriter. He's a storyteller; a mood-maker. ...

The Eagles: Desperado (Asylum)

Review by Paul Gambaccini, Rolling Stone, 10 May 1973

IF THEY gave a Grammy for the best interior gatefold cover, this one should be nominated. It is the best since For The Roses, but ...

The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, International Submarine Band, Gram Parsons: Parsons the Country Preacher

Interview by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 12 May 1973

This is the man Presley's musicians turn to when they're sick of those Las Vegas riffs. ...

Jerry Lee Lewis Comes Back

Profile by Gene Guerrero, The Great Speckled Bird, 21 May 1973

JERRY LEE Lewis is a self-made phenomenon. Remember a couple of years ago when he made it back on television after years of virtual obscurity? ...

Old And In The Way, Doug Sahm: Old & In the Way, Doug Sahm: Capitol Theatre, Passaic NJ

Live Review by John Swenson, The Village Voice, 14 June 1973

ON THE strength of the fact that Jerry Garcia would be playing there, the Capitol Theatre in Passaic was jammed full last Wednesday night with ...

The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons: Gram Parsons: Take Your Partners and Away You Go (One Step back Two Steps Forward)

Essay by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, July 1973

Rock, Country & Gram Parsons ...

Joe Simon: Country Joe

Report and Interview by Roger St. Pierre, New Musical Express, 28 July 1973

SOUL MAN Joe Simon has scored a long run of American hits — with country songs. And now his 'Step By Step' currently climbing the ...

Commander Cody: The Early Sound Of "Now" Music

Interview by Lillian Roxon, New York Sunday News, 29 July 1973

HIS FIRST BAND was called the Fantastic Surfing Beavers and, according to Commander Cody, it was the worst band that ever existed. I was sorry ...

Waylon Jennings: You Gotta Be A Man First, 'Fore You Can Be Anything...

Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 11 August 1973

Waylon Jennings, the cowboy who finally hit that golden trail. By MICHAEL WATTS in New York ...

Commander Cody: Country Casanova

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 25 August 1973

I'VE GOT to admit I was thrown when I first saw the cover of this album. The dude in the cowboy shirt leaning next to ...

Commander Cody: Commander of the Ozone

Profile by Chris Rowley, International Times, 26 August 1973

OZONE: Form of Oxygen having three atoms per molecule, pungent, refreshing odour and exhilarating influence. ...

Asleep at the Wheel, Charlatans, The (US), Commander Cody, Country Gazette, Dillard and Clark, The Dillards, Dan Hicks and His Hot Licks, New Riders of the Purple Sage: A Guide To Contemporary Country Groups

Report by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, September 1973

THIS AUTUMN, England is due for an invasion by some of America's top contemporary country groups. The new wave will be well represented by Commander ...

The Charlie Daniels Band: Charlie Daniels: Writer Rides High on 'Uneasy Rider'

Interview by Ian Dove, The New York Times, 5 September 1973

PICKING ITS way carefully across the playlists of the music radio stations is a song titled 'Uneasy Rider', performed by its composer Charlie Daniels. The ...

Charlie Rich: A Guide

Guide by Metal Mike Saunders, Phonograph Record, October 1973

If you think you know what frustration is like, try this on for size: imagine you were a singer who had come up with Sun ...

Gram Parsons: The Superstar Who Didn't Quite Make It

Obituary by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 6 October 1973

GRAM PARSONS somehow never quite got to be the nationally-touted superstar he deserved to be, which is possibly as much his own fault as anyone ...

Rick Nelson: Has it Really Been 2 Years Since Garden Party?

Profile and Interview by Arthur Levy, Zoo World, 11 October 1973

WHEN RICK Nelson walked onstage at Madison Square Garden for Richard Nader's Rock 'n Roll Revival: Volume VII, fully two years ago this October 15th, he ...

Gram Parsons: Ashes In the Morning

Memoir by Eve Babitz, Rolling Stone, 25 October 1973

Eve Babitz is an artist and author of a column and an upcoming book entitled Eve's Hollywood. — Editor ...

The Nudie Look

Profile and Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 27 October 1973

Los Angeles Report by Chris Charlesworth ...

Bobby Vee (1973)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, November 1973

The veteran rocker talks about his latest album — released under the name Robert Thomas Velline — Nothin' Like a Sunny Day, and his struggles with United Artists. He then looks back at the end of his first phase of popularity, touring the UK, and cutting Sings The New Sound From England! He talks about producer Snuff Garrett and how they cut his hits, and about his collaborations with the Ventures and Crickets. Finally, Bobby looks back at how Buddy Holly's death kick-started his career.

File format: mp3; file size: 39.9mb; Interview length: 41' 35"; sound quality: ****

Merle Haggard, Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty: Conway Twitty & Loretta Lynn: Louisiana Woman – Mississippi Man; Merle Haggard: I Love Dixie Blues...

Review by John Morthland, Creem, November 1973

THE SEARCH for the most commercial mating of country and rock continues unabated, and it's working both ways. In the wake of Kristofferson, the Young ...

Rick Nelson (1973)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, November 1973

A year after hitting with 'Garden Party', the former teenthrob talks about getting his new band together; his love of the pedal steel, and his steel player Tom Brumley; his new album Windfall; his against-type TV acting roles; the LA club scene and his favourite, the Palomino; leaving 'Hello Mary Lou' behind, and not being trapped by his past.

File format: mp3; file size: 41.1mb, interview length: 42' 48" sound quality: ****

Tanya Tucker: Delta Dawn, What's Your Mama's Name (Columbia)

Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, November 1973

TANYA TUCKER just turned fifteen years old and, as they say, she's taken the country music world by storm. Her first hit, 'Delta Dawn', went ...

Linda Ronstadt: Don't Cry Now (Asylum)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 10 November 1973

LOOKING AS she does, an impossibly cuddly chicklet, it's easy to forgive Linda Ronstadt any musical deficiencies. But this album, in fact her first on ...

Chet Atkins: Country Gent

Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 24 November 1973

I OWN TWO albums by Chet Atkins, both of which are old and scratched. One features country picking and the other is titled Chet Picks ...

Gram Parsons Death Mystery

Report by Jacoba Atlas, Circus, December 1973

Gram Parsons: His body disappeared and the story behind it is cloaked in a veil of mystery. Why was it stolen and why was it ...

Warren Smith: A Great Rockabilly

Profile by Martin Hawkins, Country Music People, December 1973

THE SMALL record company has always had a significant place in the Country Music recording industry for it is these which provide the raw material ...

Tanya Tucker: Jail Bait on Parade

Report by Gary Kenton, Creem, January 1974

I AM NOT in the habit of chasing after 14 year old girls. Recently, though, I not only met a cute one, but crossed several ...

Buck Owens Bringing Nashville North by Way of West Coast

Interview by Ian Dove, The New York Times, 11 January 1974

"THERE'S SO much prejudice in New York — I think they're afraid of it." The speaker was the country music singer Buck Owens, and the ...

Buck Owens: The Pop Life: Buck Owens Bringing Nashville North by Way of West Coast

Interview by Ian Dove, The New York Times, 11 January 1974

"THERE'S SO much prejudice in New York — I think they're afraid of it." The speaker was the country music singer Buck Owens, and the ...

Country Music: There's Glitter in Them Thar Hills

Comment by Nick Tosches, Zoo World, 31 January 1974

THE CONCERT hall darkens. The band's rhinestone-studded, sequined. custom-tailored Harvey Krantz suits glimmer in the dim like so many jars of snared fireflies. Morphemes of ...

Charlie Rich: Behind Closed Doors (Epic)

Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 9 February 1974

IT HAS taken Charlie Rich all of twenty years of concentrated recording and innumerable kick-backs to become the kind of big star his devotees always ...

Tom T. Hall, Bill Monroe, Charlie Rich: Charlie Rich, Tom T. Hall, Bill Monroe: Felt Forum, New York NY

Live Review by Ian Dove, The New York Times, 11 February 1974

Charlie Rich, Tom T. Hall Head Country Music Bill ...

Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons: Gram Parsons: Grievous Angel (Warner Bros. MS 2171, Import)

Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 16 February 1974

THEY SAY this isn't as good as GP and hopes have been expressed that Gram Parsons has left a legacy of more recorded material. Well ...

Linda Ronstadt: Ronstadt Country

Interview by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, 16 February 1974

TIME WAS when being a country music fan was difficult going. You could secretly dig people like Dolly Parton or Charlie Rich but it wasn't ...

Gram Parsons: Grievous Angel (Reprise import)

Review by Chrissie Hynde, New Musical Express, 23 February 1974

WHEN YOU'RE sitting in a trailer at 2 a.m. somewhere out in 'Last Stopsville', and there's just you, one more hit of apple wine, the ...

The Dillards: Bottom Line, New York NY

Live Review by John Swenson, The Village Voice, 7 March 1974

Who was top at the Bottom? ...

Commander Cody, Willie Nelson, Leon Russell: Something's Right In Austin: Commander Cody's Live Armadillo LP Proclaims a Texas Renaissance

Report by Michael Gross, Zoo World, 14 March 1974

HIPPY DIED in 1967. Time Magazine was the accused murderer, but the case was thrown out of court for lack of evidence. Since then, all ...

Charlie Rich: Behind Closed Doors (CBS KE32247)

Review by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 16 March 1974

THIS ALBUM comes over-stamped with the words "Award Winner! Best album of the year! Male vocalist of the year! Best single of the year!" And ...

Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons: Gram Parsons with Emmylou Harris: Grievous Angel

Review by Bud Scoppa, Rolling Stone, 28 March 1974

MICK JAGGER wrote 'Wild Horses' for and about the late Gram Parsons and its chorus describes the paradox that fueled Parsons’ life and vision. '...Wild ...

Tom T. Hall: For The People In The Last Hard Town (Mercury)

Review by John Swenson, Zoo World, 11 April 1974

TOM T. HALL is unquestionably one of the finest country music songwriters ever to pick up a pen or belt down a double shot of ...

Country Gazette, David Wiffen, The Dillards, The Kentucky Colonels, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band/Dillards/Country Gazette/David Wiffen/Kentucky Colonels Albums

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 13 April 1974

Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and Friends: Will The Circle Be Unbroken (United Artists)Dillards: Tribute To The American Duck (United Artists)Country Gazette: Don't Give Up Your ...

Rick Nelson & the Stone Canyon Band: Bottom Line, New York NY

Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 13 April 1974

Nostalgic Nelson ...

Tanya Tucker: Would You Lay with Me (In a Field of Stone) (Columbia KC 32744)

Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 25 April 1974

TANYA TUCKER'S third album, like the first two, contains many covers of recent country chart-busters, competent but rarely inspired backing, and an almost smothering use ...

Tanya Tucker: Would You Lay With Me In A Field Of Stone? (Columbia KC 32744)

Review by Toby Mamis, Zoo World, 25 April 1974

WITHOUT A doubt, Tanya Tucker is singing better than ever on this album, her third. Nobody, but nobody, can cram as much emotion into a ...

Gram Parsons, Chip Taylor: Gram Parsons: Grievous Angel (Reprise MS 2171); Chip Taylor: Last Chance (Warner Bros, BS 2718)

Review by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, May 1974

WITH THIS album, Gram Parsons ends what was probably one of rock's most uneven and exciting careers on a high note. Always a writer of ...

Michael Nesmith: Mike Nesmith (1974)

Interview by Ian Ravendale, Rock's Backpages audio, May 1974

The erstwhile Monkee on being as a producer; his relationship with, and departure from RCA; his friendship with steel player Red Rhodes; a swift look back at the Monkees; songwriting and covering others' songs, and his relationship with his live audience.

File format: mp3; file size: 26.3mb, interview length: 28' 46" sound quality: *****

Deke Leonard, Michael Nesmith, Ross: Ross: Ross (RSO); Deke Leonard: Kamikaze (UA); Michael Nesmith: Pretty Much Your Standard Ranch Stash (RCA)

Review by Simon Frith, Let It Rock, May 1974

LET IT ROCK recently got hold of a bundle of old publicity photos that Decca was throwing out and the fascinating thing (apart from the ...

Waylon Jennings: Honky Tonk Heroes (RCA)

Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 4 May 1974

INTEREST IN country musicians is currently running high with Charlie Rich in the charts and a whole spate of country albums being released as a ...

Charlie Rich: Rich at Heart

Report and Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 11 May 1974

DISNEY WORLD, Orlando, Florida: You wouldn't catch the Rolling Stones gigging here, or anyone else who's even remotely associated with an anti-establishment following for that ...

The Eagles: Capitol Theater, Passaic NJ

Live Review by Ian Dove, The New York Times, 14 May 1974

EAGLES SERVE ROCK WITH COUNTRY FLAIR ...

The Eagles, Neil Young: Luesta College, San Luis Obispo CA

Live Review by David Rensin, Rolling Stone, 23 May 1974

Punch Card Pop ...

New Riders of the Purple Sage: Home Home On The Road

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 25 May 1974

IT WAS Greil Marcus who founded what has since become known as the "What-is-this shit?" school of rock criticism. ...

Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers: Red Hot

Profile and Interview by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, June 1974

A month or two ago, a jovial group of rock critics in search of a drink and some music stumbled across Chilli Willi and the ...

Faron Young: Some Kind of Woman (Mercury SRM 1 698 record, MC8 1 698 8-track tape)

Review by Ian Dove, Country Music, June 1974

AH, FARON Young — he just keeps rolling along. Some Kind of Woman is a comfortable album, little experimentation, a cheerful, unassuming reworking of familiar ...

Marie Osmond: A Tale Of Modern Country

Profile and Interview by Toby Mamis, Country Music, June 1974

With a little help from a Southern Gentleman, a sophisticated 14-year-old makes her country music debut in a manner befitting her name. ...

Narvel Felts

Profile and Interview by Martin Hawkins, Country Music People, June 1974

"DID YOU think I went over all right?" asked Narvel Felts. "Perhaps I was a bit too modern-sounding". We were standing backstage during the climax ...

Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys: Western Swingtime Music: A Cool Breeze in the American Desert

Overview by Jerry Zolten, Sing Out!, June 1974

IN THE GOLDEN days of big band swing, while Benny Goodman and Duke Ellington were sizzling in the cities, a back-country form of big band ...

The Eagles: On The Border (Asylum 7E-1004)

Review by Bruce Malamut, Crawdaddy!, July 1974

DON FELDER is one mutha guitar player. Swooped up by Eagles from a stint with David Blue, his Joe Walsh-type flash is a welcome addition ...

Willie Nelson: The Emperor of Austin

Profile and Interview by Joe Nick Patoski, Zoo World, 18 July 1974

"I WAS LIVING in Nashville," Willie Nelson recalls. "I had just written a song called 'What Can You Do To Me Now?' and the next ...

Johnny Cash: Ragged Old Flag

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 27 July 1974

I'VE ALWAYS HAD me suspicions about Johnny Cash. ...

Waylon Jennings: Maybe They Don't Even Know I'm There

Interview by Nick Tosches, Zoo World, 1 August 1974

LOOKING MORE like an Exxon station grease monkey on his lunch break than the Pontifex Maximus of Nashville's Telecaster outlaws, Waylon Jennings sits there washing ...

Jimmy Buffett: Living And Dying In 3/4 Time

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 17 August 1974

JIMMY BUFFETT will never be a rock'n'roll star. ...

Olivia Newton-John: If You Love Me, Let Me Know (MCA-411)

Review by Ken Barnes, Rolling Stone, 29 August 1974

FORMULA FOR success: Take a pleasantly colorless female singer, and give her a catchy ditty bland enough for the easy-listening stations, slightly countrified for C&W ...

New Riders of the Purple Sage: "People Used To Think Of Us As A Toy Band"

Interview by Danny Goldberg, Hit Parader, September 1974

BUDDY CAGE, steel guitar player for the New Riders and Marmaduke the singer were having a disagreement. "Those are a pretty weird bunch of folks," ...

Danny O'Keefe, The Souther-Hillman-Furay Band: Souther-Hillman-Furay Band, Danny O'Keefe: Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 2 September 1974

Souther, Hillman and Furay in Rock Brew ...

Scott Walker: We Had It All

Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 21 September 1974

WE HAD IT ALL is the country album Walker's been planning for sometime. And it's country the Walker way, sophisticated and on velvet. Del Newman ...

Dolly Parton: The — travails of dualism

Profile by Nick Tosches, The Village Voice, 26 September 1974

SINCE SHE first hit the country Top 20 with 'Something Fishy', Dolly Parton has earned a reputation as one of the best songwriters in country ...

Sue Richards

Profile by Martin Hawkins, Country Music People, November 1974

IT WAS 1 a.m. on a Sunday morning in Nashville. We were driving slightly unsteadily on Broad Street – a strangely empty scene since the ...

Ian Tyson: Ian's 1st Solo Album Marks Return to Country Roots

Report and Interview by uncredited writer, Billboard, 23 November 1974

TORONTO – With the release of his first solo album, Ian Tyson, once one-half of the duo Ian & Sylvia, has returned to his musical ...

B.B. King, Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash: The Junkie And The Juicehead Minus Me (CBS); B.B. King: Friends (ABC)

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 23 November 1974

IN WHICH two culture heroes find themselves well and truly on the artistic skids. ...

Chilli Willi & The Red Hot Peppers: Bongos Over Balham (Mooncrest Crest 21)

Review by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, December 1974

MULLING OVER just how to explain why Bongos Over Balham is an important album and yet one that promises more than it delivers, I turned ...

Earl Scruggs Adds & Subtracts

Interview by Robert Duncan, Creem, December 1974

DO NOT read this if you play banjo. Or, at least, hide your Earl Scruggs and the Five-String Banjo, draw the curtains on your altar, ...

Billy Swan: Swan Song

Profile and Interview by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 7 December 1974

When Billy Swan cut a solo single, things started to happen — and they kept on happening until he reached the American No 1 spot... ...

Charlie Rich: Felt Forum, New York NY

Live Review by Dave Marsh, Newsday, 17 December 1974

Not as Rich any more ...

Loggins & Messina, Poco: Loggins & Messina: Mother Lode; Poco: Cantamos

Review by Jerry Gilbert, ZigZag, January 1975

INITIALLY THE main difference between these two progeny of the Buffalo Springfield is one of sophistication. While Poco strive desperately to recapture past glories, Loggins ...

The Byrds, Roger McGuinn: Roger McGuinn and Country Rock: Older Than Yesterday

Retrospective and Interview by Michael Gray, Let It Rock, January 1975

IT'S FRIDAY 30TH AUGUST, in Birmingham England, and it's afternoon. Roger McGuinn is listening to a track off his second solo album, Peace On You. ...

The Eagles

Interview by Barbara Charone, Hit Parader, January 1975

IF YOU thought blue jeans and sneakers went out with the sixties, better check out the Eagles. Raised on a steady diet of wonder bread ...

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: The Wit And Wisdom Of The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Interview by Nick Tosches, Creem, January 1975

JUST WHAT THE hell is "good time music" supposed to mean? Is it John Sebastian lilting those fruity dry-hump ditties like 'You Didn't Have To ...

Billy Swan: I Can Help (Monument)

Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975

CRUNCH. THAT'S my pick-up going down for the hundredth time on 'Don't Be Cruel', unbelievably placed second track in on side two — a killer ...

Kinky Friedman: Kinky Friedman

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 18 January 1975

ONE LEARNS FROM the customary reliable sources-from-which-one-learns things that Kinky Friedman's original ideas for the title of this album included "Come Back Little Kinky" and ...

Linda Ronstadt: Heart Like A Wheel (Capitol)

Review by Tony Stewart, New Musical Express, 25 January 1975

LINDA RONSTADT is a remarkable Country Rock singer who sells plenty of records, with Capitol reportedly shifting 150,000 copies of this new one in the ...

Roger McGuinn, Linda Ronstadt: Linda Ronstadt, Roger McGuinn: Berkeley Community Theater, Berkeley CA

Live Review by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 7 February 1975

Linda returns as a superstar ...

Billy Swan: I Can Help (Monument KZ 33279)

Review by Tom Nolan, Rolling Stone, 13 February 1975

THE RISE to the top of pop and country charts by the title single of this debut album seems to have been as much a ...

Mac Davis's Ode to Rock & Roll

Interview by Paul Gambaccini, Rolling Stone, 27 February 1975

MAC DAVIS has written a number of hits for himself and other artists but, on a promotional trip to North Dakota, he heard a record ...

Charlie Rich: The Depression, Country Music and Me

Essay by Al Aronowitz, Rolling Stone, 27 February 1975

This sorrowful piece was sent to us, by third-class mail, by Al Aronowitz, pop columnist for the New York Post until the paper dropped him ...

Linda Ronstadt: Heart Like A Wheel (Capitol ST 11358)

Review by Fred Schruers, Crawdaddy!, March 1975

THIS ALBUM of ten lusciously produced singles is marked by a tonic '50s earnestness that explores a closed set; beyond the singer and her putative ...

Flying Burrito Brothers: Sneaky Pete Kleinow

Interview by Mick Houghton, ZigZag, March 1975

ZZ: HOW DID you come to be part of the whole related family of Los Angeles musicians? You actually come from Michigan? ...

Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt: Linda Ronstadt: Heart Like A Wheel (Asylum EST 11358); Emmylou Harris: Pieces Of The Sky (Reprise K 54037)

Review by Phil Hardy, Let It Rock, April 1975

OVER RECENT months those familiar figures, the singer/songwriter and the solo artist have made their reappearance on the scene. But if you cast your eyes ...

Wanda Jackson, George Jones, Dolly Parton, Marty Robbins: Dolly Parton, George Jones, Marty Robbins, Barbara Mandrell, Wanda Jackson et al: Country Music Festival, Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Colin Irwin, Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, 5 April 1975

Yee-hah for the cowboys! Colin Irwin and Robert Partridge review Wembley's giant country festival ...

Glen Campbell: Rolling Easy

Profile and Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Melody Maker, 5 April 1975

GLEN CAMPBELL, due in Britain next week for a major tour, and with a new album, Reunion, recorded with Jim Webb, talks to Harvey Kubernik ...

Tammy Wynette: Truckers' Choice

Interview by Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, 19 April 1975

No-one captures the ideals of Middle America quite like Tammy Wynette. And she's got the hits to prove it — an astounding 24 Number Ones. ...

Charlie Rich: The Man And His Career

Profile by Martin Hawkins, Country Music People, May 1975

CHARLIE RICH was twenty-three when he travelled to West Memphis to try his luck as a professional musician. Subsequently he moved his base of operations ...

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen: Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen

Review by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, May 1975

When you step up to a Juke box and you slip a nickel in,You can bet your bottom dollar when the record starts to spin,You'll ...

Bill Monroe: Grand Ole Opry, Newmarket, Suffolk

Live Review by Karl Dallas, Melody Maker, 3 May 1975

EVERYONE SAID we'd gone to the wrong concert. The second of Monroe's two bluegrass concerts at Newmarket's Grand Ole Opry on Sunday was the one ...

Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen: Commander Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen (Warner Bros.)

Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 8 May 1975

IN 1971, COMMANDER Cody and His Lost Planet Airmen, already a legend in such disparate climes as San Francisco and Detroit, finally reached a recording ...

Mac Davis: All the Love in the World

Review by John Mendelsohn, Rolling Stone, 8 May 1975

HEREWITH, THE Legend of the Songpainter. ...

Bill Monroe: Greyfriars Monastery, Glasgow

Live Review by Dave Laing, Sounds, 10 May 1975

Kentucky Friar Bluegrass: At 63, Bill Monroe's Fingers Are Still as Nimble As Ever. Dave Laing reports from Greyfriars Monastery, near Glasgow. ...

Bill Monroe: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Vivien Goldman, New Musical Express, 24 May 1975

BILL MONROE IS the main-man of bluegrass music, a veteran innovator whose recording career spans 40 years. ...

Charlie Rich: Hilton Hotel, Las Vegas

Live Review by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 24 May 1975

CHARLIE RICH has successfully switched over from the relatively limited-audience reception of a country singer to an engaging live performer confident not only in the ...

The Eagles, Dan Fogelberg: Academy of Music, New York NY

Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Billboard, 31 May 1975

PERFORMING AT the first of two sold-out shows May 16, the Eagles demonstrated that a band of considerable musical expertise resides behind its string of ...

Jessi Colter, Waylon Jennings: Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter: Civic Auditorium, Santa Monica CA

Live Review by Stephen K. Peeples, Cash Box, 31 May 1975

WALKING INTO the Civic one could feel an incredible aura of positive anticipation from the audience. They welcomed Jessi Colter (Ms Jennings) with exuberant applause ...

The Eagles: California Dreamin’

Interview by Tom Nolan, Phonograph Record, June 1975

"I WANT TO SLEEP with you in some chocolate tonight," Glenn Frey sings in impromptu addition to the lyric of ‘Peaceful Easy Feelin’, and the ...

Olivia Newton-John: Have You Never Been Mellow (EMI EMC 3069) (36.00)

Review by Geoff Barton, Sounds, 7 June 1975

Olivia — mellow and pleasant ...

Tammy Wynette: Going UP Country

Report by Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, 14 June 1975

How come a seven-year-old single, re-issued for the fifth time, made it to number one? Robert Partridge gets the full story behind Tammy Wynette's 'Stand ...

Tammy Wynette: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, 14 June 1975

THREE MONTHS ago Tammy Wynette was little more than cowboy fodder in Britain, appealing only to a small body of country freaks. But, one smasheroo ...

Johnny Cash - John R. Cash

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 21 June 1975

IN WHICH JOHNNY Cash meets up, quite casual-like, with the '70s and discovers that even though they don't really have a whole lot in common, ...

Hank Thompson: The Hank Thompson Saga

Retrospective and Interview by Nick Tosches, Country Music, July 1975

Reflections of the King of Swing ...

Jerry Jeff Walker & the Lost Gonzo Band: Palomino, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Stephen K. Peeples, Cash Box, 5 July 1975

Jerry Jeff Cooks At Palomino ...

Ronnie Milsap: Palomino Club, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Stephen K. Peeples, Cash Box, 12 July 1975

MUSIC IN full cycle best describes Ronnie's rotund set; this man plays everything from mournful lost love blues to wall-busting rock and roll with a ...

Waylon Jennings: Ramblin' Man

Report and Interview by Stephen K. Peeples, Cash Box, 12 July 1975

MANY ARTISTS project a schizophrenic split between their music and their personal lives; not so with Waylon Jennings. Waylon's personal life is his music and ...

David Allan Coe, Rita Coolidge, Willie Nelson: Nelson Picnic Brings Different Musical Elements Together

Report by Stephen K. Peeples, Cash Box, 26 July 1975

HOLLYWOOD — This year's Willie Nelson 4th of July picnic was streamlined in production and presentation: narrowed to one day as opposed to three last ...

Charlie Rich: Every Time You Touch Me (I Get High) (Epic PE 33455)

Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 31 July 1975

THE PARTNERSHIP of producer Billy Sherrill and singer Charlie Rich, one of the most profitable in recent years, has now run its course. Since the ...

Emmylou Harris: Pieces Of The Sky

Review by Mick Houghton, ZigZag, August 1975

BUD SCOPPA once described Gram Parsons as the most convincing singer of sad songs he'd heard. Nothing he recorded was more heartrending than 'Love Hurts' ...

Willie Nelson: Red Headed Stranger (Columbia)

Review by Nick Tosches, Creem, August 1975

I USED TO think Willie Nelson wrote sissy songs, that he was just another doily-brained sensitivo. Then, about two years ago, I came across an ...

Johnny Cash, Marty Robbins: Johnny Cash: Riding the Rails and Marty Robbins: Gunfighter Ballads

Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 30 August 1975

OKAY, SO HERE are two special double album packages from CBS that feature two of the world's greatest exponents of country and western melodrama. ...

Nashville: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (MCA)

Review by John Morthland, Creem, September 1975

EVEN MORE THAN most soundtracks, this one is totally inseparable from its film. Taken alone, it’s damn near unlistenable. ...

Gary Stewart: You're Not the Woman You Used to Be

Review by John Morthland, Rolling Stone, 25 September 1975

THIS COLLECTION OF old singles was released to scoop up some of the financial overflow from country music's current hottest new item. ...

The Eagles: Eagles: The Earthpeople's Band

Interview by Steven Rosen, Sounds, 27 September 1975

They say they play real music for real people. Sounds dull. But the Eagles do it with a kind of magic that has made them ...

George Jones, Wanda Jackson: George Jones and Wanda Jackson at Hammersmith Odeon

Live Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975

THE FOYER OF the Hammersmith Odeon was like Middle America gone London town, except the folks were mostly British and there wasn't a stetson to ...

Wanda Jackson, George Jones: George Jones, Wanda Jackson: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, 27 September 1975

GEORGE JONES is one of the major stars of American country music but, without the help of a chart single to attract the MOR audience, ...

The Carter Family, Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 27 September 1975

Cash — the legend lives on ...

Starry-Eyed and Laughing - Thought Talk

Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 27 September 1975

WHILE AMERICAN COUNTRY Rock bands seem to spring up from everywhere, there has yet to be one from these shores who really convince. ...

Willie Nelson: Red Headed Stranger

Review by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, October 1975

WILLIE NELSON has never written easy songs or recorded easy albums. He has penned his share of country standards over the past fifteen years, all ...

Emmylou Harris Still Loves Her Dolly

Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 4 October 1975

"TACKY ISN'T IT?" Emmylou Harris grinned, pointing to a rainbow coloured T-shirt, the words Palamino Club emblazoned across the chest while a genuine chestnut mare ...

Johnny Cash: The Gospel According to J.C.

Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 4 October 1975

IF I'D never heard of Johnny Cash and someone came up and described him to me, I can't think of any other entertainer, short of ...

Poco: Keep On Trying

Interview by Jerry Gilbert, Sounds, 4 October 1975

THE SUDDEN relaunch of Poco has kicked up some pretty weird conversations and ironies. For few former Poco buffs are willing to believe that Head ...

Emmylou Harris: The Prairie and the Sky

Interview by Mick Houghton, Let It Rock, November 1975

EMMYLOU HARRIS is a country singer. Not simply because she has a single high in the country charts – it's her voice and the feeling ...

Tanya Tucker: Country Girl

Profile and Interview by Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, 1 November 1975

THE CHOCOLATE-smothered Rice Krispies cup cake lay half-eaten on the plate, neglected after the first bite. Tanya, it seemed, was not in the best of ...

Emmylou Harris: New Victoria, London

Live Review by Penny Valentine, Street Life, 29 November 1975

THE LIGHTS had just gone down, the musicians were just striking up when these two guys fell up the stairs singing loudly, "New York, New ...

Johnny Cash: Look At Them Beans

Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 29 November 1975

I FEAR JOHNNY Cash has turned his back on progress once again. ...

Ozark Mountain Daredevils: The Ozark Mountain Daredevils: Kansas City Stars

Profile and Interview by Todd Everett, Phonograph Record, December 1975

THE SIGN AT the Springfield, Missouri, airport reads "Gateway to the Ozarks." Twenty minutes away is the rehearsal site of the Ozark Mountain Daredevils, two ...

Linda Ronstadt: 'Heat Wave' – The Long Hot Sessions

Report and Interview by Todd Everett, Rolling Stone, 18 December 1975

"THE BAND HAD been trying to get Linda to add it to her set for quite a while," recalls pianist Andrew Gold, "but we never ...

Emmylou Harris: Elite Hotel (Reprise MS2236)

Review by Todd Everett, Phonograph Record, January 1976

EMMYLOU HARRIS understands the idiom in which she chooses to work, and respects it: this separates Harris from the country-rock crowd, and makes her virtually ...

Emmylou Harris: Emmylou's Four Star Hotel

Review by Barbara Charone, New Musical Express, January 1976

THE ELITE HOTEL is a swell place. It's best to travel there by car on a hot, sunny day with the windows rolled down, a ...

Bobby Bare: Hard Time Hungrys

Review by Bob Woffinden, New Musical Express, 24 January 1976

In which BOBBY BARE, country singer of the '60's re-emerges with a bunch of Shel Silverstein songs and a socialism as potent as Keir Hardie's; ...

Buck Owens, Susan Raye: Buck Owens & the Buckaroos, Susan Raye: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 24 January 1976

THE ALBERT HALL isn't the most obvious place to see the Bakersfield Emperor, but it did make for an interesting ambience, with the audience about ...

Emmylou Harris

Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Melody Maker, 24 January 1976

"I WAS NERVOUS but I looked forward to playing overseas because I had this feeling there was an audience for my kind of music, especially ...

Gene Clark: The Soulful Return Of Gene Clark

Profile and Interview by Mick Brown, Sounds, 24 January 1976

WHILE ROGER McGuinn plays with his electronic toys in his Hollywood mansion and makes records that are mere shadows of his past work; while David ...

Jessi Colter, Tompall Glaser, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson: Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Jessi Colter, and Tompall Glaser: Wanted! The Outlaws (RCA)

Review by Nick Tosches, The Village Voice, 26 January 1976

Waylon &c. Pull a Fast One ...

Gary Stewart: Honky-Tonk Puree

Profile by Nick Tosches, Penthouse, February 1976

HONKY-TONK, the most profane form of country music, came out of Texas in the mid-thirties. It spread from the beer and punch-out joints of east ...

Mickey Gilley: Mickey Gilley (Crazy Cajun CCLP-1006 $5.98 — no tape available)

Review by Joe Nick Patoski, Country Music, February 1976

TOO OFTEN, reissues are nothing but inferior products hitching a ride on the current success of a performer. Only on rare occasions do reissues reveal ...

Ronee Blakley: Welcome

Review by Chas de Whalley, New Musical Express, 14 February 1976

RONEE BLAKLEY was the star of Robert Altman's Nashville, if you remember, the film that was universally condemned by the inhabitants of Music City U.S.A. ...

C.W. McCall: McCall Keeps On Trucking

Profile and Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 21 February 1976

JUST IMAGINE the scenario: a thousand massive trucks, a petroleum-driven army, hurtling down the highway in a strict convoy formation, all the drivers linked together ...

Dolly Parton is to Linda Ronstadt and Emmylou Harris what Chuck Berry was to the Rolling Stones and the Who

Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 21 February 1976

IT'S HARD to pick up an article on modern day country music without a reverent mention of Dolly Parton, an influential singer and songwriter who ...

Emmylou Harris: Sweetheart Of The Rodeo

Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 21 February 1976

EXACTLY EIGHT years ago a very uncertain singer stood in the centre of a New York recording studio singing demos to an audience of muzak ...

Emmylou Harris: The Dome, Brighton

Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 21 February 1976

"FLOWERS?" Emmylou Harris grinned, staring down at a lovely bouquet hurled onstage as an appreciative thank-you from an ecstatic Brighton crowd. "Hey boys they're not ...

Buck Owens: You Don’t Buck The Rules On The Bus: Buck Owens

Report and Interview by Mick Brown, Street Life, 21 February 1976

IT’S LIKE Tom Wolfe said: you’re either on the bus or you’re off the bus. No three ways about it. ...

The Eagles: Their Greatest Hits 1971-1975 (Asylum) ****

Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 28 February 1976

MORE THAN other greatest hits collections, this album signifies the end of an era for the Eagles. With the departure of Bernie Leadon and the ...

Dolly Parton: Dolly, Tammy and Carl: In The Wembley Wild West

Report by Philip Norman, The Sunday Times, April 1976

THE GUNFIGHTER walks alone, staying close to the side of the street. His clothes are black and faintly luminous. His hat is tied insolently under ...

The Outlaws: Lady In Waiting (Arista AL 4070)

Review by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, April 1976

LADY IN Waiting improves on the Outlaws' fine debut set in many ways. The vocals are airtight, the equal of any L.A. country-rock outfit going. ...

The Outlaws: The Hottest New Guitar Band In The Country

Interview by Ken Barnes, Phonograph Record, April 1976

IT'S A STRANGE-looking crowd at the Hollywood Palladium. Not since surfer days have there been so many wool shirts in one place, and not your ...

Hank Williams Jr.: Hank William Jr. and Friends

Review by John Morthland, Rolling Stone, 8 April 1976

LAST AUGUST, on a hunting trip near the Great Divide at Missoula, Montana, the recently divorced Hank Williams Jr. fell 500 feet down a mountainside, ...

The Eagles: Sky's the Limit

Profile by David Hancock, Record Mirror, 10 April 1976

THE EAGLE, sorry, the bald-headed eagle, is America's national symbol. Carrying an olive branch and a sheath of arrows it sums up all that is ...

Jimmy Buffett, Pure Prairie League: Pure Prairie League, Jimmy Buffett: Bottom Line, New York NY

Live Review by Toby Goldstein, Sounds, 17 April 1976

THERE ARE a staggering number of groups who turn out record after record, play the stateside circuit for years, and yet never get escalated into ...

Tammy Wynette: Boots, Brandy, Boots, Bouffants + Buffy

Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 24 April 1976

THERE WERE more Stetson hats than you could shake a stick at in Wembley last weekend. ...

Gary Stewart: Steppin 'Out

Review by John Morthland, Creem, May 1976

WHAT MOST attracted rock fans to Gary Stewart's first album was his raw, exuberant singing, and the subsequent suspicion that he was really a closet ...

Guy Clark: Old No. 1

Review by John Tobler, ZigZag, May 1976

THIS RECORD is a positive gem. However, unless some large quantity of record buyers pick up on it, it is destined to languish in the ...

Willie Nelson, Billy Swan: Billy Swan, Willie Nelson: New Victoria Theatre, London

Live Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 1 May 1976

The majesty of Nelson's column ...

Gram Parsons: GP (Reprise)*****

Review by Jonh Ingham, Sounds, 1 May 1976

IF YOU woundered why, or where, Rick Grech gets off with performing Gram Parsons type country music, it stems from co-producing this bona fide classic. ...

Willie Nelson, Billy Swan: New Victoria Theatre, London

Live Review by Michael Watts, Melody Maker, 1 May 1976

Good and bad ol' boys ...

Emmylou Harris: Bluegrass and Fiddle Festival, Long Beach, California

Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 15 May 1976

EMMYLOU HARRIS and her excellent Hot Band just keep getting better. Their headline performance at the fourth annual Bluegrass and Fiddle Festival in Long Beach, ...

Dolly Parton: Parton's Creative Country

Interview by Mick Brown, Street Life, 15 May 1976

Heard the one about the Heathrow cowboy with Dolly tattooed from neck to backside? ...

The Bellamy Brothers: Let Your Love Flow

Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 29 May 1976

YOU MUST have heard the single which gives this its title, and there's little doubt that the Bellamy Brothers are a distinctly classy addition to ...

Tanya Tucker: Country Baby

Profile and Interview by Stephen K. Peeples, Circus, June 1976

SHE'S ON THE Midnight Special stage wearing a Happy Days T-shirt given her by Anson Williams, leaning into Dennis Linde's 'Burnin' Love' with so much ...

Freddy Fender, Tommy McLain, Doug Sahm: Freddy Fender's Easter: Vaya Con Dios Y'All

Report by Joe Nick Patoski, Rolling Stone, 3 June 1976

SAN BENITO, Texas — With all the baby kissing, long-winded speechmaking and high school cheerleading, not to mention the Jimmy Carter Spanish-language leaflets flapping in ...

Billy Swan: Billy Swan (Monument PZ-34183)

Review by Nick Tosches, Rolling Stone, 17 June 1976

BILLY SWAN'S music is a baptism of rhythm. Two years ago, when America heaved morbidly beneath the weight of Watergate and encroaching poverty, Swan's 'I ...

Bob Dylan, Willie Nelson: Dylan meets Willie Nelson: Thunder Deep in the Heart of Texas

Report by Joe Nick Patoski, Rolling Stone, 17 June 1976

HOUSTON — It was the Rolling Thunder Revue's second stop here this year, just five months after the less-than-successful Rubin Carter Astrodome benefit, and Bob ...

C.W. McCall: Wilderness (Polydor)

Review by Richard Riegel, Creem, July 1976

LET'S FACE it. 'Convoy' was probably the one moment of pure inspiration C.W. McCall's adcopy-blighted brain will ever enjoy, and those fans hoping for a ...

Waylon Jennings' Are You Ready for the Country

Report by Stephen K. Peeples, Picking Up the Tempo, 7 July 1976

The Texas country outlaw's bid for a wider audience with Are You Ready for the Country gets a closer look. ...

George Jones, August 1976, at Sunset Park, West Grove, PA

Interview by Peter Stone Brown, unpublished, August 1976

NOTE: Originally broadcast on the country/bluegrass show "Sunnyside" on WXPN, FM Philadelphia, in August 1976. ...

Shelby Singleton

Profile and Interview by Martin Hawkins, Country Music Review, August 1976

SHELBY SINGLETON is well known in the country music business and really should not need introducing to CMR readers. But magazines in the main rightly ...

Johnny Paycheck: John Austin Paycheck Tries It Again

Profile by John Morthland, The Village Voice, 9 August 1976

JOHN AUSTIN Paycheck bounded onto the stage at the Other End last Wednesday, repeatedly rubbed his belly or tugged at his new beard, talked too ...

Emmylou Harris: Honky Tonk Woman

Interview by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 14 August 1976

Emmylou Harris pleads guilty to not being a genius, but she sure can sing country. BARBARA CHARONE reports. ...

Country Joe & The Fish: Country Joe MacDonald: The Essential Country Joe McDonald

Review by John Tobler, New Musical Express, 21 August 1976

ALTHOUGH THERE have been three compilations of his work with the Fish, this is the first collection covering Country Joe's seven solo albums. ...

Bobby Womack: BW Goes C&W (United Artists UAS 29979) ***

Review by John Abbey, Blues & Soul, 24 August 1976

SO, BOBBY'S Country-Western album finally hits the streets after several delays and not bearing the original tag, which was "Move Over Charlie Pride And Give ...

Bobby Womack: B.W. Goes C&W (United Artists)

Review by Cliff White, New Musical Express, 11 September 1976

RECORDED BEFORE Safety Zone last year, this is the set that Bobby had intended to call Black In The Saddle. UA wouldn't release it at ...

Emmylou Harris Makes Up Leeway

Interview by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 25 September 1976

IT CAME as something of a surprise to learn that Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band were in town last week. To be precise, they ...

Asleep at the Wheel, Doug Sahm, Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys: Doug Sahm, Asleep At the Wheel, Bob Wills: I Hear Miles and Miles of Texas

Overview by Joe Sasfy, Unicorn Times, October 1976

THE CHILDE Harold could have billed it as a mini-folk festival. Mini 'cause only two acts appeared, Doug Sahm and his Texas Tornadoes on a ...

Emmylou Harris: My Father's Place, Long Island

Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 2 October 1976

NEW ARTISTS consistently better their own past performances. Onstage progression and maturity all too often comes a back seat to the big buck commercialism of ...

Flying Burrito Brothers: Southern Californians Bring Me Down

Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 2 October 1976

The Flying Burrito Brothers: Hammersmith Odeon, London ...

Charlie Daniels' Rowdy, Southern, Swinging Music

Interview by Joe Nick Patoski, Rolling Stone, 7 October 1976

The 'Uneasy Rider' is no dumb rebel... and he doesn't wear panty hose, either ...

Waylon Jennings: Are You Ready For The Country

Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 9 October 1976

Waylon breaks thru' Nashville's blanket defense ...

Willie Nelson: Willie Nelson Live (RCA)**

Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 9 October 1976

WILLIE NELSON has been in country music for the better part of twenty years as a songwriter and performer, while, arm in arm with Waylon ...

Flying Burrito Brothers: Sneeky Pete And The Return Of The Flying Journeymen

Interview by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 16 October 1976

"ASK THEM abouta da name. They gotta no right to use it!"Don't worry, friends, my esteemed Italian colleague doesn't really speak like that, and his ...

Willie Nelson: The Troublemaker (CBS)****

Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 23 October 1976

HOW ARE we supposed to take this album, eh? ...

John Hartford: Mark Twang (Flying Fish)

Review by John Tobler, ZigZag, November 1976

MULTIPLE CAUSE for celebration – the return of the amazing John Hartford, and the start of the long overdue British outlet for Flying Fish. Both ...

Andrew Gold, Linda Ronstadt: Linda Ronstadt, Andrew Gold: Odeon, Birmingham

Live Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 13 November 1976

Linda warms to a Heatwave ...

Lynn Anderson, Ronnie Prophet, Steve Young: Nashville

Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 13 November 1976

An Englishman's adventures in the city of the rhinestone kings. Mick Farren was that Englishman. ...

Willie Nelson: The Troublemaker (CBS) and Live (RCA)

Review by Rob Partridge, Melody Maker, 13 November 1976

TWO OLDIES, neither of which add significantly to Nelson's reputation as the leading exponent of the new Texan country music: The Troublemaker, recorded in 1973, ...

Nashville - Part Two

Report by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 20 November 1976

In which Mick Farren doesn't talk to Chet Atkins, visits Opryland, views the tourist spots from the OAP's bus and, (quiver, quiver....), converses with Dolly ...

Asleep at the Wheel

Profile and Interview by Andy Childs, ZigZag, December 1976

IF, IN A FLIGHT of fancy, you've ever ventured over to this particular neck of the woods you won't be at all surprised to learn ...

Jimmie Rodgers: The Hard Times and Blues of Mr. Country, Jimmie Rodgers

Retrospective by Joe Sasfy, Unicorn Times, December 1976

IT'S REAL tough getting an angle on Jimmie Rodgers. Although he's been written about extensively — his short life plotted, his influences and influence crisscrossed, ...

Linda Ronstadt (1976)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, Fall 1976

Ms Ronstadt talks about being brought up surrounded by music; moving from Tucson to Los Angeles and forming the Stone Poneys; the hit she didn't like, 'Different Drum'; her struggles with managers and producers making her first solo albums; meeting the future Eagles at the Troubadour; the move from Capitol to Asylum; getting together with producer Peter Asher, and strongly identifying with fellow women singers like Emmylou, Dolly and Bonnie Raitt.

File format: mp3; file size: 44.2mb; Interview length: 46' 01"; sound quality: *****

Linda Ronstadt (1976) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages transcripts, Fall 1976

This is a transcript of John's audio interview with Linda. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Jessi Colter: Diamond in the Rough (Capitol ST 11543)

Review by Mike Jahn, High Fidelity, January 1977

JESSI COLTER is a country singer who apparently would like to be more than a country singer. As indicated by this new release, she desires ...

Tom T. Hall: The Magnificent Music Machine (Mercury)

Review by Nick Tosches, Country Music, January 1977

WHAT TOM T. Hall has done in The Magnificent Music Machine is very good and very smart. His music lately has been pretentious and drab. ...

Emmylou Harris: Luxury Liner (Warner Bros.)

Review by Roy Carr, New Musical Express, 15 January 1977

While the Hot Band get hotter, Emmylou just gets better... ...

Emmylou Harris: Luxury Liner (Warner Bros.)**

Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 15 January 1977

I'M SORRY, but I don't like Emmylou Harris very much. Doubtless you'll recommend me to the Inquisition for a Heresy like that. But I've been ...

The Carter Family, Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash, The Carter Family: Felt Forum, New York NY

Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Melody Maker, 15 January 1977

VIEW YORK: Johnny Cash is the John Wayne of American music, a gigantic figure who towers above his country contemporaries when it comes down to ...

Emmylou Harris: Luxury Liner

Review by John Tobler, ZigZag, February 1977

A CLASSICALLY CONCEIVED album for one such as myself – two songs by Parsons, one by the Louvin Brothers, a Rodney Crowell, a Mr. Guy ...

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Dirt Silver & Gold

Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, February 1977

THE SEPTEMBER 13th 1975 edition of Billboard Magazine, the American music industry's Bible, carried an interesting and revealing supplement on Colorado – "a growing music ...

Chet Atkins, Les Paul: Chet Atkins and Les Paul: Chester And Lester (RCA)

Review by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 5 February 1977

WELL NOW, this isn't exactly the kind of record that you hear every day of the week. ...

The Eagles: Eagles Get The Bird

Comment by David Hancock, National RockStar, 5 February 1977

'A cheap sold-out group ten years behind the times' bristles DAVID HANCOCK ...

Tompall Glaser, Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson, Dolly Parton, Charley Pride: Jerry Bradley: This Nashville dynamo doesn't sing a note

Interview by Wayne Robins, Newsday, 13 February 1977

PEOPLE WITH careers in the record world refer to their industry as the music business for one elementary reason. It is a business, with a ...

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Dirt, Silver and Gold (United Artists)****

Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 26 February 1977

PLEASE TELL me, who is going to buy this peach of an album? It's a three record set, a compilation of the Los Angeles' band's ...

The Eagles: Hotel California (Asylum)

Review by Kris Nicholson, Creem, March 1977

WELCOME TO the Hotel California, land of brutally handsome, cruel dudes and terminally pretty female victims of life's ugly games. A place where no one ...

Randy Meisner (1977)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, April 1977

In London with the Eagles on the UK leg of the band's Hotel California tour, bassist Meisner talks to John Tobler about moving to L.A. from his native Nebraska, and about Poco, Rick Nelson's Stone Canyon Band – and how he joined forces with Glenn Frey, Don Henley and Bernie Leadon.

The Eagles (1977)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, April 1977

In order of speaking voices, Messrs. Meisner, Frey, Henley, Walsh and Felder (in London for the UK leg of their Hotel California tour) provide the lowdown on their individual backgrounds. Then Don 'n' Glenn offer a detailed history of the band from its formation to Hotel California itself — the albums, the people, the songs and more.

File format: mp3; file size: 80.7mb, interview length: 1h 24' 00" sound quality: *****

The Eagles: One Of These Nightmares

Interview by Barbara Charone, Crawdaddy!, April 1977

Say a Prayer for the Pretenders... ...

Waylon Jennings: Waylon Live

Review by John Morthland, Creem, April 1977

It wasn't until late 1974 that the Waylon Jennings mystique took hold for me. This is partly because to my mind that's when his sound ...

Asleep at the Wheel, Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys: The Texas Playboys, Asleep at the Wheel: Panther Hall, Fort Worth, Texas

Live Review by John Morthland, Rolling Stone, 7 April 1977

"THIS ONE goes back to 1936," Leon McAuliffe grinned. "Bob told me, 'Leon, just hit a chord and then I'll say something,' and so I ...

Asleep at the Wheel

Report and Interview by Mick Farren, New Musical Express, 9 April 1977

CAN AN ELEVEN-PIECE WESTERN SWING BAND EVER FIND WEALTH AND PROSPERITY IN THE WORLD OF ROCK'N'ROLL? ...

Asleep At The Wheel: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 23 April 1977

I DON'T think I've ever seen so many ten gallon hats on one stage. Not outside Texas, anyhow. And so many straight-legged jeans and cowboy ...

Poco: Indian Summer (ABC) ***

Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 23 April 1977

I FIRST got into Poco back when Buffalo Springfielders Richie Furay and Jim Messina were still in the band. They cut a live album, called ...

Asleep at the Wheel: The Wheel

Review by Andy Childs, ZigZag, May 1977

THIS ISN'T going to be a very long review, because I want to play the record again before the pubs open. ...

George Jones: "I'm Never Gonna Sell Pop"

Interview by Nick Tosches, High Fidelity, May 1977

"I HAVE used strings," says George Jones in the same way that one would say "I have sinned." It is not penance, but regret. "I ...

Asleep At The Wheel: The Wheel

Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 7 May 1977

THIS IS Asleep At the Wheel's fifth album in seven odd years. It's the one, so they hope, to transform them from a cult country ...

Olivia Newton-John: She's as serene as her repertoire

Profile and Interview by Wayne Robins, Newsday, 8 May 1977

OLIVIA NEWTON-John is gorgeous — so attractive with her fluffy blonde hair, ice-blue eyes and sleek figure that she could pass for Farrah Fawcett-Major's sister. ...

Joe Ely: Joe Ely (MCA)

Review by Gary Kenton, Circus, 12 May 1977

HAVING BEEN brought up on rock & roll, it took me a while to discover that country music had its good points. (At the very ...

Asleep At the Wheel: The Wheel (Capitol)

Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 14 May 1977

I'D BEEN beginning to think there wasn't that much happening on the live front until I saw Asleep At The Wheel at Hammersmith last week. ...

Linda Hargrove: The Unfulfilled Career of Linda Hargrove…

Profile by Martin Hawkins, Country Music Review, June 1977

EVER SINCE I last invested my year's savings in a visit to Music City and other musical areas of America, I have been meaning to ...

Red Clay Ramblers: The Red Clay Ramblers: Half Moon, Putney

Live Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 9 July 1977

IN THESE DAYS of unbridled electrical energy, it never ceases to surprise me the drive and excitement that can be generated by a highly ordered ...

The Rumour: Max

Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 16 July 1977

Huckleberry Finn will love this one. Five English guys capture the downhome spirit of America. ...

Crystal Gayle: She's more than a little sister

Interview by Philip Elwood, The San Francisco Examiner, 17 September 1977

OVER THE last few years, as her own star has been rising high over the country music scene, singer Crystal Gayle has learned to live ...

Joe Ely: Joe Ely

Review by Chas de Whalley, Sounds, 24 September 1977

HAVE YOU heard of Joe Ely before? Thought not. I certainly haven't. His past history is a total blank as far as I'm concerned. And ...

Augie Meyers and the Texas Re-Cord Company: Music To Make Your Feet Grin

Profile by Martin Hawkins, Country Music Review, October 1977

THIS IS A story about the small independent Texas Re-Cord Company of Bulverde, Texas. ...

Don Williams: Country Boy (ABC)

Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 15 October 1977

NOW LET'S get this straight from the outset. I'm a Don Williams fan of considerable ardour, and all the disappointments felt with this album are ...

Crystal Gayle, Kenny Rogers: Kenny Rogers, Crystal Gayle: National Stadium, Dublin

Live Review by Barry Cain, Record Mirror, 12 November 1977

COUNTRY SINGERS make me puke. ...

Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner: Dolly Parton: Here You Come Again (RCA Victor); Porter Wagoner: Porter (RCA Victor)

Review by John Morthland, The Village Voice, 14 November 1977

Porter and Dolly Go Their Own Ways ...

Michael Chapman: The Man Who Hated Mornings

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Sounds, 26 November 1977

MICHAEL CHAPMAN is a ruminative sort of talent. ...

Townes Van Zandt

Interview by Richard Wootton, Omaha Rainbow, December 1977

TOWNES VAN ZANDT is no longer such a well kept secret, known only to a handful of dedicated fans. Thanks to his new manager and ...

Ozark Mountain Daredevils: Don't Look Down

Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 21 January 1978

Second Cut is the Lowest ...

Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson: Willie Nelson & Waylon Jennings: Outlaws offer new kind of country

Interview by Wayne Robins, Newsday, 22 January 1978

IF YOU think the Super Bowl was rough on the Denver Broncos, you should have seen Waylon Jennings and Willie Nelson the next afternoon. The ...

Linda Ronstadt, Female Vocalist of the Year

Profile by John Swenson, Circus, 16 February 1978

At the top in Her Field, She Becomes an American Heroine ...

Dolly Parton: Here You Come Again (RCA PL 12544) **

Review by Pete Makowski, Sounds, 18 February 1978

I DON'T KNOW if reading the Marquis De Sade's Juliette (phew wot a scorcher!) before hearing this was such a good idea. Since broadening her ...

Emmylou Harris: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by Barbara Charone, Sounds, 18 February 1978

CONSIDERING the tensions surrounding the start of Emmylou Harris and the Hot Band's current British tour, their SRO concert at the Royal Albert Hall was ...

Jerry Jeff Walker: Jerry Jeff Rides Again... Again

Profile and Interview by John Morthland, Country Music, March 1978

THEY SAY AROUND Austin that Jerry Jeff Walker can do no wrong, but whoo boy, does he ever give it his best shot. ...

Elvis Presley, Hank Williams: Death in Hi-Fi or First Tastes of Tombstone

Overview by Nick Tosches, Waxpaper, 3 March 1978

Music deaths are big news nowadays. It seems hardly an ish of Rolling Stone goes by when we aren't treated to a eulogy for a ...

Emmylou Harris: Full House at the Elite Hotel

Interview by Fred Schruers, Circus, 16 March 1978

Emmylou Harris' Fourth LP Is a Grand and Seedy Selection ...

Joe Ely: Honky Tonk Masquerade

Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 25 March 1978

'T FOR Texas, T for Tennessee' sang Jimmie Rodgers back in '28, cementing the blues alongside country music, thus helping himself to a million-seller. ...

Waylon Jennings, Willie Nelson: Willie Nelson and Waylon Jennings: Waylon & Willie (RCA)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, April 1978

'PICK UP The Tempo' again. 'It's Not Supposed To Be That Way' again. Tracking these guys separately or in tandem means a hell of a ...

Rita Coolidge, Kris Kristofferson: Kris Kristofferson: Young Blue Eyes is Back

Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 8 April 1978

Kris Kristofferson was a hell-raiser. He also grabbed country music by the scruff of its neck and dragged it into the Seventies. Now he's to ...

The Outlaws: Outlaws Brought Back Live

Interview by Fred Schruers, Circus, 11 May 1978

Southern Renegades Captured at Last on Vinyl ...

Carlene Carter: Miss Carter Speaks

Interview by Nick Tosches, Waxpaper, 2 June 1978

N.T.: What's Johnny Cash really like? ...

Willie Nelson: Stardust (Columbia JC 55505)

Review by Ariel Swartley, Rolling Stone, 29 June 1978

WHEN COUNTRY singers go back to their roots, the album's usually called Amazing Grace, but Willie Nelsons never been known for his orthodoxy. Instead of ...

Dolly Parton, Porter Wagoner: The Last Of The Hillbillies Speaks His Mind

Interview by John Morthland, Country Music, July 1978

THE SONG is called 'The Arizona Whiz', and it appears on Porter, which, when he released it last fall, was Porter Wagoner's first album in ...

Asleep at the Wheel, Jessi Colter, Waylon Jennings: Waylon Jennings, Jessi Colter, Asleep At The Wheel: Civic Center, Lansing MI

Live Review by Bill Holdship, Michigan State News, 12 July 1978

Ol' Waylon keeps 'outlaw' tradition ...

Asleep at the Wheel: Collision Course (Capital)

Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 12 August 1978

STRANGE TO relate but not everything that emerges in the new release racks this week will bear the mark of androids in overalls. And disco ...

Carlene Carter, Elizabeth Barraclough: Elizabeth Barraclough: Elizabeth Barraclough; Carlene Carter: Carlene Carter

Review by Charles Shaar Murray, New Musical Express, 19 August 1978

BUFFY SAINTE MARIE used to have this song called 'I'm Gonna Be A Country Girl Again', but you won't find Elizabeth Barraclough or Carlene Carter ...

Aerosmith, Heart, Waylon Jennings, Mahogany Rush, Willie Nelson, Ted Nugent: Hot times in the heart of Texxas

Report by Joe Nick Patoski, Rolling Stone, 24 August 1978

IF ANYTHING was learned from the 105,000 fans who piled into the Cotton Bowl over the Fourth of July weekend for the two-day Texxas World ...

Emmylou Harris: Profile…Best Of Emmylou Harris

Review by Penny Valentine, Melody Maker, 16 September 1978

UNDOUBTEDLY, Emmylou's success has been to make traditional country music acceptable to a rock audience. She has a lot to answer for, and in a ...

Tammy Wynette: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 16 September 1978

SO ENTRENCHED is the tradition of slick showmanship and synthetic sincerity among buxom country goddesses that we should no longer be surprised or nauseated by ...

Tammy Wynette: Stand By Your Record Producer

Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 16 September 1978

Tammy Wynette, over here for a short tour, lectures COLIN IRWIN on how to be an Average Superstar... ...

Rick Nelson: High Sierra Theater at the Sahara, Lake Tahoe

Live Review by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 7 October 1978

THE CLUSTERS of signs reading "Rick Nelson Now" hanging in the Sahara Tahoe casino reveal the hand of Colonel Parker, the famed manager of Elvis ...

Carl Perkins: Interview: Carl Perkins, October 31, 1978 at the Bijou Café, Philadelphia, Pa.

Interview by Peter Stone Brown, unpublished, 31 October 1978

THIS INTERVIEW took place backstage at the Bijou Café right before Carl Perkins was to do his first show in Philadelphia in years with a ...

Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, Buddy Holly, The Legendary Stardust Cowboy: The Sons of Buddy Holly

Essay by Joe Nick Patoski, Texas Monthly, November 1978

Lubbock was the birthplace of rock'n'roll. And Texas rock'n'roll hasn't left home. ...

Jerry Lee Lewis (1978)

Interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages audio, 9 November 1978

After 20 minutes of what-he's-up-to pablum, the Killer gets down to business: the sinfulness of rock'n'roll; how he's surely going to hell; drink, drugs and women (including cousin/ex-wife Myra). Then, after talking about his musical heroes, it's back to religion... jaw-dropping stuff.

ile format: mp3; file size: 86mb, interview length: 1h 29' 34" sound quality: ****

Jerry Lee Lewis (1978) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Cliff White, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 9 November 1978

This is a transcript of Cliff's audio interview with Jerry. Hear the interview here ...

Dolly Parton: Confessions of a Power Crazed Wig-Model

Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 11 November 1978

'Ah'd like to think ah've ADDED to what I had before.' With these words, Dolly Parton struck COLIN IRWIN dumb. And she's writing a song ...

Dolly Parton: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 21 November 1978

THE FIXATION on Dolly Parton's buxom outrageousness has evidently become so acute that nowadays even Ms Parton feels obliged to use it as a butt ...

Joe Ely: Texas Country Rock: Texas Twisters

Overview by Martin Hawkins, Melody Maker, 25 November 1978

THE ECHOES of rock get older; and likewise those consumers who, like me, retain an interest in them – rather than giving in to the ...

Willie Nelson: Willie And Family Live (Columbia KC2-35642)

Review by Stephen K. Peeples, L.A. Weekly, 21 December 1978

WILLIE NELSON, whose maverick approach to country music helped him achieve widespread popularity in the last four years, is finally represented accurately on an album. ...

The Flatlanders, Butch Hancock: Butch Hancock

Interview by Richard Wootton, Omaha Rainbow, Spring 1978

YOU HAVE four songs on Joe Ely's album; how did you get started into songwriting? ...

Bill Monroe (1979)

Interview by Karl Dallas, Rock's Backpages audio, 1979

The King of the bluegrass Mandolin discusses his approach to music, the influence of the blues, playing with the likes of Flatt & Scruggs, and gives his view of contemporary bluegrass artists such as the Dillards.

File format: mp3; file size: 9.4meg; Interview length: 10' 16"; sound quality: ***

Bill Monroe (1979) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Karl Dallas, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1979

This is a transcription of Karl's audio interview with Kentucky's bluegrass king. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Van Morrison, Them: Van Morrison (1979) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1979

This is a transcription of John's interview with Van. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Linda Ronstadt: The Forum, Inglewood CA

Live Review by Stephen K. Peeples, L.A. Weekly, 4 January 1979

Linda Ronstadt: Going Strong ...

McGuinn, Clark & Hillman: McGuinn, Clark and Hillman: McGuinn, Clark & Hillman

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 3 February 1979

IF WATCHING someone you once admired attempting to be inspired is the most pathetic sight imaginable, as some bloke maintained in last week's ish, then ...

Tanya Tucker: TNT (MCA MCG 3530) ****½

Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 17 February 1979

More rambling justifications for liking girls ...

McGuinn, Clark & Hillman: McGuinn Clark and Hillman: Flight From The Past

Profile and Interview by Mark Leviton, BAM, 2 March 1979

LOS ANGELES — To examine the fates of original Byrds members Roger McGuinn, Gene Clark, and Chris Hillman as they form a new act for ...

Tanya Tucker: Yet Another Excuse To Print A Picture Of A Young Girl With A Guitar

Interview by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 17 March 1979

WILL THE ICE remain unbroken? Shucks, these phone interviews are a pain (both for the artist and the journalist). I mean, it's not easy encapsulating ...

Joe Ely, The Flatlanders: Heart Of Texas: Ely's Honky-Tonk Heroics

Profile and Interview by Joe Nick Patoski, Crawdaddy!, April 1979

LUBBOCK, TEXAS — To understand why Joe Ely is the most promising singer/songwriter to come out of Texas since Willie Nelson, one must understand his ...

Joe Ely: Down On The Drag (MCA)

Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 28 April 1979

THIS TIME last year Joe Ely played the Wembley Country Festival and toured Britain as Merle Haggard's bemused support. I saw him in the Brighton ...

Dottsy, Freddie Hart, Sleepy LaBeef, Hank Locklin, Tammy Wynette: Wembley Country Festival: The Metropolitan Soap Opera

Report by Mary Harron, Melody Maker, 28 April 1979

Friendly and polite or mean and bigoted? Even transferred to North London, the country music audience reflects the ambiguous small-town mentality. MARY HARRON heard Tammy ...

Loretta Lynn, Conway Twitty: Loretta Lynn: We've Come A Long Way, Baby (MCA MCF 2881); Conway Twitty: Conway (MCA MCF 2878)

Review by Simon Frith, Melody Maker, 19 May 1979

WHEN YOU'RE as old and grizzled as these two, making records is more a chore than anything. The routine trip to producer Owen Bradley's barn; ...

Waylon Jennings, Gary Stewart, Don Williams: Gary Stewart: Gary (RCA); The Best of Don Williams, Volume II (MCA); Waylon Jennings: Greatest Hits (RCA)

Review by Dave Marsh, Rolling Stone, 26 July 1979

Been down so long, it looks like down to me ...

Merle Haggard: Serving 190 Proof (MCA)

Review by John Morthland, Rolling Stone, 6 September 1979

REMEMBER 'OKIE from Muskogee' and 'Fightin' Side of Me', the two Merle Haggard anthems that served as right-wing rallying cries during the volatile turn of ...

The Eagles: The Long Run (Asylum)

Review by Nick Kent, New Musical Express, 29 September 1979

THE DOMINANT rumour being touted around The Eagles' camp to explain the three year gap between Hotel California and The Long Run was, I recall, that this project was ...

Don Williams: Silence Is Golden

Interview by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 13 October 1979

THE FOYER of London's Royal Garden Hotel is an amusing monument to opulence. Arabs glide around as if they own the place, and they probably ...

George Jones: My Very Special Guests (Epic EPC 83163)***

Review by Sandy Robertson, Sounds, 8 December 1979

BABY, THIS is the Star Wars of country music. Well, maybe not, but it sure makes for an arresting opening sentence and the concept's a ...

The Eagles: Boston Garden, Boston

Live Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 13 December 1979

The Eagles: takin' it easy in Boston ...

Guy Clark

Interview by Richard Wootton, Omaha Rainbow, Spring 1979

I WAS BORN in this tiny West Texas town called Honihans in 1940. Honihans was named after some Irishman who found the well there - ...

Jack Clement: "Everybody Loves A Nut"

Profile and Interview by Martin Hawkins, Country Music People, January 1980

JACK CLEMENT could have written that song about himself. MARTIN HAWKINS investigates some of the reasons why. ...

George Jones: My Very Special Guests (Epic)

Review by Max Bell, New Musical Express, 5 January 1980

A VETERAN OF over 50 albums, second cousin to the Nashville addiction, cheap booze, paid dues and bad blues, George Jones continues his flirtations with ...

Asleep at the Wheel: The Wheel Gallops Through Western Swing

Interview by Michael Goldberg, San Francisco Chronicle, 13 January 1980

THERE IS a thin line that divides musicians who attempt to give new life to a dying musical form and those who traffic in nostalgia. ...

Jerry Lee Lewis: Killer's Gospel

Interview by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 16 February 1980

Jerry Lee Lewis closes his current British tour in London at the Rainbow tonight. Mick Brown reports ...

George Jones: My Very Special Guests (Epic)

Review by Ariel Swartley, Rolling Stone, 21 February 1980

ON MY Very Special Guests, a different celebrity sits in with George Jones on every song — and "sittin' in," contrary to what Nashville would ...

Flying Burrito Brothers: More Hot Burritos: the Flying Burrito Brothers

Report and Interview by Mark Leviton, BAM, 7 March 1980

LOS ANGELES — If tradition in music is meaningful in any way, it is because performers can emerge and fade, groups can split up and ...

Joe Ely: The Venue, London

Live Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 8 March 1980

THEY BOP, they hop, they bounce like rampaging 'roos. They sing songs bearing titles as profound as 'She's My Baby, She's My Girl' and 'Do ...

Joe Ely

Report and Interview by Kris Needs, ZigZag, April 1980

SITTING on a curb with a fuming Joe Ely... ...

Merle Haggard: The Country Club, Reseda CA

Live Review by Mark Leviton, BAM, 18 April 1980

MERLE HAGGARD and his ten-piece backing band opened this new club with the kind of set most performers must only dream of. The set relied ...

The Bellamy Brothers, Commander Cody, Phil Everly, Emmylou Harris, Joe Sun: Various artists — Marlboro Country Festival: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 19 April 1980

MONDAY AT Wembley. Contemporary country night, give or take a few lower-order stetson-tilters. ...

The Flatlanders, Joe Ely: Joe Ely: Past And Present

Retrospective by Martin Hawkins, Country Music People, May 1980

Texan star JOE ELY is not quite the newcomer to recording that we think. MARTIN HAWKINS reveals the tale of the FLATLANDERS' sessions of 1972 ...

Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons: Emmylou Harris: Return of the Electric Cowgirl

Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 6 July 1980

SEVEN YEARS ago, the threads in Emmylou Harris' cowgirl suit were beginning to fray around the edges. ...

Urban Cowboy: Country Music Stretches Its Legs

Report by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, August 1980

WHILE THE rock-crit establishment continues to ponder the future of new wave and the death of disco, U.S. music fans are quietly gravitating toward some ...

Charlie Daniels: Fiddlin' Dixie

Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, August 1980

Charlie Daniels, Up From Tobacco Road ...

Emmylou Harris Buys Back the Farm

Interview by Steven X Rea, High Fidelity, August 1980

A GIANT cement mixer blocks the road, halfway up the snaking cul-de-sac that ends at Emmylou Harris' rented ranch house. Nestled in a leveled out ...

Bobby Bare's Down and Dirty Country

Profile and Interview by John Morthland, Rolling Stone, 7 August 1980

The singer's most recent album bucks the pop-crossover trend ...

Rodney Crowell: A Songwriter Surfaces

Profile and Interview by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 21 August 1980

'Ashes by Now': his first hit ...

Chet Atkins: Custom Of the Country

Profile and Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 20 September 1980

Chet Atkins' Guitar Enters the Smithsonian ...

Johnny Cash, George Jones: George Jones: I Am What I Am (Epic JE 36586); Johnny Cash: Rockabilly Blues (Columbia JC 36779)

Review by Joe Sasfy, The Washington Post, 22 October 1980

Country to Count On ...

Carlene Carter: Musical Shapes (Warner Bros.)

Review by Fred Schruers, Rolling Stone, 13 November 1980

IT'S ALWAYS embarrassed Englishmen like Mick Jagger and Eric Clapton that they got rich by showing Americans how palatable their native R&B and blues were. ...

Nashville

Overview by Martin Hawkins, The History of Rock, 1981

The producers and musicians who made country music a multi-million-dollar industry ...

Carlene Carter, Nick Lowe: Carlene Carter

Interview by Jon Young, Trouser Press, January 1981

SONNY AND CHER. Ike and Tina. Steve and Eydie. The roll call of illustrious show business couples could go on and on. Now you can ...

Crystal Gayle: Apollo, Victoria, London

Live Review by Richard Williams, The Times, 6 March 1981

EVER SENSITIVE to shifting tastes, and spurred on by furious competition for the advertising dollar, American pop radio stations change their formats with disconcerting frequency. ...

Rosanne Cash Comes Into Her Own

Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, 10 April 1981

COTATI – LONESOME steel guitar moans waver and echo throughout the Inn of the Beginning – a classic Old West watering hole 50 miles due ...

George Jones: Back From the Road to Ruin

Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 25 May 1981

George Jones' Singing Rebound From Lost Love and Liquor ...

Joe Ely: The Venue, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 1 June 1981

AMONG AN older generation alienated by the bleak and joyless fare offered up by so much of the British rock music that purports to be ...

Bill Monroe, The Original Bluegrass Boy: "I Keep The Music Going Near Right as I Can..."

Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 7 June 1981

BILL MONROE is the champagne of the bluegrass world — opening a club or kicking off a new festival without him would almost be unthinkable. ...

Joe Ely: Bottom Line, New York NY

Live Review by Fred Schruers, Musician, August 1981

SINCE HIS recent notices have offered us a new-and-improved Joe Ely, I have to begin by swearing on a stack of ticket stubs: I've been ...

Hank Williams: Chet Flippo: Your Cheatin' Heart — A Biography Of Hank Williams (Simon and Schuster)

Book Review by Susan Whitall, Creem, September 1981

ROSANNE CASH, Johnny's first-born and as I write, No. 1 on the country charts, was quoted in Esquire: "A lot has happened in country music ...

Joe Ely: You Can Take The Boy Out Of Texas...

Interview by Jon Young, Trouser Press, September 1981

IT DOESN'T take a genius to figure out that country music is in pretty sorry shape these days. There's something wrong when unbearably bland hacks ...

Joe Ely, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Tom Petty & the Heartbreakers, Joe Ely: The Garden, Boston MA

Live Review by Julie Panebianco, Boston Rock, 3 September 1981

THERE IS always a part in a Tom Petty song when he knows he's got you, when he zeroes in and touches you. Like the ...

Rodney Crowell: Crowell's Got Cash But He Has His Own Career

Interview by Steven X Rea, Los Angeles Herald Examiner, 18 September 1981

A favorite of Willie and Emmylou, he's a family man with wife Rosanne ...

Country Boogie: Honky Tonks, Hoedowns And The Roots Of Rock

Overview by Martin Hawkins, The History of Rock, October 1981

IF RHYTHM AND BLUES was a major constituent of rock'n'roll, so too was the influence of country music in the form of country-boogie. Country-boogie was ...

Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris: Rodney Crowell: Country's New Laureate?

Profile and Interview by Todd Everett, L.A. Weekly, 1 October 1981

  "I EXPECTED him to be more of a household word than he is now," admits Emmylou Harris, echoing the opinion of some of the world's ...

Carlene Carter: Blue Nun (F-Beat XXLP12).

Review by Mark Cooper, Record Mirror, 3 October 1981

WHEN IT comes to being blue, Carlene's a natural, a belle of the ball with a ballbreaker's wit. Carlene looks like an angel but underneath ...

Emmylou Harris

Interview by John Hutchinson, unpublished, 1982

JH: Emmylou, were you always interested in country music? ...

Elvis Costello & the Attractions: Almost Blue (Columbia FC 37562)

Review by Sam Sutherland, High Fidelity, January 1982

PITY THE POOR marketing people at CBS faced with explaining Elvis Costello's maverick path through modern rock. Between the eclectic classicism of his Taking Liberties ...

Merle Haggard: Big City (Epic FE 37593)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, High Fidelity, January 1982

THERE ISN'T much on Big City that's unfamiliar to the contemporary country milieu: yearning to break away from urban life and flee to "the middle ...

The Legendary Stardust Cowboy: The Tears of a Clown: The Lives and Loves of the Legendary Stardust Cowboy

Profile and Interview by John Morthland, New York Rocker, January 1982

"THIS NEXT one is called 'Arise'. It's a Western song; not a country song, a Western song. Okay, hit it, boys," commands Norman Odam, a/k/a ...

Elvis Costello: Almost Blue (Columbia FC37562)

Review by Jon Young, Trouser Press, February 1982

WHY SHOULDN'T Elvis Costello make a country album? An accomplished dilettante, he's previously drawn from such diverse sources as Tin Pan Alley ('My Funny Valentine') ...

Elvis Costello and the Attractions: Almost Blue (Columbia)

Review by Craig Zeller, Creem, March 1982

I'M REMINDED OF that Honeymooners episode where, in Alice's absence, Ed gives Ralph a hand with the household chores by doing a little ironing. ...

Willie Nelson: Always on My Mind (Columbia)

Review by Paul Nelson, Rolling Stone, 27 May 1982

WHEN, IN the finale of Always on My Mind, Willie Nelson claims he "wasn't tryin'," he seems to be summing up his attitude toward this ...

Willie Nelson: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 9 June 1982

IT IS TRUE what they say about things being bigger in Texas. You could wrap up a jumbo jet in the flag of the Lone ...

Willie Nelson: Always On My Mind (Columbia)

Review by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, July 1982

JUST WHEN you thought you couldn't bear one more version of Paul Simon's 'Bridge Over Troubled Water', Willie Nelson comes by and makes the song ...

Ronnie Milsap, Charley Pride: Ronnie Milsap: Inside Ronnie Milsap (RCA AHL1-4311); Charley Pride: Charley Sings Everybody's Choice (RCA AHL1- 4287)

Review by Joe Sasfy, The Washington Post, 16 July 1982

Milsap Loses Soul; Pride's in a Rut ...

Jerry Lee Lewis: A comeback story

Profile and Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 27 July 1982

"Jerry Lee Lewis is a sinner, lost an' undone, without God or His Son" — Jerry Lee Lewis as quoted by Nick Tosches in his ...

Brenda Lee: Dynamite

Retrospective and Interview by Martin Hawkins, The History of Rock, September 1982

BORN BRENDA MAE TARPLEY in Atlanta, Georgia, on 11 December 1944, Brenda Lee is rumoured to have taken to the road with a singing group ...

Rosanne Cash: Somewhere In The Stars (Columbia)

Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, October 1982

MOST OF the songs on Somewhere In The Stars, the third album by Rosanne Cash, are about the pitfalls of contemporary liaisons, the moments when ...

Rosanne Cash: Romance, rock and realism in the new Country

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Musician, October 1982

THE ENDURING appeal of country music has been its ability to describe the messy problems between men and women with accuracy and poignancy. For years, ...

Rosanne Cash: Wax Museum, Baltimore MA

Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 22 October 1982

Rosanne Cash: genuine country ...

Charley Pride: Painters Mill Star Theatre, Owings Mills MD

Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 8 November 1982

Charley Pride has the voice but not verve. ...

Marty Robbins: Country Dude of Nashville

Obituary by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 10 December 1982

Mary Harron on the style of Marty Robbins ...

The Del Fuegos, Rank and File: Rank And File/Del Fuegos: Inn-Square Bar, Boston

Live Review by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 15 December 1982

COUNTRY ROCK HAS been one of the most popular musical hybrids of the past decade; it's also been one of the most disappointing. ...

The Everly Brothers, Phil Everly: Phil Everly (1983)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 1983

Half of the great duo talks about his new solo album, Phil Everly: being produced by Stuart Coleman and working with players like Mark Knopfler and Pete Wingfield; working with Christine McVie, and memories of meeting her in the '60s. Then he talks about an upcoming Everly Brothers reunion after 10 years apart: how it'll work, his relationship with Don and possible plans.

File format: mp3; file size: 43mb, interview length: 28' 41" sound quality: *****

Rank And File: A String Tie And Safety Pin Affair

Interview by Joe Sasfy, Unicorn Times, February 1983

I LIKED Rank And File's music from the moment I heard a demo tape of theirs in Joe Patoski's livingroom in Austin in mid-1981. I ...

Rank And File: The Music Machine, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Mark Leviton, Music Connection, 17 February 1983

A PACKED HOUSE witnessed a powerful Rank and File set that was a model of consistency and drive. The four-piece has narrowed their focus admirably, ...

Willie Nelson: Capital Centre, Landover MA

Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore Sun, 16 March 1983

Nelson's style: spare but brilliant ...

Dolly Parton: Ask a Dirty Question, and you Don't Get Any Answers

Profile and Interview by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 29 March 1983

Dolly Parton smiles, and giggles, and parodies herself, but she's really not that kind of girl at all. Not any longer, reports Mary Harron. ...

Dolly Parton: Dominion Theatre, London

Live Review by Mary Harron, The Guardian, 29 March 1983

IN THE early stages we were treated rather like the captive audience at a television games show, as orders were issued for us to stand, ...

Dolly Parton: In Gloss We Trust: Dolly Parton at the Dominion, London

Live Review by Richard Cook, New Musical Express, 2 April 1983

HOWEVER MUCH YOU take righteous liberal umbrage at the mass of contradictions Dolly Parton presents, you lose. As surely as the lonely waifs and ...

Matchbox, Tammy Wynette: Tammy Wynette: Wembley Conference Centre, London

Live Review by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 16 April 1983

DANG MA POONS!* * Lit: Make mine a whiskey sour and a marriage on the rocks. ...

Rick Nelson: The Irrepressible Ricky

Interview by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 27 October 1983

RICK NELSON is not an easily understood rock & roller, and even he's not sure why. Maybe it's because his initial prominence came from The ...

Waylon Jennings: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 29 October 1983

'Nylon' Jennings Sings Silky Jus' For You ...

Wanda Jackson: Unsung Heroes of Rock 'n' Roll: Wanda Jackson — Unlaced By The Lord

Retrospective by Nick Tosches, Creem, February 1984

WANDA LAVONNE Jackson was, simply and without contest, the greatest menstruating rock 'n' roll singer whom the world has ever known. Born in Maud, Oklahoma, ...

Linda Ronstadt: Performing Is Not My Gift

Report and Interview by Ben Fong-Torres, TV Guide, May 1984

SHE LOOKS SO darling, standing there on a Santa Barbara, Cal., stage in front of Nelson Riddle and his 43-piece orchestra, ready for the first ...

Terry Allen: Architect's Association, London

Live Review by John Tobler, Melody Maker, 26 May 1984

BEFORE YOU ask "Who?", Terry Allen is the singer/songwriter from Lubbock, Texas, who, unlike the other two internationally known Lubbock musicians, is (a) not dead, ...

Joe Ely: Hi-Res

Review by Mitchell Cohen, Creem, July 1984

JOE ELY'S Hi-Res has a feverish, jittery seediness, a buzz you can't shake off. Remember the first episode of Cheers, where the guys argued about ...

Charley Pride: Pride In His Country

Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 6 July 1984

The Black Singer Who Crossed Over ...

The Boothill Foot Tappers, The Pogues: Pogues, Boothill Foot Tappers: Mean Fiddler, Harlesden

Live Review by Colin Irwin, Melody Maker, 4 August 1984

IT WAS not a night to be sober. ...

Nashville Revisited

Report by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 11 August 1984

This summer an 82 year-old former boxer, shoeshine boy and burlesque costumier from Brooklyn died in Los Angeles. His name was Nudie Cohen and he ...

Don Williams: Cafe Carolina (MCA-5493)

Review by John Morthland, Country Music, September 1984

ACCORDING TO the sticker on my copy of this album, Cafe Carolina contains (so far) four hits: 'That's the Thing About Love', 'Maggie's Dream', 'Beautiful ...

Neil Young

Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 6 September 1984

IN 1970, Neil Young went to Nashville during a break in his solo tour and recorded the song 'Are You Ready For The Country?'. He ...

Dwight Yoakam: Local Yoakam

Interview by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 22 November 1984

EVEN WITH the so called cow-punk semi-stampede started in '82 by Rank & File, country music hasn't made any significant inroads into the life of ...

The Long Ryders: Long-Haul Ryders

Interview by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 20 December 1984

IF ROCK & roll were baseball, the Long Ryders would surely receive the Most Improved Players award. Two years ago, the group was little more ...

Horace Andy, Bobby "Blue" Bland, James Brown, Burning Spear, Tyrone Davis, The Drifters, Al Green, Billie Holiday, Robert Johnson, George Jones, Linda Jones, Janis Joplin, Joy Division, Little Anthony and the Imperials, Michael McDonald, Van Morrison, Aaron Neville, Otis Redding, Smokey Robinson, Nina Simone, Frank Sinatra, Bettye Swann, Ted Taylor, O.V. Wright: The Voice Squad

Overview by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 12 January 1985

From the raw to the pure, from the sublime to the meticulous — BARNEY HOSKYNS sings the praises of 24 of music's most glorious voices. ...

The Judds: Of Mums & Grammys: The Judds

Interview by Cynthia Rose, New Musical Express, 20 April 1985

Part deep country and part cosmopolitan, this mom and daughter team have lived a Cinderella story which stood even Nashville on its ear. Now, No ...

Gram Parsons: We'll Sweep Out The Ashes In The Morning

Retrospective by Don Watson, New Musical Express, 21 April 1985

"Death is a warm cloak. An old friend. I regard death as something that comes up on a roulette wheel every once in a while."Gram ...

Ricky Skaggs: Dominion Theatre, London

Live Review by Mick Brown, The Guardian, 20 May 1985

Mick Brown on Ricky Skaggs's county revival at the Dominion ...

The Judds: That John Deere Factor

Profile and Interview by Cynthia Rose, Creem, July 1985

DALLAS — AT age 18, Naomi Judd of Ashland, Kentucky, defaulted on her high school graduation: she was in a hospital giving birth to daughter ...

Neil Young (1985)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, August 1985

Over the course of almost two hours, Neil talks about world politics, the state of America today, his philosophical outlook, his current country-music tour and his love of that music; and about the transition from 'Heart of Gold' to Tonight's the Night, drugs and David Crosby, meeting Charles Manson... and the event that became Farm Aid.

File format: mp3; file size: 101.2mb, interview length: 1h 45' 24" sound quality: ***

Dobie Gray (1985)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, September 1985

"I never did feel like a soul singer": from his youth in Texas to Nashville success, Dobie Gray talks about his crossover from R&B to country.

File format: mp3; file size: 46mb, total interview length: 47' 54" sound quality: ****

Jerry Lee Lewis: No Sinner Like An Old 'Un

Interview by Jim Sullivan, New Musical Express, 14 September 1985

Not for JERRY LEE LEWIS the cosy trail from rocker to rocking chair. Last year a rollercoaster life and career hit a new low when ...

George Strait: Strait Country

Profile and Interview by Bill Bentley, L.A. Weekly, 28 November 1985

THE EAGLE-eyed crew in the music business is predicting hard times for country music, saying that instead of selling millions of albums, Nashville superstars will ...

Guy Clark (1986)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 1986

The Texan songsmith talks about having his songs covered by others; not regarding himself as a country singer but as a songwriter; writing for himself rather than for other people; collaborating with his wife, painter-songwriter Susanna; his writing process; his musical roots in folk and blues, and his relationship with language.

File format: mp3; file size: 45mb, interview length: 46' 52" sound quality: ***

Townes Van Zandt (1986)

Interview by Holger Petersen, Rock's Backpages audio, 4 January 1986

The Texas troubadour talks about his rootless youth; getting his songs covered by stars; the dangers of the road; bluesmen in general and Lightnin' Hopkins in particular; songwriting, "sky" songs and 'Pancho and Lefty'; and sharing a house with Guy Clark and Rodney Crowell!

File format: mp3; file size: 36.7mb, interview length: 40' 06" sound quality: *****

Townes Van Zandt (1986) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Holger Petersen, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 4 January 1986

This is a transcript of Holger's audio interview with Townes. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Rosanne Cash: No Cash Down

Profile and Interview by Laura Fissinger, Creem, February 1986

ROSANNE CASH, a very young and dishy 30-year-old, has just celebrated the start of her second year without drugs. "Being on drugs is like being ...

Dwight Yoakam: Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc. Etc. (Warner/Reprise 1-25372)

Review by John Morthland, Country Music, March 1986

DWIGHT YOAKAM'S debut album has Attitude, the way Gid Tanner and the Skillet Lickers had Attitude in the 1920's when they taunted revenooers in 'A ...

Rosanne Cash, The Judds, George Strait: The Judds: Rockin' with the Rhythm (RCA); Rosanne Cash: Rhythm and Romance (CBS); George Strait: Something Special (MCA)

Review by Max Bell, The Times, 1 March 1986

Leaving the old wagon wheels behind ...

William Bell, Matt Bianco, The Judds, Dolly Parton, Prince, Smokey Robinson, David Thomas: Records by Prince, The Judds et al

Review by Mary Harron, The Observer, 16 March 1986

Smokey Robinson: Smoke Signals (Tamla 6156TL); Prince: 'Kiss' (WEA W8751T 12 Inch); William Bell: Passion (WRC WIL-3001 US Import) ...

Dwight Yoakam: the Roxy, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 20 March 1986

YOAKAM'S CONSERVATIVE COUNTRY ...

George Jones: Wembley Arena Country Festival, London

Live Review by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 12 April 1986

THE GREATEST "NO SHOW" ON EARTH ...

Johnny Cash: The Johnny Cash Show: Country Festival, Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Fred Dellar, New Musical Express, 12 April 1986

THE PILL POPPIN' POPE OF POP ...

Rosanne Cash: Cash Points

Interview by Richard Cook, Sounds, 19 April 1986

It's payola time for country's latest lone star Rosanne Cash. Richard Cook tries to separate the hit from the myth. ...

Dwight Yoakam: Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc.

Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 26 April 1986

IF IT'S careening kick-start country, a whisky wise distillation of old forms you need, come round here. Boisterous fiddle, the pound and pounce of six-string ...

Rosanne Cash: Blues From The Pink Bedroom

Interview by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 26 April 1986

ROSANNE CASH'S latest LP Rhythm And Romance lays bare both her turbulent marriage and a lengthy struggle with drug abuse. GAVIN MARTIN meets the woman ...

Dwight Yoakam: Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. (Reprise)

Review by Jon Young, Musician, May 1986

TIPPING HIS Stetson to Lefty Frizzell and Merle Haggard, Yoakam recharges the honky-tonk tradition like a savior sent down from hillbilly heaven. Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., ...

Hüsker Dü, Dwight Yoakam: Irving Plaza, New York NY

Live Review by Jeff Tamarkin, Billboard, 3 May 1986

THE IDEA of pairing post-hardcore Hüsker Dü with neocountry Dwight Yoakam turned out to be more perverse in theory than in practice. There was no ...

Dwight Yoakam: Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. (Reprise)

Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 5 June 1986

KENTUCKY-BRED singer and songwriter Dwight Yoakam makes his Los Angeles country music get up and go. As he boasts on the Johnny Horton cover that ...

Hasil Adkins, Eugene Chadbourne, Bill Frisell, The Mekons, George Strait, Dwight Yoakam: Lost Highway

Essay by RJ Smith, High Fidelity, July 1986

Country used to be a music of the dispossessed. If you look hard enough, you'll find it still is. ...

George Strait: #7 (MCA)

Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 28 August 1986

FORGET GEORGE Strait as the White-Stetsoned sheriff of country's current "new traditionalism" Think of him instead as Elvis Presley balladeering out of the Lone Star ...

Dwight Yoakam: Mean Fiddler, London

Live Review by Gavin Martin, New Musical Express, 6 September 1986

AN IMPARTIAL lady friend had been clean bowled over the previous night at Dingwalls. This tall, lean Kentucky hunk may be coot-like beneath his hat ...

Dwight Yoakam: The Dwight Stuff

Interview by Jon Wilde, Sounds, 6 September 1986

It's time to slide some riding chaps over your Levi's, bury your head beneath a ten gallon hat, grab some beans and a guitar, saddle-up ...

Steve Earle, George Strait: Steve Earle: Guitar Town (MCA); George Strait: #7 (MCA)

Review by Barney Hoskyns, New Musical Express, 13 September 1986

FOLLOWING HOT on the heels of Mr Yoakam, here is another applicant for the position of '80s country-rock messiah. ...

Randy Travis: Storms Of Life (Warner Bros.)

Review by Davitt Sigerson, Rolling Stone, 25 September 1986

OF ALL THE cool new Country stars, expect Randy Travis to last the longest. ...

Nanci Griffith: McCabe's Guitar Shop, Santa Monica CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 7 October 1986

GRIFFITH SINGS AND STRUMS COUNTRY ...

Rodney Crowell: Street Language (Columbia)

Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 6 November 1986

RODNEY CROWELL'S credentials as a first-rate country-pop producer (for his wife, Rosanne Cash, on Seven Year Ache and Rhythm and Romance) and songwriter ('Till I ...

John Anderson, Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, Emmylou Harris, The Judds, Patty Loveless, Lyle Lovett, Reba McEntire, Ricky Skaggs, George Strait, Randy Travis, Dwight Yoakam: Alive and Kickin'

Report and Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 18 December 1986

A year after The New York Times ran its obit, country music is stronger than ever, thanks to artists like Steve Earle, Dwight Yoakam and ...

The Judds: Palladium, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 3 February 1987

HOW DIFFERENT one's life might have been if one's mother had been Naomi Judd. One might have been a cowboy, the local sheriff, or better ...

The Judds: Give A Little Love (RCA)

Review by Caroline Sullivan, Melody Maker, 7 February 1987

GIVEN THE choice between listening to a country LP — any country LP — or one by some exceeding obscure indie outfit who are distinguished ...

The Judds: Palladium, London

Live Review by Hugh Fielder, Sounds, 14 February 1987

THREE DAYS after the show I discovered that the one in the flouncy skirt and petticoats who sashayed vivaciously round the stage, laughing with each ...

The Judds: a family affair

Interview by Stuart Bailie, Record Mirror, 21 February 1987

From a back porch in East Kentucky to the top of the US country charts, mother and daughter duo Naomi and Wynona Judd have come ...

Lone Justice: The Palace, Hollywood CA

Live Review by Dave DiMartino, Billboard, 28 February 1987

IT WAS A warm homecoming in one way, a tentative one in another. Geffen's Lone Justice returned home for this first "official" gig with its ...

Steve Earle & the Dukes: Mean Fiddler, London

Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 26 March 1987

IF ANYONE has given substance to the idea that there is something more to "New Country" than a handy promotional slogan, then it is Steve ...

Nanci Griffith, Lyle Lovett, Ricky Skaggs, Randy Travis: New Country: Banjoing the Roy Rogers Image

Report and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 27 March 1987

It may have had a hard time persuading people to take it seriously but, as Adam Sweeting reports, country music is winning ...

Dwight Yoakam: Hillbilly Hipster

Interview by Cynthia Rose, Mail On Sunday, 12 April 1987

DWIGHT YOAKAM was eight years old when he wrote his first song: an American lament patterned after those of 1940s blue mountain balladeers the Stanley ...

George Jones: Wine Colored Roses (Epic)

Review by James Hunter, Rolling Stone, 21 May 1987

THIS IS the finest George Jones record in more than five years. Still working with producer-arranger Billy Sherrill, Jones commands a mix of ten songs ...

Tammy Wynette: Just a country girl at heart

Profile and Interview by David Sinclair, The Times, 27 May 1987

David Sinclair talks to American singer Tammy Wynette, in Britain as part of her long-awaited European tour. ...

Lyle Lovett, Nanci Griffith, Rattlesnake Annie, Ricky Skaggs, Steve Earle: Nashville Cats: Country Music In 1987 - Goldmine Or Shaft?

Report and Interview by Simon Witter, i-D, June 1987

Simon Witter travelled to Nashville to find out if there's any substance to the media'slatest rediscovery. ...

Steve Earle: Highway Patrolman

Interview by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 20 June 1987

STEVE EARLE is the outlaw who's going to give Bruce Springsteen a run for his money. On the eve of his UK tour and the ...

The Judds: Family Ties

Interview by Laura Fissinger, Rolling Stone, 2 July 1987

The Judds find that the family that plays together stays together ...

The Judds: Harmonious Relations

Interview by Robin Katz, Over 21, 21 August 1987

Country singing duo The Judds are keeping their success in the family. Mother and daughter talk to Robin Katz. ...

T. Graham Brown: Like It Used To Be

Profile and Interview by Jon Savage, The Observer, 30 August 1987

Rising Country star T. Graham Brown makes conversation with JON SAVAGE ...

Johnny Cash: Peterborough Country Music Festival

Live Review by Bob Stanley, New Musical Express, 12 September 1987

THE WHOLE town seems to have been waiting for this moment all week... "Hello. I'm Johnny Cash." ...

Joe Ely: Career Heats Up For Joe Ely

Interview by Charles Bermant, The Globe and Mail, 29 September 1987

WITH ITS OWN hot brand of Texas rock and roll, the Joe Ely Band has transformed the tiny stage of this rural club into a ...

The Long Ryders: Bye Bye Byrdie

Interview by Jeff Tamarkin, Creem, October 1987

LET'S JUST get this part out of the way, since it's gonna come up anyway and maybe you're one of the ones who got pissed ...

Townes Van Zandt (1987)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 16 October 1987

The cult Texan troubadour talks about the difference between the pro-active Butch Hancock and his own laid-back self; making live albums and playing solo versus having a band; his sometime roommate Roky Erickson; seeing Elvis on The Ed Sullivan Show and obtaining his first guitar; his oft-covered 'Pancho and Lefty'; the UK hurricane of 1987; his pals Steve Earle, Jerry Jeff Walker and Guy Clark, and the death of "Skinny Dennis" Sanchez; plus Lyle Lovett, Chips Moman... and Scotty Moore's guitar.

File format: mp3; file size: 55.6mb, interview length: 57' 57" sound quality: ****

Rosie Flores, George Jones, Ricky Van Shelton: George Jones, Ricky Van Shelton, Rosie Flores: Greek Theatre, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Don Waller, Los Angeles Times, 2 November 1987

George Jones' Myth Persists at the Greek ...

The Proclaimers: Right-on in Auchtermuchty

Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 13 November 1987

Adam Sweeting finds two reasons for feeling cheerful about alternatives to pop blandness — Scotland's The Proclaimers ...

Reba McEntire: The Last One To Know (MCA)

Review by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 3 December 1987

AS COUNTRY music's most popular female singer, Reba McEntire deserves a lot of credit for aiding the new-traditionalist revival in Nashville. But tagging McEntire as ...

Rosie Vela: Rosie Flores: Rosie Flores (Reprise)

Review by Laura Fissinger, Rolling Stone, 3 December 1987

WHAT DWIGHT Yoakam is to new-traditionalist country's male division, Rosie Flores could be to its distaff side. Like Yoakam, she comes out of the California ...

Steve Earle: Sweet success for one of country's new voices

Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 17 December 1987

DEPENDING ON your point of view, country-rocker Steve Earle is an overnight sensation or a guy who fought the good fight for more than a ...

Steve Earle, Will Rambeaux, Randy Travis: The New Nashville

Report by Laura Fissinger, New York Daily News, 20 December 1987

Country is giving berth to rock these days ...

Lyle Lovett: Lovett and Leave It

Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 4 March 1988

Lyle Lovett is top of the country charts but the laid back Texan has no intentions, he tells Adam Sweeting, of ending up on the treadmill ...

Lyle Lovett: Pontiac (MCA)

Review by Holly Gleason, Musician, April 1988

LYLE LOVETT represents a new voice in Nashville: the quirky country songwriter who believes that even cowboys get the blues. Consequently, this Texan's viewpoint can ...

Nanci Griffith: The Acoustic Room, The Mean Fiddler, Harlesden

Live Review by Ken Hunt, Folk Roots, April 1988

THE WORD 'CHANTEUSE' seems to be undergoing one of its periodic journalistic revivals. It's a slightly unusual word, it's French and it was always far ...

Terry Allen: Lubbock (On Everything) (Special Delivery SPT 1007/8)

Review by Ken Hunt, Folk Roots, April 1988

OVER THE LAST month or so, each time you turned on the TV, opened the paper or virtually any magazine that runs to book reviews, ...

Nanci Griffith: Country Rose of Texas

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 29 April 1988

Nanci Griffith's music may live happily in bedsit or honky-tonk but she tells anecdotes onstage to stop her audience fist-fighting, reports Adam Sweeting ...

Willie Nelson: Merriweather Post Pavilion, Baltimore MD

Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Evening Sun (Baltimore), The , 27 May 1988

Despite many styles, Nelson is a hit ...

Johnny Cash: A Little Farther... Down The Line

Interview by J. Kordosh, Creem, June 1988

ONSTAGE, JOHNNY Cash likes to joke about his daughter Rosanne's recording of 'Tennessee Flat Top Box': "She played it for me and I said, 'That's ...

k.d. lang: Shadowland (Sire WX17LP/Cass/CD)

Review by Mark Cooper, Q, June 1988

k.d. lang's "torch'n'twang": corn with a cutting edge. ...

Merle Haggard: Chill Factor (Epic)

Review by Amy Linden, Spin, June 1988

NEW TRADITION, old tradition, any old way you choose it. Merle Haggard is a country music category unto himself. Any guy that lists his prison ...

Randy Travis (1988)

Interview by Mat Snow, Rock's Backpages audio, June 1988

The First Gentleman of New Country talks about being on the road, his North Carolina roots, the New Country boom, his youthful indiscretions, and the nature of country music.

File format: mp3; file size: 36mb, interview length: 39' 22" sound quality: ***

Randy Travis: Royal Albert Hall, London

Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 21 June 1988

Timeless voice ...

k.d. lang: Shadowland: The Owen Bradley Sessions (Sire)

Review by Holly Gleason, Musician, July 1988

LISTENING TO Shadowland, k.d. lang's second album, you can't help thinking you've fallen into a time warp, back to when Patsy Cline ruled the radio. ...

Reba McEntire: Reba (MCA 43134)

Review by John Morthland, Country Music, July 1988

I KNOW THIS is largely an extension of what she's always done, and that a lot of her fans will welcome and cherish it as ...

Rosie Flores, George Highfill, Michelle Shocked, Dwight Yoakam: Producer Pete Anderson Leads Calif.'s Gold Rush

Report and Interview by Holly Gleason, Billboard, 16 July 1988

LOS ANGELES — With the success of Dwight Yoakam's gold albums (Guitars, Cadillacs, Etc., Etc. and Hillbilly Deluxe), producer Pete Anderson has found a beachhead ...

Dwight Yoakam: Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room (Reprise 925 749-1/CD) ****½

Review by Paul Elliott, Sounds, 6 August 1988

IT'S ALL DWIGHT ON THE NIGHT ...

Dewey Groom: Longhorn Man

Profile and Interview by Cynthia Rose, Dallas Observer, 18 August 1988

"YOU KNOW HOW overrated this club business is, psychologically," Dewey Groom is saying, shaking his head. "People think it's a good-time job. They think it's ...

Dwight Yoakam: Drawling — Dwight Yoakam: Buenas Noches From A Lonely Room (Reprise WX 193 LP/Cass/CD)

Review by David Sinclair, Q, September 1988

Dwight Yoakam: country music with added ultra-twang. ...

Merle Haggard: Long Gone Train

Interview by Holly Gleason, Spin, September 1988

Merle Haggard's gone from hopping freights and serving time to being country music's strongest and truest voice. He's never looked back. But he's never forgotten ...

Hank Williams Jr.: Hank Williams Jr: Wild Streak (WEA 925 725-1/CD)***

Review by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 1 October 1988

HANK WILLIAMS Jr is a hard-rockin' Southern statesman who dotes on the libidinous, bad-man image that validates his thoroughbred boogie. ...

Nanci Griffith: Everyday stories of Country

Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 7 October 1988

Nanci Griffith, New Country singer and novelist, talks to Andy Gill ...

Steve Earle: The Country Outlaw Turns Rock Renegade

Interview by Ralph Traitor, Sounds, 15 October 1988

Not only has Steve Earle recently been on the wrong side of the law, but now he's risking his neck further by turning his back ...

Joe Ely (1988)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 30 October 1988

The Texan Troubadour talks about the disappearance of the honky-tonks and the resulting change in his music; a 13-year-old Charlie Sexton playing in his band; his association with the Clash; his album Hi-Res and the lost final MCA album; Lord of the Highway and his new band; his latest album Dig All Night; fellow Flatlanders Butch Hancock and Jimmie Dale Gilmore; how Shelby Singleton screwed that trio; playing solo versus with playing with a band; and his hometown of Austin, Texas.

File format: mp3; file size: 64.8mb, interview length: 1h 07' 33" sound quality: ****

Steve Earle: Lonesome Dove: Steve Earle Puts the Celtic into Country

Interview by Chris Bourke, Rip It Up (New Zealand), December 1988

"Ring Steve Earle," said the message. "Area code 615 ..." ...

Steve Earle & the Dukes: Town & Country Club, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 1 December 1988

When more means less ...

Chris Hillman, The Desert Rose Band: The Desert Rose Band: Chris Hillman's Hot Burrito #3

Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, 2 December 1988

ROCK IS no longer the dirty word it once was in Nashville. But after LA's Desert Rose Band placed four singles on the country charts ...

K.T. Oslin: This Woman (RCA LP/Cassette/CD)

Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 17 December 1988

FOR THE lack of money pretensions, K.T. Oslin and her band of devout followers is, collectively, a good thing. Slightly overrated, certainly overproduced, but never ...

Kenny Rogers (1989)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 1989

Mr. Rogers talks about re-recording his old hits; his uneasy relationship with the Country Music industry; changing labels; his time with the New Christy Minstrels; growing up listening to doowop and R&B; his huge back catalogue... and not writing (many) songs anymore.

File format: mp3; file size: 24.3mb, interview length: 25' 17" sound quality: *****

Kenny Rogers (1989) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 1989

This is a transcript of John's audio interview with Kenny. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Steve Earle: Copperhead Road (Uni) *** ½

Review by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 26 January 1989

IN 1986 AND 1987, Steve Earle made two great records — Guitar Town and Exit 0 — on which he established a vivid Southern-working-class identity ...

Steve Earle: A Bad Boy Settles Down

Report and Interview by Holly Gleason, Rolling Stone, 26 January 1989

STEVE EARLE recently released his third album, Copperhead Road, and married his fifth wife, Teresa. Considering that last New Year's Day found him in a ...

Lyle Lovett: Lyle Lovett and His Large Band (MCA/Curb) ****

Review by Holly Gleason, Rolling Stone, 9 February 1989

LYLE LOVETT has always been a little bit schizophrenic. A Nashville musician with big-band leanings, Lovett has somehow managed to gracefully walk the line between ...

The Judds: Kentucky dreamers

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 10 February 1989

The Judds' story is worthy of a country song. Adam Sweeting on the long road from Morrill, Kentucky, to the Dominion, London. ...

Ian Tyson: Cowboy troubadour: Ian Tyson is riding high again

Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 13 February 1989

THE AUDITORIUM was a sea of cowboy hats in a variety of styles – High Sierra, Ridgetop and Cattleman. The ranchers, cowhands and wives were ...

The Judds: Dominion, London

Live Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 18 February 1989

MAMA'S FROCK is straight out of the best little top shop whorehouse in Texas. Daughter goes for a more conservative tailored black suit. Mama could ...

Guy Clark: Old Friends (Sugar Hill) ***½

Review by Holly Gleason, Rolling Stone, 9 March 1989

THIS IS THE first album in five years by Guy dark, one of the deans of Texas songwriting. Like his previous work, Old Friends evokes ...

Johnny Cash (1989)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, 17 March 1989

The Man in Black on the controversy surrounding the 'Til Things Are Brighter tribute album; being threatened by the Klan for hugging Charley Pride; his friendship with Roy Orbison; the state of current country, and his Scottish roots. He also shows Sweeting his coin, gun and guitar collection!

File format: mp3; file size: 30.9mb, interview length: 32' 11" sound quality: ***

Buck Owens: Myths of the honky-tonker

Profile and Interview by David Toop, The Times, 25 March 1989

On the eve of the Wembley country, festival, Buck Owens tells David Toop of the horrors of assembly-line music ...

Cowboy Junkies: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 27 March 1989

Cowpoking explorers: one of the newest names in New Country and an all-out thrash attack ...

Lucinda Williams: Mean Fiddler, London

Live Review by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 5 May 1989

Twang go the heart strings ...

Johnny Cash: Southern Comfort

Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 12 May 1989

The Man in Black is back fighting the good fight. Adam Sweeting catches up with Johnny Cash, travelling troubadour, in Cambridge ...

Lucinda Williams: Walking The Line

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, New Musical Express, 20 May 1989

LUCINDA WILLIAMS was caught just in time, the singer/songwriter was just about to head off into the hills when somehow Rough Trade pulled her back. ...

k.d. lang: Prairie Fire

Interview by Dave Zimmer, BAM, 30 June 1989

WELCOME TO the Griffith Park Pony Rides. Assorted toddlers, most of them 2- or 3-something, are circling a dusty track, strapped onto tired ponies. Not ...

Cowboy Junkies: The Cowboy Junkies: Cowboy country

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Guardian, 30 June 1989

Mark Cooper hears how the Cowboy Junkies draw on Canada for their inspiration ...

Dolly Parton: White Limozeen (CBS)

Review by Caroline Sullivan, Melody Maker, 29 July 1989

IF YOU NEED proof that we're dealing not with a mere singer, but a legend — nay, an icon — here it is: thrashy Class ...

K.T. Oslin, Randy Travis: Randy Travis, K.T. Oslin: Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 10 August 1989

Travis, Oslin's Smooth and Easy Outing ...

George Jones, Loretta Lynn: Merriweather Post Pavilion, Baltimore MA

Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Evening Sun (Baltimore), The , 14 August 1989

Erratic Jones is nearly perfect at Merriweather ...

Clint Black: Killin' Time (MCA) ***½

Review by Holly Gleason, Rolling Stone, 24 August 1989

IN TODAY'S brave new Nashville, artists fall into neat categories: the docile crooners, like Randy Travis and George Strait, who sing pretty and pretty much ...

Lucinda Williams: Passionate Kisses (Rough Trade)

Review by John Morthland, L.A. Weekly, 19 October 1989

IN AUSTIN, Texas, where I live, a considerable number of people spend a considerable amount of time wondering when Lucinda's gonna come back home from ...

Lucinda Williams: Happy Woman Blues

Sleeve notes by John Morthland, Smithsonian Folkways, 1990

THE DAUGHTER of an English lit professor, Lucinda Williams was born in Lake Charles, Louisiana, and spent most of her youth moving from college town ...

The Crickets, Sonny Curtis: Sonny Curtis (1990)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 1990

From Buddy Holly to the Clash: songwriter/guitarist Curtis talks about his time with Holly and his lengthy association with the Crickets; the number of mistakes in the movie The Buddy Holly Story; backing the Everly Brothers, plus their cover of his 'Walk Right Back'; writing 'I Fought The Law', the mystery of Bobby Fuller's death, and the Clash's version of his most famous song; hanging out with Eric Clapton; writing The Mary Tyler Moore Show theme tune, and jingles; his lengthy association with Waylon Jennings, and his return to Nashville.

File format: mp3; file size: 68.3mb, interview length: 1h 11' 10" sound quality: *****

The Flatlanders: More a Legend Than a Band

Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, Rhino Records, 1990

AS THE FLATLANDERS DROVE TO NASHVILLE IN March 1971 to cut their lone album, Tammy Wynette was sitting atop the country charts with 'Bedtime Story'. ...

Butch Hancock: Own & Own (Demon LP/Cassette/CD)

Review by Michele Kirsch, New Musical Express, 6 January 1990

OUT OF the Texas troubadour tradition croaks the least famous former Flatlander (early '70s cult Country band — write a letter to Fred Fact for ...

k.d. lang: Painters Mill Music Fair, Owings Mills MD

Live Review by Geoffrey Himes, Evening Sun (Baltimore), The , 15 February 1990

Painters Mill rocks again with k.d. lang ...

Mary Chapin Carpenter, Katy Moffatt, Willie Nelson, Kimmie Rhodes: Willie Nelson, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Kimmie Rhodes, Katy Moffatt: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 18 April 1990

The other Nelson jumps genres ...

Gram Parsons: Gram Cracker

Profile by Tim Riley, The Boston Phoenix, 25 May 1990

Parsons's Grievous Angel returns ...

k.d. lang: Back to the emotional basics

Profile and Interview by David Toop, The Times, 25 May 1990

A WOMAN who favours the use of lower-case letters for her name rather than capitals, k.d. lang claims to have given up intellectualizing country music. ...

Clint Black, Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell: Clint Black: Mean Fiddler, London; Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell: Town & Country Club, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 28 May 1990

Signing stetsons and killing time ...

Cowboy Junkies, Kris Kristofferson: Kris Kristofferson Meets The Cowboy Junkies: Country Music On The Morning After

Interview by Fred Schruers, Musician, June 1990

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON occupies an unusual place among American songwriters. His songs have been covered by such legends as his inspiration Bob Dylan ('They Killed Him'), ...

Steve Earle: And Justice For All

Interview by Paul Elliott, Sounds, 23 June 1990

Having had a severe brush with the law himself, Steve Earle is well placed to judge the American law. On his new LP, The Hard Way, he ...

Travis Tritt: Hillbilly Rock

Interview by Holly Gleason, Hits, 9 July 1990

AN EXCLUSIVE HITS INTERVIEW WITH TRAVIS TRITT BY HOLLY GLEASON ...

Steve Earle & The Dukes: Town And Country Club, London

Live Review by Paul Elliott, Sounds, 22 September 1990

Nice n' easy rider ...

Steve Earle: Town And Country Club, London ****

Live Review by Howard Johnson, Kerrang!, 29 September 1990

Duke of Earle ...

Steve Earle Does It the Hard Way

Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, October 1990

DRIVING WEST out of Nashville on a summer afternoon the hills look green and lazy, a deceptively pastoral view. "This is a poor county," Steve ...

Johnny Cash: Back in Black

Report and Interview by Mal Peachey, Daily Telegraph, 13 October 1990

FOR 35 YEARS, he has begun every performance with the line, "Hello, I'm Johnny Cash", as if anyone needs telling. He greets people personally with ...

Randy Travis: Heroes & Friends (Warner Bros 75992631)

Review by Mat Snow, Q, November 1990

IT'S A MEASURE of how far country golden boy Randy Travis has come in only five years that he can attract such a stellar cast ...

The Judds: Love Can Build A Bridge (BMG 90531)

Review by Phil Sutcliffe, Q, November 1990

AFTER SEVEN years of drawing their "new country" congregation to an ever broader church, songwriting mom Naomi and lead-singing daughter Wynonna this time nod to ...

Lucinda Williams: Ramblin'

Sleeve notes by John Morthland, Smithsonian Folkways, 1991

WHEN IT WAS first released in 1979, Ramblin' could not have been more out of step. Lucinda Williams, who did indeed have ramblin' on her ...

George Jones, Hank Williams, Lefty Frizzell: Redneck Soul: George Jones and the White Man's Blues

Book Excerpt by Barney Hoskyns, 'From a Whisper to a Scream' (Fontana), 1991

NO ONE IS FONDER of saying that country music is "the white man's blues" than black artists like B.B. King, Etta James and Bobby Womack. ...

Rosanne Cash: Interiors (Columbia)

Review by Amy Linden, Spin, January 1991

ROSANNE CASH wasn't kidding when she called this one Interiors. With the exception of 'This World' (which is about child abuse, among other things, and ...

Joe Ely: Ely Rider

Interview by Gavin Martin, Vox, February 1991

Joe Ely hocked all he owned to get his latest album released, making him the loan star of the Lone Star state. Gavin Martin meets ...

Tennessee Ernie Ford: Guilty Pleasures

Retrospective by Tom Graves, Rock & Roll Disc, March 1991

MY MOTHER TELLS the story of a Bob Hope television special that aired in the 1950s. The comedian had just made a crack about ...

Johnny Cash: Old, Gifted And Black

Report and Interview by Steven Wells, New Musical Express, 27 April 1991

A C&W star for longer than most people have been alive, you'd expect JOHNNY CASH to be a down home, redneck good ol'boy. Hell no! ...

Johnny Cash: Pills'n'Thrills And Bellyaches

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, June 1991

HITCHING UP HIS blue jeans to give his hands something to do, country music's Greatest Living Legend smothers a cough before the familiar voice offers ...

Danny Gatton: The Fastest Guitar in the East

Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 11 August 1991

The fastest guitar in the East. Or the West, or the South — or anywhere on the planet, really. A lot of people think Danny ...

Kentucky Headhunters: Hard-Rock Hoedown

Profile and Interview by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 19 September 1991

The Kentucky Headhunters serve up their own style of Southern fare. ...

Garth Brooks: A Life In The Day Of Garth Brooks

Interview by Simon Witter, The Sunday Times, 1992

Original version of piece for The Sunday Times Magazine ...

Jerry Jeff Walker (1992)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, 1992

The 'Mr Bojangles' man talks about his current place in music; his favourite albums; his adoptive hometown of Austin, Texas; meeting the real Mr. Bojangles; his problem with studio musicians; his musical background, and becoming a songwriter; his friend Guy Clark; on "manager" Michael Brovsky; inventing his name; his long-lasting marriage; Hondo Crouch, and Luckenbach, Texas; the Lost Gonzo Band; restarting his career after trouble with the IRS, and playing golf!

File format: mp3; file size: 64.3mb, interview length: 1h 06' 56" sound quality: ****

Garth Brooks: Ropin' the Wind (Capitol CDESTU 2162)

Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 5 February 1992

All blown down ...

Garth Brooks: Ropin' The Wind (Capitol CDP 7 98468 2)

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 6 February 1992

JUDGING BY his sales, Garth Brooks is the biggest thing in country music — ever. Ropin' The Wind has done six million copies in America, ...

Garth Brooks: Meet Nashville's New Breed Of Generously Stetsoned Crooner

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, March 1992

BANDY-LEGGED and pigeon-toed, Garth Brooks has finally taken off his stetson and is staggering around the stage of Atlanta's Omni like a man who's just ...

K.T. Oslin: Making Smart Moves

Interview by John Morthland, Country Music, March 1992

The independent singer/songwriter has to wear many hats in her career. While she finds life on the road difficult, she's aware of its pitfalls and ...

Trisha Yearwood: They're In Love With The Girl

Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Good Times Savannah, March 1992

"TRISHA YEARWOOD could sell oil to the Arabs with her voice," one man is found saying. And when that man is SUPERsuperstar and chart king ...

Willis Alan Ramsey: A Perfect Ending to a 20-year Vacation

Profile and Interview by Tom Graves, Musician, March 1992

AT THE END of Willis Alan Ramsey's only album, a self-titled 1972 Shelter release, the song 'Northeast Texas Woman' fades to studio chatter, and the ...

Lyle Lovett: The Singer Who Argues With God

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Daily Telegraph, 27 March 1992

Lyle Lovett's latest album gives a contemporary twist to the Old Testament, says Mark Cooper ...

k.d. lang: Ingénue (WEA 26840)

Review by Max Bell, Vox, April 1992

POPULAR OPINION has had it that, on her latest album Ingénue, k.d. lang has skirted the Country style as if it were an unpleasant cesspit ...

Marty Stuart, Travis Tritt: Travis Tritt Keeps It On The Fringe

Interview by John Morthland, Country Music, April 1992

Not one to be pigeonholed, Travis Tritt doesn't worry if he's a little bit country and a little bit rock'n'roll. In fact, that's just the ...

Garth Brooks: Country's New Gold Rush

Report and Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 16 April 1992

With Garth Brooks leading the way, Nashville is booming ...

Charlie Rich: Building Better Bridges: Charlie Rich in jazz country

Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, May 1992

"NOW YOU play the bridge for me." ...

Lyle Lovett: Erm…

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, May 1992

Confusion and uncertainty are Lyle Lovett's middle names. Is he country? Or is he blues, or gospel, or swing? What the hell, he decides, "They're ...

k.d. lang: Hammersmith Odeon

Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 11 May 1992

Capital of her country ...

Lyle Lovett: Roxy, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 14 May 1992

Lovett and Band Stretch Beyond Country's Borders ...

Vince Gill: The Soul not the Stetson

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, Daily Telegraph, 23 May 1992

Mark Cooper warms to country singer Vince Gill's still, small voice of calm ...

The Rockingbirds: Modern Lovers: The Rockingbirds

Profile and Interview by Push, Melody Maker, 30 May 1992

"EVERY GROUP SHOULD be like a cartoon," says Alan Tyler, former philosophy student, tap dancer and bookies runner, now lead singer with the Rockingbirds. "If ...

Lyle Lovett & his Large Band: Hammersmith Odeon, London

Live Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 16 June 1992

Journey into odd country ...

John Prine (1992)

Interview by John Tobler, Rock's Backpages audio, July 1992

The singer-songwriter talks about writing a song with Phil Spector; on Bruce Springsteen and Bonnie Raitt; on songwriting; favourite songwriters; writing with Shel Silverstein; setting up his own label Oh Boy; recording in Memphis and Nashville; his friendship with Steve Goodman... and being covered by John Denver.

File format: mp3; file size: 61.3mb, interview length: 1h 03' 52" sound quality: ****

Billy Ray Cyrus: The Man Who Would Be King of Country

Profile and Interview by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 6 August 1992

Billy Ray Cyrus scored with Some Gave All ...

Billy Ray Cyrus: Some Gave All (Mercury 510 635-2)

Review by Andy Gill, The Independent, 13 August 1992

WHY BILLY Ray Cyrus, of all people? This is the question that has baffled country music veterans across America, as this unknown and seemingly talent-impaired ...

Jerry Donahue: Taking Tele 'Round The Bend

Interview by Alan di Perna, Musician, September 1992

THE BRASS NUTS OF A COUNTRY FIREBALL ...

Clint Black: Gone Hollywood? "I Don't Worry About It"

Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 17 September 1992

CLINT BLACK looked like the country star of the '90s when his debut album, Killin' Time, was released in 1989, spawning five No. I country ...

Marty Stuart: This One's Gonna Hurt You (MCA)

Review by Holly George-Warren, Rolling Stone, 1 October 1992

"I'M COUNTRY to the bone," Marty Stuart growls in 'Me and Hank and Jumpin' Jack Flash', an update of the hokey hillbilly-heaven theme and the ...

Trisha Yearwood: Crazy Horse, Santa Ana CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 14 October 1992

Trisha Yearwood Blossoms Under the Spotlight's Glare ...

Lyle Lovett and his Large Band: The Orpheum Theater, Boston MA

Live Review by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 19 October 1992

Lovett serves up a sassy mix of country, blues and rock ...

Reba McEntire: Inglewood Forum, Inglewood CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 7 December 1992

A Confusing Set From Reba McEntire at Forum ...

Billy Joe Royal: Out of the Boondocks

Profile and Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Good Times Savannah, Spring 1992

Billy Joe Royal Makes Transition from '60s Pop to '90s Country ...

Bobby Bare: Detroit City and Other Hits/500 Miles Away from Home (RCA)

Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, RCA Records, 1993

THE FIRST THE WORLD thought it had heard from Bobby Bare was in the summer of 1963 when 'Detroit City' hit the Top 20 in ...

Pam Tillis Counts Down to Success

Interview by John Morthland, Country Music, January 1993

At a point in her career where she's more focused and more successful than ever, Pam Tillis knows what works for her. She's hoping to ...

George Jones: Tramps, New York NY

Live Review by Rob Tannenbaum, Rolling Stone, 7 January 1993

OVERWHELMED BY the adoring crowd that greeted his first New York show in thirteen years, George Jones blinked in disbelief and said shyly, "We may ...

Clint Black Rides Out the Storm

Report and Interview by John Morthland, Country Music, March 1993

IT'S BEEN A ROUGH COUPLE OF YEARS FOR CLINT BLACK. MANAGEMENT PROBLEMS, LAWSUITS, TABLOID HEADLINES AND GARTH-MANIA FORCED HIM TO REGROUP. BACK ON THE ROAD ...

Dwight Yoakam: Rambling Man

Interview by John Morthland, Country Music, April 1993

On his new album, This Time, Dwight takes his listeners on a musical journey. In this interview he takes John Morthland on a meandering journey ...

Johnny Cash: The Man in Blackpool

Report by Mick Houghton, Q, April 1993

JOHN R. CASH is somewhat bemused by questions about Butlin's – or Bognor come to that. He's between sets at Southcoast World (Butlin's, Bognor to ...

k.d. lang: k.d. Sings The Blues

Profile and Interview by Mat Snow, Q, April 1993

She’s a genre-hopping pantheist, Lesbian, vegetarian, big-mouthed aromatherapist. In big boots. Yet despite unpromising ingredients, k.d. lang’s multi-layered cake continues to rise quite beautifully and ...

Garth Brooks: Ropin' The Wind

Interview by Anthony DeCurtis, Rolling Stone, 1 April 1993

GARTH BROOKS is a regular at the Pancake Pantry on Twenty-first Avenue in Nashville. When he arrives for breakfast, the proprietor greets him at the ...

Brooks & Dunn: Hard Workin' Man (Arista)

Review by Ted Drozdowski, Rolling Stone, 13 May 1993

KIX BROOKS and Ronnie Dunn ARE hard-workin' men — blue-collar singer-songwriters whose sweat-over-art ethic has paid off big time. It's powered their no-nonsense assembly line ...

Dwight Yoakam: This Time (Reprise)

Review by Richard C. Walls, Musician, June 1993

DWIGHT YOAKAM made his mark as a new traditionalist country singer — vocally a natural, with the stoic throb and nasal soulfulness to give life ...

Nanci Griffith, Robert Earl Keen: Nanci Griffith: Other Voices, Other Rooms (Elektra); Robert Earl Keen: A Bigger Piece of the Sky (Sugar Hill)

Review by Jason Cohen, Creem, June 1993

THOSE WHO found Nanci Griffith's last two efforts for MCA to be awash in pop-lite production and overblown instrumentation should take Other Voices, Other Rooms ...

Willie Nelson: Cheer Up, It Might Never Happen

Interview by Mark Cooper, Q, July 1993

…Er, unfortunately it already has. Three failed marriages, a son's suicide, his house burning down — and that's before the small matter of a $16.7 ...

Billy Ray Cyrus: It Won't Be the Last (PolyGram)

Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 16 September 1993

IT SHOULD come as no surprise that the new Elvis arrives sans pompadour or leisure suit. Billy Ray Cyrus is an Elvis for the '90s, ...

Junior Brown: Outta Nowhere

Profile and Interview by John Morthland, L.A. Weekly, 16 September 1993

But Junior Brown can make a guit-steel sing ...

Garth Brooks: In Pieces (Liberty 80857; CD and cassette)

Review by Holly Gleason, The New York Times, 26 September 1993

A Megastar for Everyman ...

Billy Joe Shaver: Tramp on Your Street (Zoo/Praxis 72445-11063; CD and cassette)

Review by Holly Gleason, The New York Times, 3 October 1993

AT A TIME when country music has been reduced to an arena-ready formula, Billy Joe Shaver is a blotch on the horizon. Unapologetically raw, the ...

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, MOJO, November 1993

A RIOT OF SEQUINS and studded belts, of thick foundation and fringed pastel jackets, of monstrous boots and massive hair, Nashville's old – and new ...

Sister Sledge, Tammy Wynette: Sister Sledge: Forum, London; Tammy Wynette: Palladium, London

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 30 November 1993

Standby your sisters: Revived seventies disco queens Sister Sledge and the First Lady of country music Tammy Wynette woo London ...

k.d. lang: Even Cowgirls Get The Blues (WEA 9362 454 332)

Review by Sid Griffin, Q, December 1993

k.d. lang: defining the word sublime. ...

Garth Brooks

Profile and Interview by Robin Eggar, The Sunday Times, 23 January 1994

"SHHH." THE admonition echoes around the room, stalling conversation in mid-drawl, beer in mid-swallow. The ensuing hush is equal parts reverence and show-me. ...

Jimmie Dale Gilmore: Space Cowboy

Profile and Interview by Pat Blashill, Details, February 1994

From Texas to the ashram and back again: the earthbound adventures of country rocker Jimmie Dale Gilmore ...

Garth Brooks: In Pieces (Liberty/All formats)

Review by Stephen Dalton, New Musical Express, 5 February 1994

A GENUINE multi-platinum crossover phenomenon in the US, Brooks has yet to make any serious mark over here. Raised on Kiss and Queen, the 31-year-old ...

Alison Krauss (1994)

Interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages audio, March 1994

The Bluegrass Queen talks about playing in contests; on improvising and soloing; on her encouraging parents, and learning the violin as a child; on the complexities or otherwise of bluegrass; on the difference between classical violin and bluegrass fiddle; starting to sing, and forming her band Union Station; not signing to a major label, and her relationship with Rounder; on just wanting to make great records... and the influence of Pac-Man!

File format: mp3; file size: 69.2mb, interview length: 1h 12' 02" sound quality: ****

Alison Krauss (1994) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Tony Scherman, Rock's Backpages transcripts, March 1994

This is a transcript of Tony's audio interview with Alison. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

The Cox Family, Alison Krauss: Alison Krauss: Music That's Timeless

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, April 1994

It's the timelessness of bluegrass that appeals to Krauss, but hers is a bluegrass that's different, one that combines elements of the past, the present ...

Garth Brooks: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 13 April 1994

Tip of the hat ...

Alison Krauss: Once a "Fiddlin' Teen", She's Now in Demand

Profile and Interview by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 24 April 1994

ALISON KRAUSS'S eyes bulged at the old newspaper clipping, an arrow from the past headlined, "Fiddlin' Teen Burns Up the Competition." Sitting upstairs in her ...

Townes Van Zandt: Union Chapel, London

Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 26 April 1994

Return of a rambler ...

George Jones: High-Tech Redneck (MCA MCAD 10910)

Review by Fred Dellar, Vox, June 1994

AT LEAST George hasn't lost his sense of humour. The album sleeve depicts him leaning on a car that sports the numberplate IDOSHOW. Which kinda ...

Kathy Mattea: Walking Away A Winner (Phonogram)

Review by Michele Kirsch, Vox, June 1994

THE TITLE speaks volumes for Mattea's earthy alto, which swells with cola-commercial can-do positivity, even on the sad songs. While this is a vocal quality ...

Shania Twain: Shania Twain (Phonogram 514 422-2) 8

Review by Michele Kirsch, Vox, June 1994

HEAR MY TWAIN A-COMIN' ...

Travis Tritt: Ten Feet Tall and Bulletproof (Warner Bros. Nashville)

Review by Eric Weisbard, Spin, June 1994

WE COULD try and get worked up about Travis Tritt the woman-baiter, who made it huge with 'Here's a Quarter (Call Someone Who Cares)', sang ...

Reba McEntire: Read My Mind (MCA 10994; CD and cassette)

Review by Holly Gleason, The New York Times, 12 June 1994

NOBODY TRICK ropes vocally like Reba McEntire. With stunning control, she can twirl, curl and throw a loop around a melody better than anyone. ...

Johnny Cash: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 4 July 1994

"CAN YOU name anyone in this day and age who is as cool as Johnny Cash?", Rolling Stone magazine rhetorically asks. No one at this ...

Vic Chesnutt, Guy Clark, Dan Penn, Joe South, Allen Toussaint: Dan Penn, Allen Toussaint, Guy Clark, Joe South, Vic Chesnutt: Southern Songwriters' Circle, Queen Elizabeth Hall, London

Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 27 July 1994

A southern heaven ...

Lyle Lovett: The World's Greatest Lover

Interview by Mal Peachey, Country Music International, September 1994

Dour of face, frizzy of hair, sharp of wit. He came from Texas, wrote the song, played the guitar and got the girl. Now he's ...

Johnny Cash: Cool Cash — The Man in Black's Latest Risk Pays Off

Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 25 September 1994

New generation of fans embraces touring legend ...

Vince Gill: Dedicated to Just Plain Foik

Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 25 September 1994

How has Vince Gill's success changed his life? Well, if you ask him, he says he's just an ol' guitar player who likes people. (Oh, ...

Bill Monroe: "Well, some fellers didn't know much to start with."

Interview by Dave Marsh, Musician, October 1994

IT'S NOT every day that I get to talk to somebody who invented a whole style of music. When you developed what became bluegrass, was ...

Willie Nelson (1994)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 18 October 1994

Willie Nelson – on tour in Sweden – on leaving Columbia for Liberty, his tussle with the IRS, Cowboy movies, songwriting and more...

File format: mp3 File size: 30mb Interview length: 32 minutes 43 seconds Sound quality: ****

Mary Chapin Carpenter: Stones in the Road (Columbia)

Review by Eric Weisbard, Spin, December 1994

MARY CHAPIN Carpenter is pure country. I'm talking about the format, of course — Carpenter hasn't an ounce of George Jones in her. But where ...

Junior Brown: The Mercury Lounge, New York NY

Live Review by John Swenson, Rolling Stone, 1 December 1994

JUNIOR BROWN is an institution among the guitar-playing aficionados of Austin, Texas. And judging from the number of people unable to squeeze their way into ...

Willie Nelson: The Buddha of Texas

Profile and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, January 1995

He is both The Great Elder of his tribe — a man of fabled serenity — and country music's most celebrated outsider; fond of the ...

Willie Nelson: Funny How Time Slips Away

Retrospective and Interview by Bill DeYoung, Goldmine, 6 January 1995

WITH HIS beatific smile and twinkling bright eyes, Willie Nelson looks like the most serene and centered man on the planet. When he's wearing a ...

Travis Tritt: Q&A with Travis Tritt: "I've Put a Lot Into This"

Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 2 February 1995

TRAVIS TRITT is a study in contradictions. ...

Linda Ronstadt (1995)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 7 February 1995

The First Lady of Counry Rock on a life in music: from Tuscon to LA; the Troubadour scene; hanging out with Jim Morrison and Gram Parsons; exploring standards and Mexican music; singing, production and producers.

File format: mp3; file size: 152.1mb, interview length: 2h 28' 27" sound quality: ***

Trisha Yearwood: Thinkin' About You (MCA)

Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 12 February 1995

Crossover Queen Is on the Move Again With her latest album, Trisha Yearwood shows that her inner fire is burning anew. ...

Alison Krauss: A Hit From One of Country's Kinfolk

Profile and Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 25 March 1995

Bluegrass's most prominent figure makes her way into the Top 10. But even Alison Krauss can't explain it. ...

Linda Ronstadt: Feels Like Home (Elektra; CD and cassette)

Review by Holly Gleason, The New York Times, 9 April 1995

Linda Ronstadt Comes Full Circle ...

Merle Haggard: Pop Quiz: Q & A with Merle Haggard

Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 9 April 1995

WITH TWO tribute albums appearing coincidentally at the same time, country music great Merle Haggard may seem to be experiencing a sudden resurgence — not ...

Reba McEntire: "I Don't Like to Be Corralled or Fenced In"

Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 10 May 1995

  WYNONNA, TRISHA, Pam — they keep coming in waves, but no one has been able to dislodge Reba McEntire from her position as country music's ...

Simon Bonney Proves He Belongs in Country: Songs Reflective, Stark and Sincere

Live Review by Steven R Rosen, Denver Post, 11 May 1995

COUNTRY-AND-WESTERN music and European art songs aren't as strange a combination as you might think. ...

Jerry Lee Lewis: Young Blood (Sire) ***½

Review by Ted Drozdowski, Rolling Stone, 13 July 1995

JERRY LEE LEWIS has had enough stomach trouble, gunplay and marriages to kill a man twice, but at 59 he still pounds the piano like ...

Steve Earle: Train A Comin' (Transatlantic/Castle Communications TRA 111)

Review by David Sinclair, The Times, 21 July 1995

HAVING ALLOWED a promising career to be blighted by delusions of grandeur — remember those four-hour, son-of-Springsteen shows? — and latterly a stretch in prison ...

Shania Twain: Country Princess

Profile and Interview by Nicholas Jennings, Maclean's, 28 August 1995

IT IS THE AUGUST holiday weekend, but there is no rest for Shania Twain. New country music's hottest new sensation is busy paying her dues ...

Collin Raye, Trisha Yearwood: Trisha Yearwood, Collin Raye: Universal Amphitheatre, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 28 August 1995

Yearwood Needs Faith ...

Charlie Rich, 1932-1995

Obituary by Charlie Gillett, MOJO, September 1995

CHARLIE RICH, who died in Memphis on July 25, was the ultimate square peg in a round hole: a jazz pianist promoted as a rock ...

Merle Haggard: Frontman: Merle Haggard

Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, September 1995

YOU'VE BEEN the subject of two recent tribute records, Mama's Hungry Eyes and Tulare Dust. What was your reaction to hearing them? ...

Willie Nelson: Get set for good old Country Music: Willie Nelson's End of Summer Picnic

Profile and Interview by Lon Goddard, Daily Astorian, 7 September 1995

"MAMA, DON'T let your cowboys grow up to be babies," joked quintessential crossover music legend Willie Nelson from the stage of Portland's 3,200 capacity Rose ...

Emmylou Harris: Wrecking Ball (Elektra/Asylum) ***

Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 24 September 1995

ARE FANS of the Sweetheart of the Rodeo ready for EmmyloU2? ...

George Jones, Tammy Wynette: Stand By Your Ex: George Jones and Tammy Wynette

Interview by Mark Cooper, MOJO, October 1995

Wait till I get you home...to Splitsville, Tennessee, where George Jones and Tommy Wynette have resided since the classic song D.I.V.O.R.C.E. came true following perhaps ...

k.d. lang: No more ingenue: The Constant Craving of k.d. lang

Profile and Interview by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 8 October 1995

NEW YORK – Curled up on a couch in a hotel suite, dressed in baggy black athletic garb, k.d. lang ponders the nature of the ...

Billy Joe Shaver: The Live Wire: Billy Joe Shaver at McCabe's

Live Review by Bill Wasserzieher, L.A. View, 27 October 1995

BILLY JOE SHAVER seemed the archetypal Texas good ol' boy at McCabe's Friday night, dressed in a washed-out denim shirt and a western hat that ...

George Jones, Tammy Wynette: George Jones & Tammy Wynette: Hammersmith Apollo, London

Live Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, November 1995

LONG AGO, in the days before hats and hi-tech rednecks, country music was a soap opera and George Jones and Tammy Wynette were its Dirty ...

Robert Earl Keen: Gringo Honeymoon (Sugar Hill)

Review by Richard Gehr, Spin, November 1995

ADD COUNTRY singer Robert Earl Keen to the expanding pantheon of Texas songwriting gurus. On his fifth album, Keen excels at crisp and witty first-person ...

Tim McGraw bucks tradition

Profile and Interview by James Hunter, Entertainment Weekly, 10 November 1995

The country star's number one album proves he's here to stay ...

Trisha Yearwood: Q&A with Trisha Yearwood: "My Nature Is... to Know Exactly What's Going On"

Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 13 December 1995

TRISHA YEARWOOD isn't the biggest-selling female artist in country music, and she's not the most critically acclaimed, but none of her peers can claim a ...

Butch Hancock, The Flatlanders, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely, Terry Allen: Lubbock on Everything: The Best Little Neo-Country Town in Texas?

Retrospective and Interview by Richard Gehr, unpublished, 1996

In 1996, Richard Gehr went down to Texas to explore the history and mythology of Buddy Holly’s home town. This was his unpublished report for ...

The Mavericks: Wild horses drag rock into the country

Profile and Interview by Paul Sexton, The Times, 12 January 1996

Paul Sexton meets those hard-blasting, easy-listening, award-winning Nashville twangers, the Mavericks ...

Patty Loveless: Trouble With the Truth (Epic/Nashville)

Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 20 January 1996

FOLLOWING HER best-album honors at last fall's Country Music Assn. Awards, this most reliable of today's female country singers offers another solid but unspectacular showcase ...

Garth Brooks: Fresh Horses (Capitol)

Review by Eric Weisbard, Spin, February 1996

LISTENING TO Walk a Mile in My Shoes, RCA's recent boxed set of 70s-era Elvis Presley, I caught an echo of Garth Brooks. For years ...

Steve Earle & the Dukes: Paradise, Boston

Live Review by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 21 March 1996

Earle returns with country-rock kick ...

Steve Earle (1996)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, April 1996

Fourteen months into sobriety, the country rebel discusses his multiple marriages; his anger at the press and ex-colleagues; his admiration for Bruce Springsteen; country radio and the Nashville establishment... and talks at length about addiction and recovery.

File format: mp3; file size: 76.3mb, interview length: 1h 19' 25" sound quality: ****

Steve Earle: I Feel Alright (E-Squared/Warner Bros. 46201)

Review by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, April 1996

STEVE EARLE started a revolution in Nashville, but he left it unfinished. ...

Steve Earle: New habit for Earle of excess

Profile and Interview by David Sinclair, The Times, 5 April 1996

Country-rocker Steve Earle switched tracks, and feels all the better for it. David Sinclair reports ...

Emmylou Harris: Singing With a Voice That's Always True to Her Heart

Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 11 April 1996

EVEN WHEN Emmylou Harris was a fixture on the country charts for a decade starting in 1975, her music was marked by an uncommon sense ...

Steve Earle: Back in the Saddle

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Rolling Stone, 18 April 1996

C&W outlaw STEVE EARLE returns from his lost years ...

k.d. lang: Academy, Birmingham

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 24 April 1996

A big-boned gal among friends ...

Steve Earle: Birth, School, Work, Heroin, Coke, Marriage, Heroin, Marriage, Crack, Prison...

Interview by Bill Prince, Q, 1 May 1996

There are eight million stories... and they all happened to Steve Earle. Six weddings, 27 years of drug addiction, 30 days in chokey, one hit ...

Merle Haggard: Down Every Road (Capitol) ****

Review by Mark Kemp, Rolling Stone, 2 May 1996

COUNTRY'S FIGHTIN' FUGITIVE ...

k.d. lang: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 11 May 1996

Ingénue no longer ...

Merle Haggard: Tramps, New York NY

Live Review by Amy Linden, New York Daily News, 13 May 1996

The bus stops here, at long last, and Merle shows he's still one of our great country men ...

Vince Gill: High Lonesome Sound (MCA)

Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 25 May 1996

Gill Takes 'Sound' Into Pop Mainstream ...

Rosanne Cash: Turn the Page

Interview by Amy Linden, Replay (Sam Goody), June 1996

With a new album and a book of short fiction, Rosanne Cash reinvents herself again. ...

George Jones with Tom Carter: I Lived To Tell It All

Book Review by Tom Graves, The Washington Post, 23 June 1996

I LIVED TO TELL IT ALL, the long-awaited autobiography of country music legend George Jones, has to be one of the bleakest, most disconsolate music ...

The Eagles: McAlpine Stadium, Huddersfield

Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 15 July 1996

IF YOU were wondering what happened to the British summer, then spare a thought for the residents of Hell, California, whose habitat has frozen over. ...

Emmylou Harris: The Sweetheart of the Rodeo

Retrospective and Interview by Bill DeYoung, Goldmine, 2 August 1996

SERENDIPITY, WHAT Webster loosely defines as "dumb luck," is an important concept for Emmylou Harris. ...

Dolly Parton, Emmylou Harris, Linda Ronstadt: Linda Ronstadt on Emmylou: And Then There Were Two…

Interview by Bill DeYoung, Goldmine, 2 August 1996

CHRIS HILLMAN, who'd introduced Emmylou Harris and Gram Parsons, played matchmaker another time: Backstage at a concert in Texas, he put the newcomer together with ...

BR5-49: LunaPark, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 19 September 1996

BR5-49 Gives Off Mixed Vibes as an Alternative Presence ...

Charlie Daniels: Fiddlin' Philosopher: Charlie Daniels on country music, Jesus and Hootie

Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Creative Loafing, 28 September 1996

IN A CAREER spanning over 30 years, musician Charlie Daniels has seen and done a lot. You hesitate to peg him as "country", because his ...

Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons: How We Met: Emmylou Harris and Phil Kaufman

Interview by Lucy O'Brien, The Independent, 5 October 1996

THE SINGER Emmylou Harris, 47, was born in Birmingham, Alabama. She started her career singing with country rock pioneer Gram Parsons, then after his death ...

Johnny Cash (1996)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 14 October 1996

Johnny Cash talks to Barney Hoskyns about his health, his religion, his revival with Rick Rubin, and the myth of the Million Dollar Quartet

File format: mp3; file size: 50.5mb, interview length: 55' 07" sound quality: ****

Johnny Cash (1996) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 14 October 1996

This is a transcript of Barney's audio interview with Johnny. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Carlene Carter live

Live Review by Ben Edmonds, MOJO, November 1996

"I WANNA TELL Y’ALL SOMETHING," Carlene Carter notifies the young country audience that’s braved an outdoor venue on an unseasonably cold and wet September evening. ...

Harlan Howard: How I Wrote All Those Songs by Harlan Howard

Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, November 1996

"I HIT NASHVILLE with the greatest bunch of guys — Roger Miller, Bill Anderson, Willie Nelson. We were hanging together every night at Tootsies, playing ...

Johnny Cash: From Rags to Ostriches!

Interview by Sylvia Patterson, New Musical Express, 16 November 1996

Speed, booze, burning mountains, then, of course, the killer ostrich. Country legend JOHNNY CASH has had them all (plus a heap more) and still lived ...

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings (1996)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 4 December 1996

The Queen of nouveau bluegrass, Gillian Welch, and her guitar pickin' sidekick David Rawlings, talk about meeting at Berklee, making the fabulous Revival album, living in Nashville and more.

File format: mp3; file size: 33.2meg; Interview length: 38' 18"; sound quality: ***

Glen Campbell: The Glen Campbell Collection (1962-1989)

Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, Razor & Tie Records, 1997

ALTHOUGH GLEN CAMPBELL has always insisted that he's a country boy who sings--not a country singer, he arrived at a time when country music was ...

Whose Alt.Country Is It Anyway?

Essay by Barney Hoskyns, unpublished, 1997

THEY CALL it Alternative Country, a generous umbrella of a category that makes room for acts as different as Steve Earle, Son Volt and Slobberbone; ...

Iris DeMent: Frontwoman: Iris DeMent

Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, January 1997

YOUR LAST record, My Life, was centered around the death of your father and felt very introspective. On The Way I Should, you address themes ...

Townes Van Zandt: Keeping Quiet For The Sake Of A Song: Townes Van Zandt 1944-1997

Obituary by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, January 1997

OTHER MUSICIANS revered Texan song writer Townes Van Zandt who has died of a heart attack aged 52, but he made real efforts, helped by ...

Was (Not Was), Hank Williams: Don Was: What Was Was and What Was Is

Interview by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 23 March 1997

After years as a top producer and bandleader, Don Was lost his creative vision. Then Francis Ford Coppola and Hank Williams gave him an idea. ...

BR5-49, Junior Brown, The Derailers, Wayne Hancock, Dale Watson: Hooked on Twang: A New Generation Goes Honky-Tonkin'

Report by Holly George-Warren, Rolling Stone, 17 April 1997

LEE'S LIQUOR lounge, in Minneapolis, is jumping. The beer signs, cattle skulls and assorted stuffed fish and small game adorning the wood-paneled walls are vibrating, ...

Alison Krauss: The fiddler on the riff

Profile and Interview by Paul Sexton, The Times, 16 May 1997

Alison Krauss is a little bit country, but she's a lot more rock'n'roll. Paul Sexton reports ...

Jerry Lee Lewis: Hot Tin Roof, Martha's Vineyard

Live Review by Jim Sullivan, The Boston Globe, 26 May 1997

WEST TISBURY – If you'd made a bet that Jerry Lee Lewis would make it through his entire life without playing the Hot Tin Roof ...

Gillian Welch: As Real And As Raw As It Gets

Profile and Interview by Mark Cooper, The Independent, 7 June 1997

Mark Cooper samples Gillian Welch's alternative bluegrass ...

Thomas Jefferson Kaye, Bob Neuwirth: A Movie For David Geffen

Retrospective and Interview by Al Aronowitz, The Blacklisted Journalist, 1 July 1997

I. WHEN I TELL people that Bobby Neuwirth was one of the hippest men I ever knew, they say, "Who?" They want to know didn't I ...

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Uncle Charlie And His Dog Teddy

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, MOJO, August 1997

AFTER A bunch of friends, including a young Jackson Browne, figured that singing Bill Monroe and Mississippi John Hurt songs in the back of McCabe's ...

Chris Hillman: This Byrd Has Flown: Chris Hillman comes to the Coach House

Report and Interview by Bill Wasserzieher, OC Weekly, August 1997

ROCK & ROLL HALL of Famer Chris Hillman has played in bands with religious proselytizers, trust-fund dopers and even a matricidal drummer who heard voices ...

k.d. lang: fi interview: k.d. lang

Interview by Gene Santoro, Fi, September 1997

IN POSTWAR America, pumped with the energy of victory and prosperity and the conflicts of changing social attitudes, pop culture opened up new frontiers. The ...

Clint Black: Nothin' But the Taillights (RCA 67515)

Review by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, November 1997

WHEN CLINT Black neared the end of his 1995 tour, he realized he had been on the album-tour-album-tour tread mill for seven years without a ...

The Crickets, Nanci Griffith: Nanci Griffith, the Crickets: Wiltern Theatre, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 10 November 1997

Nanci Griffith's Long Look Back ...

Garth Brooks: Sevens (Capitol) ***

Review by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 23 November 1997

"LIFE IS only therapy — real expensive and no guarantees," Brooks sings in 'You Move Me'. Well, leave it to Brooks to take his cure ...

John Denver 1943-1997

Obituary by Mark Kemp, Rolling Stone, 27 November 1997

Country-pop star dies in plane crash ...

Steve Earle: El Corazon (E-Squared/Warner Bros.)

Review and Interview by Mark Rowland, Musician, December 1997

Slice of Life ...

Lucinda Williams: The Fillmore, San Francisco CA

Live Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 11 December 1997

"I'VE READ that I'm a demanding perfectionist and a difficult diva," quipped a sinewy Lucinda Williams, who lately has gotten as much press for her ...

Shania Twain: Come On Over ***

Review by Chuck Eddy, Rolling Stone, 11 December 1997

THE FIRST thing you notice about Shania Twain's Come On Over, once you get past her pretty pictures on the cover, is how the titles ...

Dwight Yoakam: Billboard Live, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 23 December 1997

Yoakam Leaps Musical Fences in Benefit for L.A. Mission ...

The Everly Brothers, Don Everly: An Everly Brother In Winter: Walkin' Right Back with Don Everly

Retrospective and Interview by Colin Escott, 'Tattoed on their Tongues' (Schirmer), 1998

WHEN ROCK 'N' ROLL ARRIVED, it triggered a three-alarm anxiety attack in Nashville. Many hoped that they would wake up one morning to find it ...

Steve Earle's Politics and Prose

Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 6 February 1998

IT WAS the kind of night that could only take place in Nashville, a town with as many songwriters as Washington has bureaucrats. ...

Shania Twain: Mark Twain as the face of new country

Interview by Paul Sexton, The Times, 13 February 1998

Nashville hates her, but millions of record buyers can't be wrong about Shania Twain. Paul Sexton reports... ...

Toby Keith: Home Is Where His Heart Is

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, April 1998

Success has found Toby Keith in terms of hit records, a new business venture and, award nominations. And though he's enjoying it all, Toby still ...

Willie Nelson: Interview: Willie Nelson

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 31 May 1998

The songs come out of suffering. Like being beaten senseless with his wife's broom... ...

Tammy Wynette: First Lady Of Country

Obituary by Fred Dellar, MOJO, June 1998

TAMMY always stood by her fans. Often at the end of a gig, she'd just sit around signing autographs. Once, when her life was threatened, ...

Shania Twain: Arrowhead Pond Arena, Anaheim CA

Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 25 June 1998

Point proved, Shania ...

Lucinda Williams Is Ready for Her Close-Up Now

Profile by James Hunter, New York Observer, 29 June 1998

THE COGNOSCENTI are wigging. "How did a 45-year-old 'neurotic diva' with one foot in Faulkner's South and one foot in Garth's make the year's best ...

Gram Parsons: The Good Ol’ Boy

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, July 1998

ON A WARM fall night in the tie-dyed rock’n’roll town of Woodstock, with the maple leaves turning to gold and purple on the mountains that ...

Lucinda Williams: Lost in America

Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, July 1998

HOW DID A 45-YEAR-OLD "NEUROTIC DIVA" WITH ONE FOOT IN FAULKNER'S SOUTH AND ONE FOOT IN GARTH'S MANAGE TO MAKE THE YEAR'S BEST ALBUM? SIMPLE, SAYS ...

Shania Twain

Profile and Interview by David Quantick, Q, July 1998

Fruity country singer related to Def Leppard and Bryan Adams by marriage. ...

Linda Ronstadt: Everlasting Linda

Profile and Interview by Debbie Kruger, Weekend Australian, 18 July 1998

IT'S SUMMER IN TUCSON, around 38° C, and Linda Ronstadt is sanguine about the waterlilies sprouting in her pond. The rest of the grounds are ...

Willie Nelson: The Barbican, London

Live Review by Gavin Martin, Uncut, August 1998

THE GREAT FEAR of seeing a hero in their twilight years is that their powers will have deserted them and they'll be unable to reach, ...

Gillian Welch: Raising Cain

Overview by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 11 August 1998

THERE OUGHT to be a genre name for the other kind of art-rock — music that includes all the ridiculously extreme stuff, all the stuff ...

Ralph Stanley: Back to Clinch Mountain: Ralph Stanley

Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, September 1998

"THREE GROUPS shaped bluegrass music," Ricky Skaggs told me recently, "Bill Monroe and the Blue Grass Boys, the Stanley Brothers, and Flatt & Scruggs. Everyone ...

Lucinda Williams: Car Wheels On A Gravel Road (Mercury 558 318-2)

Review by Johnny Black, Q, September 1998

Fifth album from enigmatic Grammy-winning country rock singer-songwriter. ...

Waylon Jennings: Honky Tonk Heroes

Retrospective by Gavin Martin, Uncut, September 1998

FOR WAYLON Jennings – born into a dirt poor cotton-picking West Texas family – the wanderlust began as far back as he could remember. ...

Willie Nelson (1998)

Interview by Chris Smith, Rock's Backpages audio, 8 September 1998

The outlaw-country icon talks about what makes Texas such fertile ground for songwriters and musicians; about his discovery of the Austin scene; his early years as a writer in Nashville, and pitching 'Crazy' to Patsy Cline; the struggle to break through as an artist, and at some length about songwriting.

File format: mp3; file size: 23.9mb, interview length: 24' 51" sound quality: ****

The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, International Submarine Band, Gram Parsons: Gram Parsons: Another Country

Retrospective by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 12 September 1998

Twenty-five years ago, Gram Parsons died in a remote desert motel, the victim of a prodigious appetite for drugs and alcohol that shocked even Keith ...

The Dixie Chicks: Roxy, Los Angeles CA

Live Review by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 8 October 1998

Dixie Chicks Display Slick, High-Energy Showmanship ...

Calexico, Neal Casal, Golden Smog, Hazeldine, The Jayhawks, Lambchop, Gram Parsons, Jim White: "Alternative country is what punks play when they grow up..."

Overview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 16 October 1998

Tom Cox on the new bands that are making country music sexy ...

Lucinda Williams (1998)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 2 November 1998

Ms Williams talks about the often-torturous gestation of her magnificent Car Wheels On A Gravel Road album, and about her roots and influences, musical and literary.

File format: mp3; file size: 29.8mb, interview length: 32' 29" sound quality: ** (phoner)

Lucinda Williams: Small town fireworks

Interview by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 27 November 1998

Three parts honey, two parts bourbon — the road-movie songs of folk-rocker Lucinda Williams have been hugely influential over the past 20 years, and a ...

Willie Nelson: The Lone Star Spirit of Willie Nelson

Profile and Interview by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, December 1998

THERE WAS, of course, Texas music before Willie. Problem was, nobody outside of Texas heard it. The eclectic styles growing from lone star roots before ...

Lucinda Williams: Breaking Through to the Mainstream

Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 3 December 1998

IT'S ALWAYS a bittersweet day for music fans when their cult favorite finally breaks through to the mainstream. On one hand, there's happiness that the ...

Hank Williams III: Grandpa Was A Honky-Tonker

Interview by Michael Azerrad, Rolling Stone, 10 December 1998

HANK WILLIAMS III LOVES PUNK, HATES NASHVILLE AND WANTS TO SAVE COUNTRY MUSIC ...

Butch Hancock, The Flatlanders, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, Joe Ely: Lubbock on Everything: The Evocation of Place in Popular Music (A West Texas Example)

Essay by Blake Gumprecht, Journal of Cultural Geography, Fall 1998

Landscape into Art THE ROLE OF LANDSCAPE and the importance of place in literature, poetry, the visual arts, even cinema and television, is well established ...

The Byrds, The Dillards, The Eagles, Flying Burrito Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons, Poco, Linda Ronstadt: Country Rock

Book Excerpt by James Hunter, Encyclopædia Britannica, 1999

COUNTRY ROCK, the incorporation of musical elements and songwriting idioms from traditional country music into late 1960s and '70s rock, usually pursued in Los Angeles. ...

Townes Van Zandt: A Gentleman and a Shaman: The Last Days and Sad Death of Townes Van Zandt

Retrospective by Matt Hanks, No Depression, January 1999

IF YOU CAN see through the hangover haze and black-eyed pea tradition that ties one First Day to another, January 1st can serve as a ...

Steve Earle: Rebel With A Cause

Interview by Graham Reid, The New Zealand Herald, 27 February 1999

Country rock rebel Steve Earle has turned his back on cocaine and booze and talks to Graham Reid about politics and music ...

Wynonna Judd: A Winding Country Road

Interview by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 4 March 1999

Though she has hit a few bumps, Wynonna Judd just keeps driving ahead. ...

The Byrds, Roger McGuinn: Roger McGuinn Interview

Interview by Stephen K. Peeples, unpublished, 2 April 1999

AUTHOR'S NOTE, Oct. 11, 2014: The following is an expanded version of my Roger McGuinn interview, a shorter version of which was first published at ...

Kelly Willis: Well Traveled but Hopeful

Profile and Interview by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 4 April 1999

Singer Kelly Willis has stayed true to herself despite a turbulent country career. Now, things are looking up. ...

Kelly Willis: Just Walk Away: Kelly Willis' What I Deserve

Review by RJ Smith, The Village Voice, 13 April 1999

KELLY WILLIS HAS the most uncomfortable-making way of saying "thank you". Live a few weekends ago I heard her say it at least a dozen ...

Robert Earl Keen: Rise Up, Texas

Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, May 1999

Robert Earl Keen leads Texas acts on tour ...

Steve Earle, The Del McCoury Band: Steve Earle And The Del McCoury Band: Royal Festival Hall, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 25 May 1999

MOST OF THE FIRST HALF of Steve Earle's three-hour performance was dedicated to the expert bluegrass voicings of the Del McCoury Band, who backed Earle ...

Faith Hill, Tim McGraw: Tim McGraw and Faith Hill: Love and Industry

Profile by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 25 May 1999

COUNTRY MUSIC Nashville is a town of handlers, of purportedly insightful managers and publicists and producers and record company presidents. In 1993, when Tim McGraw ...

George Jones

Guide by Fred Dellar, MOJO, June 1999

Every month we navigate the high-water marks, rapids and stagnant ponds of a prolific artist’s output, so you don’t have to. We continue with... ...

The Dixie Chicks: Country's bad girls

Interview by Paul Sexton, The Times, 11 June 1999

They broke all the rules in Nashville and now they're heading our way. Paul Sexton meets the Dixie Chicks ...

Deep River: The Bounty of Alan Lomax

Retrospective by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 14 June 1999

THE CD STARTS with a banjo picker burning on a hoedown called 'Cripple Creek,' progresses along a chain of mountain songs to 'Arkansas Traveler,' and ...

The Dixie Chicks: Dixie Chicks

Interview by Dorian Lynskey, Q, July 1999

Good heavens! It's the bottle-blonde, country Corrs. ...

Gram Parsons: The Long Way Around: Gram Parsons

Retrospective and Interview by Holly George-Warren, No Depression, July 1999

I keep my love for variations, even tho I've some sort of "rep" for starting what (I think) has turned out t'be pretty much of ...

Townes Van Zandt: A Far Cry From Dead

Review by Matt Hanks, No Depression, July 1999

LIKE DOCK BOGGS, Townes Van Zandt was obsessed with death. Both men were shadowed by their own mortality, obsessing over it and collapsing under ...

Shania Twain: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Max Bell, The Evening Standard, 9 July 1999

Sounds of the country from Nodding Hell ...

Shania Twain: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Paul Sexton, The Times, 13 July 1999

Fun for all the family ...

Townes Van Zandt: A Far Cry From Dead

Review by Chris Smith, Performing Songwriter, 15 July 1999

STEVE EARLE ONCE gushed, "Townes Van Zandt is the best songwriter in the world, and I'd stand on Bob Dylan's coffee table in my boots ...

Tammy Wynette: The Mad Life And Crazy Death of Tammy Wynette

Overview by Lucy O'Brien, Q, August 1999

Burt Reynolds nearly died in her bath, George Jones escaped on her lawn-mower, and her second husband traded pictures of her in the nuddy. She ...

Alison Krauss, Me'Shell Ndegeocello: Sounds of Heartache: Alison Krauss and Me'Shell Ndegeocello

Essay by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 18 August 1999

IT WOULD BE hard to think of two female singers more different than Alison Krauss and Me'Shell Ndegeocello. Krauss, a straight European-American from the Midwestern ...

Kim Richey: Her Country: Kim Richey's Nashville fusion

Interview by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 23 August 1999

THERE SEEM TO BE four kinds of country music these days. There's the pop stuff, a mix of up-tempo numbers and sugary ballads plied by ...

Mary Gauthier (1999)

Interview by Chris Smith, Rock's Backpages audio, 4 September 1999

Ms. Gauthier talks about her road from a tricky childhood, via addiction and alcoholism, to her place as a songwriter: ambition vs. self-destruction; her community of outsiders; the meaning of truth; her move to Boston and running restaurants; doing her first open-mic nights, and all about songwriting.

File format: mp3; file size: 30.9mb, interview length: 32' 11" sound quality: ***

The Dixie Chicks, Shedaisy: Dixie Chicks: Fly; Shedaisy: The Whole Shebang

Review by Eric Weisbard, The Village Voice, 15 September 1999

EVERYONE IN NASHVILLE understands that the New Country formula-slick production with a seamless touch of roots and updated suburban family values-isn't enough anymore. ...

Shelby Lynne: I Am Shelby Lynne (Mercury)

Review by Tom Cox, The Guardian, 24 September 1999

Her father shot her mother then killed himself, she has a problem with using 'g' in song titles and she's set herself up as the ...

Shelby Lynne: A country girl at heart

Interview by Paul Sexton, The Times, 4 October 1999

Nashville may have sold out, but Shelby Lynne stays true to her roots. ...

Shelby Lynne: Embassy Rooms, London ****

Live Review by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 27 October 1999

ONE OF THE new breed of US country crossover stars, Shelby Lynne doesn't have the smooth, invincible sheen of a Shania Twain or a Mindy ...

Merle Haggard: For The Record: The Hag Tells It Like It Is

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, November 1999

LAST APRIL Merle Haggard turned 62, well past the age when most men slow down and mellow out. The Hag, however, is busier and ornerier ...

Shania Twain: Big Twain

Interview by John Aizlewood, Q, November 1999

She was a lumberjack and she wasn't OK. Now she's a 30 million-selling, not-country sex diva with granite eyes and Shania Twain is quite lovely ...

Sally Timms: Cowboy Sally’s Twilight Laments ... for Lost Buckaroos

Review by Eric Weisbard, The Village Voice, 17 November 1999

THE DREAMING COWBOY has been away from his home and his woman for 20 years, riding in rodeos. After his body breaks down he stays ...

Dolly Parton

Interview by j. poet, Stereotype, 2000

THE MUSIC BUSINESS IS FULL OF ironies and insane contradictions, and Dolly Parton – a savvy businesswoman as well as an all-round entertainer – is ...

Glen Campbell

Profile and Interview by David Bennun, The Guardian, 2000

"I CAN," says Glen Campbell, "wriggle my right breast." He demonstrates. It's true. He can. ...

Mark O'Connor: Fiddling While the Old Barriers Burn

Profile by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, 2 April 2000

WHEN THE cellist Yo-Yo Ma, the bassist Edgar Meyer and the violinist Mark O'Connor take the stage on Wednesday at Avery Fisher Hall to play ...

Bill Monroe: Before Bluegrass, Bill Monroe Was Already a Star

Retrospective by Tony Scherman, The New York Times, July 2000

SO CLOSELY IS the late Bill Monroe identified with his musical creation, bluegrass, that it's almost as if man and music called each other into ...

Kasey Chambers: Daughter of a preacher man

Interview by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 4 July 2000

One day you're trapping foxes in the Outback with your devout dad. The next, you're a country singer. Adam Sweeting meets Kasey Chambers. ...

Kasey Chambers: Borderline, London

Live Review by Lucy O'Brien, The Guardian, 20 July 2000

KASEY CHAMBERS is a 23-year-old New Country artist, from New South Wales rather than Nashville. She has already sold 70,000 copies of her debut album, ...

Allison Moorer: A simple tale of country folk

Interview by Nick Coleman, The Independent, 21 July 2000

Allison Moorer is from Alabama. And yes, she sings about lost love and death. But so would you if you'd seen what she's seen... ...

Johnny Cash: Love/God/Murder

Review and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, August 2000

Three themed, career-spanning compilations, selected and introduced by the Man In Black. Extra linernotes by June Carter (Love), U2's Bono (God) and Quentin Tarantino (Murder). ...

The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Gram Parsons: Gram Parsons, Track by Track

Sleeve notes by Bud Scoppa, Sacred Hearts and Fallen Angels (Rhino), September 2000

The International Submarine Band: Safe at Home ...

Patsy Cline: 25 All-Time Greatest Recordings: The 4-Star Years (Varese Sarabande)

Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, Varese Sarabande, September 2000

AROUND 2:00 PM on Tuesday March 5, 1963, a Piper Comanche light airplane left Kansas City bound for Nashville. There were three passengers and a ...

Emmylou Harris: Red hot and no sign of a cowboy

Interview by Tim Cooper, The Evening Standard, 11 October 2000

Forget all those whiney, lovesick singers. Emmylou Harris is the performer who makes country music respectable. Tim Cooper talks to her in New York as ...

Merle Haggard: Workin' Man Blues

Profile and Interview by RJ Smith, Spin, November 2000

MERLE HAGGARD'S DONE MORE TIME THAN OL' DIRTY BASTARD AND HAS BEEN MAKING HARDCORE COUNTRY RECORDS SINCE BEFORE YOU WERE BORN. AT 63, HE'S GOT ...

Emmylou Harris: Ghosts and Angels

Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, December 2000

The spectres of a war hero father and a doomed country troubador haunt her music. Emmylou Harris tells Phil Sutcliffe why she still hasn't found ...

Alabama

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

Randy Yeull Owen, b. 13 December 1949, Fort Payne, Alabama, USA; Jeffrey Alan Cook, b. 27 August 1949, Fort Payne; Teddy Wayne Gentry, b. 22 ...

Albert Lee

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 21 December 1943, Leominster, Herefordshire, England ...

Bill Black

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 17 September 1926, Memphis, Tennessee, USA, d. 21 October 1965, Memphis ...

Bob Wills & The Texas Playboys: Bob Wills

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 6 March 1905, Limestone County, Texas, USA, d. 13 May 1975, Fort Worth, Texas ...

Bobby Bare: The Singles 1959-1969

Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, BMG International, 2001

AN OUTLAW before his time, a folk singer who never played a coffee house, a rock 'n' roller who gave away his biggest hit. Bobby ...

Buck Owens

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Alvis Edgar Owens, 12 August 1929, Sherman, Texas, USA ...

Charley Pride

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 18 March 1938, Sledge, Mississippi, USA ...

Commander Cody

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, 'Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music', 2001

b. George Frayne, 19 July 1944, Boise, Idaho, USA ...

Crystal Gayle

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Brenda Gail Webb, 9 January 1951, Paintsville, Kentucky, USA ...

Deford Bailey

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 1899, Carthage, Tennessee, USA, d. July 1982, Nashville, Tennessee ...

Don Gibson

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 3 April 1928, Shelby, North Carolina, USA ...

Don Williams

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 27 May 1939, Floydada, Texas, USA ...

Ernest Tubb

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 9 February 1914, Crisp, Texas, USA, d. 6 September 1984, Nashville, Tennessee ...

Floyd Cramer

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 27 October 1933, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA, d. 31 December 1997 ...

George Strait

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 18 May 1952, Poteet, Texas, USA ...

Guy Mitchell

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Al Cernik, 21 February 1927, Detroit, Michigan, USA, d. 12 July 1999 ...

Hank Thompson

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, 'Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music', 2001

b. Henry William Thompson, 3 September 1925, Waco, Texas, USA ...

Hank Williams Jr.

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Randall Hank Williams Jnr, 26 May 1949, Shreveport, Louisiana, USA ...

Jerry Jeff Walker

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Ronald Clyde Crosby, 16 March 1942, Oneonta, New York State, USA ...

Jerry Reed

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Jerry Hubbard, 20 March 1937, Atlanta, Georgia, USA ...

Jim Reeves

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 20 August 1923, Galloway, Texas, USA, d. 31 July 1964, Nashville, Tennessee ...

Joe Ely

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

A CRITICS' FAVOURITE, Ely's brash high-energy blend of Texas honky-tonk styles and rock was an important influence on country performers at a time when the ...

John D. Loudermilk

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Later, 2001

b. 31 March 1934, Durham, North Carolina, USA ...

John Hartford

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. John Harford, 30 December 1937, New York, USA ...

Johnny Horton

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 30 April 1927, Tyler, Texas, USA, d. 5 November 1960, Milano, Texas ...

Kathy Mattea

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 21 June 1959, Cross Lanes, West Virginia, USA ...

Kenny Rogers

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Kenneth Donald Rogers, 21 August 1937, Houston, Texas, USA ...

Lynn Anderson

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 26 September, 1947, Grand Forks, North Dakota, USA ...

Mac Davis

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 21 January 1941, Lubbock, Texas, USA ...

Marty Robbins

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Martin D. Robinson, 26 September 1925, Glendale, Arizona, USA, d. 8 December 1982, Nashville, Tennessee ...

Marvin Rainwater

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Marvin Percy, 2 July 1925, Wichita, Kansas, USA ...

Mary Chapin Carpenter

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 21 January 1958, Princeton, New Jersey, USA ...

Merle Travis

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 29 November 1917, Ebenezer, Kentucky, USA, d. 20 October 1983, Tahlequah, Oklahoma ...

Mickey Newbury

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The |Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 19 May 1940, Houston, Texas, USA ...

Owen Bradley, Patsy Cline, Brenda Lee: Owen Bradley

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, 'Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music', 2001

b. 21 October 1915, Westmoreland, Tennessee, USA, d. 7 January 1998 ...

Pete Drake

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, 'Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music', 2001

b. 8 October 1932, Augusta, Georgia, USA, d. 29 July 1988, Nashville, Tennessee ...

Pure Prairie League

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

Craig Lee Fuller, b. 18 July 1949, Portsmouth, Ohio, USA; George Powell, b. North Carolina; John Call; Jim Lantham; Jim Caughlin ...

Randy Travis

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Randy Bruce Traywick, 4 May 1959, Marshville, North Carolina, USA ...

Ray Price

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 12 January 1926, Perryville, Texas, USA ...

Ray Stevens

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Ray Ragsdale, 24 January 1939, Clarkdale, Georgia, USA ...

Ricky Skaggs

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 18 July 1954, Cordell, Kentucky, USA ...

Roger Miller

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Roger Dean Miller 2 January 1936, Forth Worth, Texas, USA, d. 25 October 1992, Los Angeles, California ...

Ronnie Milsap

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 16 January 1944, Robbinsville, North Carolina, USA ...

Roy Acuff

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 15 September 1903, Maynardville, Tennessee, USA, d. 23 November 1992, Nashville, Tennessee ...

Sandy Posey

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Martha Sharp, 18 June 1945, Jasper, Alabama, USA ...

Tanya Tucker

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Tanya Denise Tucker, 10 October 1958, Seminole, Texas, USA ...

Tennessee Ernie Ford

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Ernest Jennings Ford, 13 February 1919, Bristol, Tennessee, USA, d. 17 October 1991, Fullerton, Virginia ...

Tex Ritter

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

b. Woodward Maurice Ritter, 12 January 1905, Pana County, Texas, USA, d. 2 January 1974, Nashville, Tennessee ...

The Amazing Rhythm Aces

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

Howard R. Smith, b. 17 June 1949, Lafayette, Tennessee, USA; Billy Earheart, b. Tennessee; Barry Burton, b. Tennessee (replaced by Duncan Cameron, b. 1978, Tennessee); ...

The Bellamy Brothers

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

David Bellamy, b. 16 September 1945, Derby, Florida, USA; Howard Bellamy, b. 2 February 1941, Derby ...

The Carter Family: In The Shadow Of Clinch Mountain (Bear Family Records)

Review by Colin Escott, The Journal of Country Music, 2001

WITH ENOUGH PATIENCE and old catalogs, you could probably confirm that at least some Carter Family recordings have been available for almost the entire span ...

The Eagles

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th Century Popular Music, 2001

Don Henley, b. 22 July 1946, Linden, Texas, USA; Glenn Frey, b. 6 November 1946, Detroit, Michigan; Bernie Leadon, b. 19 July 1947, Minneapolis, Minnesota ...

The Judds

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

THE EIGHTIES equivalent of the Everly Brothers, Wynonna and her mother Naomi were the most successful female duo of modern country music. ...

The Stanley Brothers

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

Carter Glen Stanley, b. 27 August 1925, McClure, Virginia, USA, d. 1 December 1966; Ralph Edmond Stanley, b. 25 February 1927, McClure ...

Webb Pierce

Book Excerpt by Phil Hardy, Dave Laing, The Faber Companion to 20th-Century Popular Music, 2001

b. 8 August 1926, nr West Monroe, Louisiana, USA, d. 24 February 1991, Nashville, Tennessee ...

Bob Dylan: An Exclusive Interview with Bob Johnston

Interview by Richard Younger, On the Tracks, March 2001

THE LEGEND OF Bob Johnston looms large in the career of Bob Dylan. More than any other producer, Johnston is responsible for producing what many ...

Laura Cantrell: Vulnerable, minimalist Manhattan country

Profile and Interview by Colin Irwin, MOJO, March 2001

NOBODY'S MORE surprised by the wealth of critical and public acclaim for Laura Cantrell than the gently self-deprecating artist herself. ...

Willie Nelson: Expecting the Unexpected

Profile and Interview by Hank Bordowitz, Gallery, March 2001

WILLIE NELSON studies martial arts. He has honed his skills as a karateka in various styles for around 40 years now. When you ...

Robbie Fulks: Country Music is Not Pretty: A User’s Guide to Robbie Fulks

Review and Interview by Martin Colyer, Rock's Backpages, 24 March 2001

Prologue Anyway, before long the room has filled with people, and I grab my beloved Martin 00028 and take the stage. The show is one of ...

Gram Parsons: Sacred Hearts And Fallen Angels (Rhino)

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, May 2001

EXCEPT FOR A brief period in the early '80s, when I now believe I was trying so hard I put a clothespin over my crap ...

Merle Haggard: Real Country music may be dead, but its last true cowboy, Merle Haggard, carries on the original sound

Profile and Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 3 June 2001

COUNTRY MUSIC is over. There are lots of rock singers wearing cowboy hats these days, but genuine country music is all but dead and gone. ...

The Statler Brothers: Showtime

Review by Geoffrey Himes, Country Music, August 2001

WHEN ERIC HEATHERLY enjoyed a hit last year with 'Flowers On The Wall', his remake proved that The Statler Brothers' distinctive formula hadn't lost its ...

Alison Krauss + Union Station: New Favorite

Review and Interview by Sid Griffin, MOJO, September 2001

First album from Decatur, Illinois' finest since the bluegrass breakthrough of the O Brother, Where Art Thou? soundtrack. ...

Chet Atkins: Mr Nashville

Obituary by Fred Dellar, MOJO, September 2001

HE WASN'T the most accomplished guitarist in country music. There were those in Nashville who could fashion half a dozen great licks in the time ...

Roni Stoneman: One Plucky Lady

Interview by Richard Harrington, The Washington Post, 13 September 2001

SO, HOW LONG has it been since Roni Stoneman, the First Lady of Banjo, played in the Washington area? ...

Gillian Welch: Dustbowl Darling

Profile and Interview by Luke Torn, The Wall Street Journal, 26 October 2001

STRANDED IN Los Angeles for a taping of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno on the day of the terrorist attacks, singer Gillian Welch, her ...

Earl Scruggs: Rich Pickings

Profile and Interview by Angus Batey, MOJO, November 2001

Lightning banjo picker Earl Scruggs was there at the birth of bluegrass. Over half a century later he's back with a new album and a ...

George Jones: The Rock: Stone Cold Country 2001 (Bandit)

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, November 2001

IN MOST WAYS, this is a textbook follow-up to George Jones' eerie, surprisingly substantial 1999 album Cold Hard Truth – same basic song ideas only ...

Glen Campbell, Jimmy Webb: Glen Campbell: 'Wichita Lineman'

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Blender, November 2001

Vital statistics 

on Glen Campbell's 'Wichita Lineman' ...

Garth Brooks: Great Western Forum, Inglewood

Live Review by Bill Holdship, Variety, 15 November 2001

"HE'S BACK to conquer the world!" proclaimed the radio spots for the first of three "cross-country" Garth Brooks concerts airing on CBS during the last ...

Ooooh Las Vegas! 37 Stories, and It's All Out There…

Essay by Holly Gleason, Rock's Backpages, 24 November 2001

Country music publicist Holly Gleason spends a night in Sin City – and comes to terms with the celebrity frenzy that is pop's new American ...

Emmett Miller: Nick Tosches: Where Dead Voices Gather

Book Review by David Dalton, Gadfly, 10 December 2001

MINSTRELSY (1843-1928): the mere mention of the word is politically incorrect. You know, white performers blackening their faces with burnt cork and performing skits and ...

Willie Nelson: The Great Divide

Review by Pat Blashill, Rolling Stone, 8 January 2002

SUNNY AND UPLIFTING are not words generally associated with Willie Nelson, but that's not the only reason some will be surprised by his new album. ...

Reba McEntire: Greatest Hits Vol. III – I'm A Survivor

Review by James Hunter, Country Music, February 2002

SOMEONE I KNOW once worked long-distance, from laid-back Denver offices, with an old guy popularly known as Boston's crankiest attorney. ...

Robbie Fulks: Couples In Trouble, 13 Hillbilly Giants

Review by Holly George-Warren, Country Music, February 2002

FOR MORE than five years, Robbie Fulks has plied his trade as the merry prankster of alt-county. ...

Waylon Jennings, 1937-2002

Obituary by Dave Laing, The Guardian, 15 February 2002

Rebel who revitalised country music and recorded Nashville's first million-selling album. ...

Gary Allan: Scumbag in the Dark: Gary Allan's Alright Guy

Review by James Hunter, The Village Voice, 19 February 2002

"THIS ALBUM," the booklet inside Gary Allan's current Alright Guy reads, "is dedicated to Willie, Waylon, Johnny, George, Buck & Merle," which is a way ...

Steve Earle: Highway Blues

Retrospective by Adam Sweeting, Uncut, April 2002

HOW STEVE EARLE'S GUITAR TOWN BROUGHT A NEW ATTITUDE TO NASHVILLE. ...

Carla Bozulich, Willie Nelson: Carla Bozulich: Cafe Club Fais Do-Do

Live Review by Marc Weingarten, Los Angeles Times, 3 April 2002

A CANNY BLEND of leather-worn country standards and original compositions that sound like they could be, Willie Nelson's 1975 album Red Headed Stranger functions as ...

George Strait: A Conversation With George Strait

Interview by James Hunter, Entertainment Weekly, 19 April 2002

Press-shy trad-country giant goes On The Record for a no-bull Q&A ...

Willie Nelson’s Straight Story

Report and Interview by Peter Murphy (Irish), Hot Press, 23 July 2002

IN DAVID LYNCH’S The Straight Story, the septuagenarian Alvin Straight showed his steel when the twin freak mechanics the Olsens tried fleecing him for repairs ...

Alison Krauss: Let Me Touch You For A While: Alison Krauss Creates Intimacy Amongst the Disenfranchised

Essay by Holly Gleason, Rock's Backpages, 16 September 2002

THERE IT WAS ONE DAY – propped against my doorway in West Hollywood – a plain brown cardboard box like so many others. Anonymous. Almost ...

Steve Earle: The Dissent Of Man

Report and Interview by Andy Gill, The Independent, 20 September 2002

Forget Springsteen's posturing and the redneck mentality of Toby Keith; it's Steve Earle's response to September 11 that has been causing a stir in the ...

Nickel Creek: Memorial Hall, Sheffield

Live Review by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 23 October 2002

AS ADVERTISING EXECUTIVES and careers advisers often tell us, presentation is everything. But nobody appears to have told San Diego four-piece Nickel Creek. Formed around ...

The Carter Family: Into The Valley

Retrospective by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2002

FIRST KILL YOUR HOG. SKIN IT, singe off the hairs and leave the hide to soften. Tug it over a round frame, whittle out a ...

Dolly Parton: Bridgewater Hall, Manchester

Live Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 16 November 2002

SOMEWHERE BETWEEN the big boobs and blond wig that have come to define Dolly Parton lies one of music's business brains. ...

Faith Hill: Redrawing Country's Borders

Interview by James Hunter, The New York Times, 24 November 2002

IN 1999, THE Mississippi-born country singer Faith Hill released 'Breathe', and it sold more than eight million copies. Country music purists were put off by ...

Shania Twain: Up! Is A Direction: Shania Twain’s New CD(s)

Review by Rick McGrath, Culture Court, December 2002

More Of The Same Old, But I Give It A 10 For Marketing Moxie, Dick! ...

Johnny Cash: The Man Comes Around (American Recordings)

Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, December 2002

WEIGHTED DOWN by the difficult circumstances behind its recording – illness, hospitalisations, two bouts of pneumonia this past year alone, speculation that the increasingly fragile ...

Dwight Yoakam: Reprise Please Baby: The Warner Bros. Years

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 31 December 2002

I GOTTA HAND it to Dwight Yoakam, even if I'm turned off sometimes by what I see as his self-defeating posturing and pretensions (and relax, ...

Roy Acuff, The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, Merle Travis, Doc Watson: A Circle Still Unbroken: Doc Watson and the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band

Retrospective by Peter Stone Brown, Gadfly, Spring 2002

THIRTY YEARS BEFORE T-Bone Burnett gathered a bunch of excellent musicians in a Nashville studio to re-create early country music for the O Brother soundtrack, ...

The Flatlanders: Once & Again

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Harp, Summer 2002

After more than 30 years since their first recorded project together, the Flatlanders have come together again to record Now Again. Forward all 'thank you' ...

Keith Urban

Interview by Joe Matera, Mixdown, 2003

GOLDEN ROAD, the second solo album from Keith Urban, symbolizes the life and musical journey that has taken him from the Australian farm town of ...

Johnny Cash: Outta My Way

Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 2003

Thirty-five years ago, ex-felon Johnny Cash was invited to perform in two of America's toughest prisons – one of which he was no stranger to ...

Willie Nelson: Stars & Guitars

Review and Interview by Max Bell, Uncut, January 2003

Shotgun Willie recorded live in the country capital with a clutch of great names including Sheryl Crow, Ryan Adams and Emmylou Harris. ...

Alison Krauss + Union Station: Live

Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, February 2003

Stunning two-CD document of last summer's Louisville, Kentucky shows ...

Johnny Paycheck, 1938-2003

Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 3 March 2003

DESPITE THE EFFORTS of many producers and publicists, country music has resisted being severed from its roots in southern US working-class life. ...

Shania Twain

Interview by Adrian Deevoy, Blender, April 2003

She was singing in bars at age eight. She lived for Supertramp. And she married the world's most successful hair-metal producer. So how on Earth ...

Townes Van Zandt: Wanderin' Star

Retrospective by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, April 2003

What do you do when you're really down? Listen to Townes Van Zandt Sylvie Simmons charts the artistic triumphs and personal disasters of sadness's most ...

June Carter Cash 1929-2003

Obituary by Phast Phreddie Patterson, Rock's Backpages, May 2003

COUNTRY SINGER June Carter Cash (73) died in Nashville on May 15 of complications from heart surgery. She was the daughter of country legend ...

Rosanne Cash: Rosanne's Rules

Report and Interview by j. poet, Paste, 15 June 2003

"I'M NOT A militant female songwriter, and I wouldn't want to be considered some kind of new age uber-feminist," Rosanne Cash says. "But having said that, ...

Loretta Lynn, The White Stripes: Honky-Tonk Grande Dame: Loretta Lynn And Jack White On Country’s Favorite Daughter

Report and Interview by Fred Mills, Detroit Metro Times, 25 June 2003

SOME MIGHT SEE it as a generational passing of the torch: an established music icon sharing the stage with a younger rising star, and there’s ...

June Carter Cash, 1929-2003

Obituary by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, July 2003

A country matriarch says goodbye. ...

Gillian Welch: The Girl With No Name

Profile and Interview by Toby Manning, The Word, August 2003

The fastest-rising folk singer of her generation is an urban college girl writing spare, soulful country tunes set in a bygone America. Her natural mother ...

Brooks & Dunn: The Long Road Home: Brooks & Dunn Risk Backlash With a Great Rock Album

Review by Carol Cooper, The Village Voice, 1 August 2003

IN THE RURAL east Texas graveyard where my father and his parents are buried, just a stone's throw from a black church built on land ...

Gillian Welch: A Kind Of Bluegrass

Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, September 2003

Don't be fooled by her old-time country music and rural folk imagery. Gillian Welch is no mountain girl… ...

The Dixie Chicks: Dixie Chicks: Apollo, Manchester

Live Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 17 September 2003

DISSENT STILL finds its focus in pop, more than any other art form. But there can have been few less likely standard-bearers for this radical ...

Emmylou Harris, Willie Nelson, Neil Young: Farm Aid: Germain Amphitheater, Columbus, Ohio

Report by Kandia Crazy Horse, PopMatters, 23 September 2003

I WAS EATING Neil Young when the highest points of my sojourn to this year's Farm Aid benefit concert occurred: veteran Crazy Horse bassist Billy ...

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 ...

Johnny Cash: The Mantra In Black: Ten Reasons Why Johnny Cash Always Matters

Comment by Gary Pig Gold, earcandymag.com, October 2003

1. LUTHER PLAYED THE BOOGIE Without a red hot and blue band to back it all the way up, even a Man in Black's powers ...

Wanda Jackson: She's About a Mover

Retrospective and Interview by Holly George-Warren, No Depression, 31 October 2003

WANDA JACKSON is in trouble with the law. It was only a matter of time until the gal who's always done things her own way, ...

Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Gavin Martin, Uncut, November 2003

Soul-searching partners on a trip to Dreamland ...

Emmylou Harris: Angel of the South: Emmylou Harris

Profile and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Observer, 2 November 2003

IN A LONG BLACK dress, high heels and perfectly coiffured hair that shines silver blue under the spotlights, Emmylou Harris looks every inch the country ...

Emmylou Harris: "How do you get to Carnegie Hall?"

Profile and Interview by David Hepworth, The Word, December 2003

For Emmylou Harris it was more than just "practice". She started out playing four shows a night six nights a week, became the "chick singer" ...

Johnny Cash, 1932-2003

Obituary by Jon Wilde, Uncut, December 2003

Jon Wilde pays tribute to the Man In Black who made country rock'n'roll. ...

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Will The Circle Be Unbroken, Vol. 3

Review by Holly George-Warren, Country Music, December 2003

THERE'S PERHAPS NO more perfect album title than Will The Circle Be Unbroken, named for a song by country music's first family, the Carter Family. ...

Johnny Cash at San Quentin was my idea

Memoir by Geoffrey Cannon, unpublished, 2004

2018 note: Steve Turner emailed me in 2004 and said he was working on the official biography of Johnny Cash, and had been told that ...

Willie Nelson At 70

Book Excerpt by Gene Santoro, 'Highway 61 Revisited...', 2004

ON APRIL 30, 2003, Willie Nelson turned 70, and celebrated with the release of his latest Greatest Hits collection. The Essential Willie Nelson (Columbia/Legacy), a ...

Johnny Cash: Unearthed (American Recordings/Lost Highway)

Review by Jon Wilde, Uncut, January 2004

Five-CD epitaph includes 64 never-before-heard tracks. ...

Johnny Cash: Unearthed (American Recordings/Lost Highway)

Review by Mat Snow, MOJO, January 2004

A fitting musical monument for a monumental life and career ...

June Carter Cash: Wildwood Flower

Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, January 2004

Life-affirming swansong from Carter Family matriarch ...

Harlan Howard: Legends of Songwriting: Harlan Howard

Profile and Interview by Bill DeMain, Performing Songwriter, January 2004

THE TYPICAL songwriter who rolls into Nashville is an unknown hopeful with an acoustic guitar and a notebook full of half-finished songs and titles. When ...

Dolly Parton: Mother's Pride: Various: Just Because I'm A Woman: Songs Of Dolly Parton ****

Review and Interview by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, January 2004

A dozen brilliant women with a stirring reminder that the beloved boob flaunter and wacky wig wearer is a truly great songwriter. ...

Johnny Cash: The Last Great American — Johnny Cash: Unearthed (American)

Review by Mark Cooper, The Word, January 2004

Johnny Cash's final recordings were as powerful as anything in his whole career ...

Rodney Crowell: Uncompromised 

Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 12 February 2004

Rodney Crowell creates art for the soul in the cracks of Nashville's music machine. ...

Grant-Lee Phillips: Virginia Creeper

Review and Interview by Chris Roberts, Uncut, March 2004

Country-rock class from Rolling Stone's one-time "best male vocalist" ...

The Byrds: Hello Goodbye: Gene Parsons and the Byrds

Retrospective and Interview by Don Waller, MOJO, March 2004

Hello AUGUST 1968 My passport into the Byrds was [late guitarist ] Clarence White. I'd met him a couple of years earlier at a recording session. ...

Gillian Welch: Revival: Gillian Welch

Profile and Interview by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 18 March 2004

Roots renegade Gillian Welch tries to resuscitate classic rock with a two-person band. It worked for the White Stripes. ...

Bernie Leadon: Still Flying, Without Eagles

Report and Interview by Wayne Robins, The Bergen Record, April 2004

BERNIE LEADON has played in quite a few bands during the last 35 years. ...

Rodney Crowell: Fate's Right Hand (Sony/DMZ)

Review and Interview by Andria Lisle, MOJO, April 2004

Texas-to-Tennessee country star takes a lonely, introspective journey on this breathtakingly unconventional release. ...

The Beat Farmers: The Beat Goes on

Retrospective and Interview by Fred Mills, Harp, April 2004

It was a small but ultimately influential early ’80s scene: the back-to-roots movement spearheaded by the Blasters, Rank and File, Jason and the Scorchers, Long ...

Johnny Cash: Life

Review by Andy Gill, Uncut, May 2004

Eighteen songs — chosen by Cash himself just before his death to represent "life lessons" spanning the period 1958-1988 that puts his reputation as a ...

Mary Chapin Carpenter: The Essential Mary Chapin Carpenter

Review by Andy Gill, Uncut, May 2004

The mould-breaking Nashville singer-songwriter gets a marvellous Best-Of. ...

Steve Earle Gives New Meaning To The Expression 'Lifetime Achievement'

Interview by Toby Manning, The Word, May 2004

MARRIED SIX TIMES TO FIVE DIFFERENT WOMEN, HE'S ENDURED THE JUNKIE'S LIFE, DONE TIME AND LIVED TO TELL. NOW A CHANGED CHARACTER, HIGH PROFILE CAMPAIGNER ...

Terry Allen: Lock 17, London

Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, The Guardian, 13 May 2004

OF ALL OF THE underground country artists from the Texas panhandle (Joe Ely, Butch Hancock, Jimmie Dale Gilmore, etc) none is as quite as maverick, ...

Loretta Lynn: Van Lear Rose

Review by James Hunter, L.A. Weekly, 20 May 2004

VAN LEAR ROSE is an album of 13 songs explosively written and sung by Loretta Lynn. Jack White, of the White Stripes, produced it. Eric ...

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. ...

Loretta Lynn, Jack White: Loretta Lynn: Van Lear Rose

Review and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, June 2004

Awesome rebirth of original Country Queen, produced and arranged by the White Stripes' Jack White. ...

Gram Parsons: Parsons Lives in Film: Grand Theft opens in theaters tomorrow

Report and Interview by Jason Cohen, Rolling Stone, 17 June 2004

IT'S ONE OF rock & roll's great mythologies: the day Phil Kaufman stole Gram Parsons' body, keeping a promise to give his friend a fiery ...

Loretta Lynn, The White Stripes: Jack White and Loretta Lynn: Deconstructing Jack

Comment by Dave Marsh, Harp, July 2004

AT THAT POINT, after one and a half listenings, I concluded that White had heard all the Loretta Lynn records ever made and liked everything ...

Johnny Paycheck: The Little Darlin' Sound Of Johnny Paycheck: The Beginning (Koch)

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, July 2004

SOMETIMES I THINK the Johnny Paycheck cultists are so enamoured of the sensational goth of stuff like '(Pardon Me) I've Got Someone To Kill' and ...

Buddy Holly: Various Artists: Stay All Night – Buddy Holly's Country Roots

Review by Joe Nick Patoski, West Texas Roots, July 2004

BUDDY HOLLY took the world by storm when he broke out of Lubbock, Texas in 1957. His singing and playing was the freshest version of ...

Burrito Deluxe: Borderline, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 16 July 2004

VETERANS DON'T come more gnarled and whiskery than the cast of Burrito Deluxe, whose five members have been plying their trade for decades. In steel ...

Gram Parsons: Sacred Hearts & Fallen Angels (Rhino)

Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, August 2004

WITH A BODY OF WORK scattered over a wide selection of labels, Parsons fans had until now been faced with a musical Easter egg hunt ...

Gillian Welch and David Rawlings: Shepherds Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 2 August 2004

"WE LOVE PLAYING HERE," Gillian Welch told us more than once, and since she and her musical soulmate David Rawlings were on for more than ...

Hayseed Dixie: Borderline, London

Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, The Guardian, 12 August 2004

"I'M HERE TO TESTIFY", says front man Barley Scotch in one of many beer-fuelled, between-song spiels, "that Hank Williams' 'Lost Highway' and AC/DC's 'Highway to ...

Gretchen Wilson: "I'm a redneck and proud of it"

Profile and Interview by Adam Sweeting, Daily Telegraph, 21 August 2004

A new, raw country music is sweeping the US, and no-nonsense singer Gretchen Wilson is its star. Adam Sweeting met her. ...

The Dillards: Pickin’ and Fiddlin’/Wheatstraw Suite/Copperfields

Review by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut, September 2004

WHEN DOUGLAS and Rodney Dillard’s quartet hit Los Angeles in 1963 they blew everyone’s minds. Playing bluegrass with fuck-you rock’n’roll attitude, they wasted the competition ...

Uncle Dave Macon: Keep My Skillet Good And Greasy (Bear Family)

Review by Tony Russell, Maverick, September 2004

UNCLE DAVE MACON was the first real star of country music. True, Fiddlin' John Carson got on disc first: Uncle Dave made his debut recording ...

Townes Van Zandt: Van Zandt's New "Love"

Report by Jason Cohen, Rolling Stone, 23 September 2004

IF YOU KNOW your Texas music, it's a famous story: in 1970 a young Joe Ely picked up a hitchhiker on his way to Houston. ...

Skeeter Davis, 1931-2004

Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 1 October 2004

Blending country music with mainstream pop ...

Gillian Welch finds new audience with old-time Americana music

Interview by Graham Reid, The New Zealand Herald, 31 October 2004

FOR SOMEONE WHOSE stark songs sound like they have come from the impoverished rural underbelly of Depression-era America, Gillian Welch seems as lively as a ...

Dwight Yoakam, Randy Travis: Dwight Yoakam: The Very Best Of; Randy Travis: The Very Best Of

Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, November 2004

ROUTE 88 WAS an ambitious cross-label campaign to establish several country stars in the UK, with Yoakam and Travis seen by many as the twin ...

Johnny Cash: The Gunslinger

Retrospective and Interview by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2004

A year on, the world is still reeling from the death of Johnny Cash, the speed-crazed rock'n'roller who became America's defining voice. From tragedy to ...

Johnny Cash's Concept Albums

Retrospective by Phil Sutcliffe, MOJO, November 2004

THEY WERE "CONCEPTS" all right, but that didn't make them the product of cool, analytical thinking. Back in the early '60s, Johnny Cash was wrestling ...

Alison Krauss and Union Station: Lonely Runs Both Ways

Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 19 November 2004

THIS IS KRAUSS'S first studio album for three years, though in the meantime she's delivered a bestselling live album, won three Grammy awards, and made ...

Bill Monroe, Elvis Presley, Jim Reeves, Slim Whitman: Come On, Let's Go!: Elvis on the Hayride

Retrospective by Colin Escott, MOJO, December 2004

When Elvis joined the Louisiana Hayride in 1954, he changed music history forever. Colin Escott tells the wild, wild story. ...

Kasey Chambers: Wayward Angel

Review by Andria Lisle, Tracks, December 2004

OUTBACK COUNTRY: the Aussie singer-songwriter Kasey Chambers staked her claim to the genre with The Captain (2000), her folksy debut. ...

Dolly Parton (2005)

Interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages audio, 2005

Movies, fasting, fame and faith, plastic surgery, marriage, 9/11 and on being a gay icon: Dolly says more in twenty minutes than most do in two hours.

File format: mp3; file size: 22.1mb; Interview length: 24' 08"; sound quality: ****

Dolly Parton (2005) [transcript]

Audio transcript of interview by Gavin Martin, Rock's Backpages transcripts, 2005

This is a transcription of Gavin's audio interview with Dolly. Listen to the audio of this interview. ...

Alison Krauss and Union Station: Lonely Runs Both Ways

Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, January 2005

Contradictory country star's studio follow-up to 2002's double live album, Live. ...

Lee Hazlewood: "Compared To My Dad, I'm A Soprano"

Retrospective and Interview by Spencer Leigh, Now Dig This, February 2005

"I don't have to run if I want to stay, I don't have to do what the people say, I found my place ...

Martha Carson, 1921-2005

Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 14 February 2005

BORN IRENE Amburgey, the second of three sisters, Martha Carson was a guitarist in a troupe, led by her father, that entertained at functions close ...

Willie Nelson: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London

Live Review by Andrew Mueller, The Independent, 5 April 2005

AT THIS LATE stage, attending a Willie Nelson concert is more a gesture of pilgrimage than anything else. Nelson, now 71, with a ponytail that ...

Merle Haggard: Branded Man: Merle Haggard Brings The Bakersfield Sounds East With Dylan

Report and Interview by Ted Drozdowski, The Boston Phoenix, 15 April 2005

WHEN BOB DYLAN CALLS, other musicians listen. Even when they're icons and gifted songwriters in their own right. ...

Charlie Poole: You Ain't Talkin' To Me: Charlie Poole And The Roots Of Country Music

Review by Tony Russell, Maverick, May 2005

THE PAST IS another country music: they do things differently there. In a rural school hall, dancers execute their circle-lefts and allemands, the fire in ...

David Allan Coe

Sleeve notes by Colin Escott, Hackmart/Shout Factory! Records, May 2005

"I ALWAYS FIGURED David's stories were about ninety-two percent bullshit, but it made for good promotion," said record producer Shelby Singleton...who knew the value of ...

Lucinda Williams: Southern Comfort

Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Harp, May 2005

LUCINDA WILLIAMS is a splendid mess, a charming and bruised beauty. ...

Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris: Elvis Costello with Emmylou Harris and the Imposters: Central Park SummerStage

Live Review by Richard Gehr, The Village Voice, 19 July 2005

IT SEEMS SLIGHTLY ridiculous now, but Elvis Costello's 1981 Almost Blue came with a sticker warning: "This album contains country & Western music & may produce radical reaction ...

Elvis Costello, Emmylou Harris: Elvis Costello with Emmylou Harris: SummerStage, Central Park, NYC

Live Review by Mac Randall, New York Daily News, 20 July 2005

"PITY ABOUT IT BEING so cold and all," Elvis Costello cracked toward the beginning of his Central Park SummerStage concert last night. ...

Hayseed Dixie: Southern-Fried Metal

Profile and Interview by Dave Simpson, The Guardian, 27 July 2005

Hayseed Dixie aren't your average AC/DC covers band: they come from Nashville, play banjos and read The Guardian. ...

Chip Taylor: Lock 17, London ****

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, The Guardian, 30 July 2005

EVEN BEFORE he met Carrie Rodriguez, Chip Taylor's life had the authentic ring of fiction about it. ...

Neil Young (2005)

Interview by Bud Scoppa, Rock's Backpages audio, 21 August 2005

Mr. Young on his latest album Prairie Wind; his aneurysm and surgery; the great Spooner Oldham; his Archives project; the Heart of Gold movie.

File format: mp3; file size: 46.6mb, interview length: 50' 55" sound quality: ****

Gretchen Wilson: Here for the Party

Review by Jim Farber, New York Daily News, 25 September 2005

Honky tonk angel — Gretchen serenades the joys of beer, chaw and real men ...

Keith Urban: Hammersmith Apollo, London

Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 19 October 2005

URBAN BY NAME but country rock by nature, raised in Australia but resident in Nashville, Urban has sold millions of records in America and fills ...

Neil Young: Rebel without a pause

Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 30 October 2005

Neil Young famously wrote that it was "better to burn out than to fade away". Now, approaching his 60th birthday and confronted by his own ...

Neil Young: Ryman Auditorium, Nashville

Live Review by Sylvie Simmons, MOJO, November 2005

From rock opera to Grand Ole Opry. Neil Young and a cast of dozens play Nashville. ...

The Beau Brummels: Bradley's Barn

Review and Interview by Jon Savage, MOJO, November 2005

IF 1967 WAS the year that the torch passed from England back to America, from Swinging London to Haight-Ashbury, then 1968 was the year that ...

Dolly Parton: The Essential Dolly Parton

Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, December 2005

DON'T BE FOOLED by the high hair, long nails or curvy torso. Dolly Parton may appear, on the surface, to be a prairie poppet moulded ...

Taylor Swift: Taylor Swift (Big Machine) **** ½

Review by Jeff Tamarkin, AllMusic.com, 2006

ALL OF 16 when she recorded this debut album, country-pop singer Taylor Swift's considerably strong voice straddles that precarious edge that both suggests experience far ...

Rosanne Cash: Black Cadillac (Capitol)

Review by Mark Mordue, Neumu, January 2006

YOU CAN'T EXPECT these things. So let me start in another place to explain. ...

Rosanne Cash's Cadillac

Interview by Stephen Dalton, The Times, January 2006

ROSANNE CASH has already been to church by the time we meet for breakfast. As dawn broke on this wintry Parisian morning, the singer-songwriter slipped ...

Johnny Cash: Cash Upfront

Comment by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 28 January 2006

WALK THE LINE, James Mangold's cinematic telling of the early life of Johnny Cash, takes its title from one of its subject's best-known songs. ...

Rosanne Cash: Family Ties

Interview by Simon Garfield, The Observer, 5 February 2006

PRECISELY FOUR-and-a-half hours after a film about her father, mother and stepmother was nominated for five Oscars, Rosanne Cash walks into the Nicole Farhi store ...

Rosanne Cash: Seven-Year Ache, King's Record Shop, Interiors

Retrospective by Alfred Soto, Stylus, 10 February 2006

IT'S TEMPTING TO BELIEVE that in a better world, Rosanne Cash would inspire as much love and reverence as her father Johnny, but since no ...

James Talley: Got No Bread, No Milk, No Money, But We Sure Got A Lot Of Love

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 28 February 2006

FIRST RELEASED in 1975, at a time when the Outlaw movement was opening Nashville up to all manner of previously unimaginable sounds, James Talley's debut ...

Merle Haggard: Swing Me Back Home

Review by Eric Weisbard, The Village Voice, 2 March 2006

<i>Strangers/Swinging Doors and the Bottle Let Me Down I'm a Lonesome Fugitive/Branded Man Sing Me Back Home/The Legend of Bonnie & Clyde Mama Tried/Pride in ...

Willie Nelson: Graeme Thomson: Willie Nelson – The Outlaw

Book Review by Adam Sweeting, Daily Telegraph, 9 March 2006

MANY RECORDING artists have flirted with cowboy-chic, from the Eagles with their "gunfighter" album Desperado to Jon Bon Jovi preposterously claiming to be "Wanted Dead ...

Hank Williams III: It's country but not as we know it

Report and Interview by Angus Batey, Daily Telegraph, 16 March 2006

"GARY JUMPED INTO a metal beam and that messed him up a little bit," shrugs Williams of his mohawk-sporting bassist, whose head injury on the ...

Kris Kristofferson

Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, May 2006

KRIS KRISTOFFERSON is tough to nail. Uncut first catches him, fleetingly, en route to the airport at his home in Maui. ...

Cortney Tidwell: ICA, SW1

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 16 May 2006

CROUCHED BEHIND an acoustic guitar on a pocket-sized stage, Cortney Tidwell struggled to be heard above the chatter of the late-night drinkers who crowded her ...

Emmylou Harris

Interview by Jaan Uhelszki, Harp, June 2006

IN MORE politically incorrect times there was an ad campaign that featured famous women wrapped in full-length Russian mink coats – people like Elizabeth Taylor, ...

The Dixie Chicks: Dixie Chicks: How The Chicks Survived Their Scrap With Bush

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Daily Telegraph, 15 June 2006

Adam Sweeting assesses how the Dixie Chicks have weathered a political storm ...

Johnny Cash: Personal File

Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 15 June 2006

Unreleased home recordings set this two-disc Cash collection apart ...

The Dixie Chicks: Dixie Chicks: 'We Had A Song At No 1. The Next Day It Was At No 70'

Interview by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 23 June 2006

NATALIE MAINES has a little cluster of black teardrops tattooed on her lower leg, trickling from her ankle down to her foot. Dixie Chicks' poised ...

Carrie Underwood: An Interview

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, July 2006

"AT FIRST I felt like maybe I cheated a bit, getting in the way I did," said Carrie Underwood. "But I paid my dues my ...

George Jones: Keeping Up With Jones

Profile and Interview by Joe Nick Patoski, AARP The Magazine, July 2006

FLUFFY, HOT BISCUITS, fresh out of the oven and smothered with redeye gravy, with a thick slab of smoked ham on the side, are a ...

Johnny Cash: American V

Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, July 2006

MORE THAN THREE YEARS after his death, the Man In Black is still enjoying the kind of final-act career resurgence that artists half his age ...

Bob Wills & His Texas Playboys: Legends Of Country Music (Bear Family)

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 31 August 2006

YOU'D THINK THAT when it comes to Bob Wills' music, there'd be no surprises left. Oh, sure, somebody's bound to turn up another live set ...

Blaze Foley: The Fall and Rise of Blaze Foley

Retrospective by Joe Nick Patoski, No Depression, September 2006

THE BLACK GRANITE headstone is lost among the other markers in the Live Oak Cemetery in deep South Austin. Several small objects including a small ...

The Byrds: There Is A Season

Review by Jon Savage, MOJO, October 2006

They were there at the beginning. Now a 4-CD box set spans 1964-1990 in yet another career overview, Gene-Clark-heavy this time, with five unreleased tracks ...

The Dixie Chicks: Dixie Chicks: United Centre, Chicago

Live Review by Bob Mehr, MOJO, November 2006

President-baiting Texans gain new fans but lose musical momentum. ...

Jerry Lee Lewis: PBS-TV Special

Review by John Broven, Now Dig This, November 2006

JERRY LEE LEWIS came to New York on September 28 and 29, 2006, with typical flourish and élan to film live performances for a PBS-TV ...

John Phillips: John Phillips (John, The Wolfking of L.A.)

Review and Interview by Mick Houghton, Uncut, November 2006

HIPPY DREAMS DEFILED, HOLLYWOOD AFFAIRS, HERCULEAN DRUG USE: THE LONG-LOST SOLO ALBUM FROM MAMAS & PAPAS LYNCHPIN. ...

Joe Tex: Buddy Killen, 1932-2006: Nashville record man and music publisher

Obituary by John Broven, Now Dig This, December 2006

BUDDY KILLEN, the highly successful Nashville music publisher, songwriter and record man, died of liver and pancreatic cancer on November 1, 2006 at age 73.  ...

The Dixie Chicks: The Playboy Interview

Interview by Alan Light, Playboy, December 2006

IT IS MARCH 10, 2003. The Dixie Chicks – Natalie Maines, Emily Robison and Martie Maguire – are playing an SRO show in London at ...

Bobbie Gentry: Mystery Girl: The Forgotten Artistry of Bobbie Gentry

Retrospective by Holly George-Warren, 'Listen Again' (Duke University Press), 2007

SHE'S BEEN called the J.D. Salinger of rock & roll. Mississippi-born singer/songwriter/guitarist/producer Bobbie Gentry is every bit as mysterious as the steamy, Delta-flavored story-song she ...

NRBQ's Big Al Anderson (2007)

Interview by Joel Selvin, Selvin On The City, KSAN 107.7, 2007

Big Al takes us through life post-NRBQ, becoming songwriter to the Nashville Hat Act Stars, and looks back to the tough days on the road with NRBQ.

File format: mp3 File size: 33.5mb Interview length: 36' 25"; Sound quality: *****

Rosanne Cash

Interview by Andrew Purcell, Sunday Herald, January 2007

JOHNNY CASH lives with his daughter. He's in the set of her jaw, the power of her voice, and he stares down proudly from every ...

Bobby Bare: A Bird Named Yesterday/Talk Me Some Sense/Down & Dirty... Plus

Review by Fred Dellar, MOJO, February 2007

BARE'S A COUNTRY giant, up there alongside Cash, Haggard, Waylon'n'Willie. A one-time pop kid who toured with the likes of Bobby Darin, he notched a ...

Flying Burrito Brothers: Sneaky Pete Kleinow, 1934-2007

Obituary by Andy Gill, The Word, March 2007

AS PEDAL STEEL guitarist with the Flying Burrito Brothers, Sneaky Pete Kleinow probably did more than any other musician to establish that instrument in rock ...

Solomon Burke: No. 1, at last

Report and Interview by Gene Santoro, New York Daily News, 2 March 2007

Solomon Burke's latest, Nashville, features guests like Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton, Patty Loveless and Gillian Welch. ...

Dennis Linde

Retrospective by Mick Houghton, MOJO, April 2007

The sound of the wildly original country cat who penned Elvis' 'Burning Love'. ...

Guy Clark, Joe Ely, John Hiatt, Lyle Lovett: Lyle Lovett/Joe Ely/Guy Clark/John Hiatt: State Theatre, Cleveland

Live Review by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 30 April 2007

YOU HAVE TO start at the end – where they paid respects to Townes Van Zandt, the songwriter/compadre who captured the essence of life after ...

Mickey Gilley: Too Good To Stop: Greatest Hits 1974-1985

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 30 April 2007

RARELY HAS A single disc better traced one career's rise and fall. In 15 pre-stardom years of recording, Gilley could best be described as "like ...

Buck Owens: The Warner Bros. Recordings (Rhino Handmade)

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, July 2007

BUCK WAS ALWAYS the first to put down his Warners output, but you almost have to hear it all in one place to comprehend how ...

Emmylou Harris on Songbird

Interview by Alan Light, MSN.com, August 2007

"FOR ME," says Emmylou Harris, "it's always about finding a song, one at a time, that I love and that I can make my own." ...

Bob Dylan, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons: Emmylou Harris: Album By Album

Retrospective and Interview by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, August 2007

FEW SINGERS are more universally revered than Emmylou Harris, whose glorious alto has serenaded us for the past 35 years. Her shimmering body of work ...

Lori McKenna: Dreams of an Everyday Housewife

Profile and Interview by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 31 August 2007

LORI MCKENNA has always loved the same boy. She first laid eyes on him in third grade. They started dating in their junior year, married ...

Flying Burrito Brothers: The Flying Burrito Brothers: Gram Parsons Archives Vol 1 – Flying Burrito Brothers Live At The Avalon 1969

Review by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, September 2007

GP & Co, Free At Last After Being Locked Up In The Dead Vault For 38 Years. ...

Emmylou Harris: Songbird – Rare Tracks and Forgotten Gems (Rhino)

Review by Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 3 October 2007

EMMYLOU HARRIS tends to overwhelm with her beauty in flesh and in voice, so it's instructive to look to her new rarities collection, Songbird: Rare ...

Arthur Alexander: Country's Soul: The Music Of The Late Arthur Alexander Still Provides A Living Link Between Hillbilly Twang And R&B

Retrospective by Geoffrey Himes, Baltimore City Paper, 31 October 2007

ON MARCH 18, 1993, Arthur Alexander was the guest star at Jimmie Dale Gilmore's birthday party at the Broken Spoke dance hall in Austin, Texas. ...

Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: Raising Sand

Review by Kate Mossman, The Word, November 2007

SEVEN YEARS AGO, Robert Plant rang country music superstar Alison Krauss and one imagines, toying casually with the telephone cord, said something like, "Hey, we ...

The Eagles: Indigo2, London

Live Review by Adam Sweeting, Daily Telegraph, 1 November 2007

THE EAGLES became the ultimate '70s super-band, and their habitat was super-bowls and stadiums. Thus the opportunity to see them in the comparatively miniscule Indigo2 ...

The Eagles: Eagles: Long Road Out Of Eden (Universal)

Review by Max Bell, Classic Rock, December 2007

WHEN STEELY DAN sang the immortal line "Turn up the Eagles, the neighbours are listening" on their mid-'70s sex-swinging party anthem 'Everything You Did', the ...

Steve Earle: Album By Album

Interview by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, December 2007

PLAYWRIGHT, NOVELIST, activist, actor... when Steve Earle has found a moment over the past couple of decades, he has also managed to string together a ...

The Eagles: Long Road Out Of Eden

Review by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, December 2007

THE STANDARD-BEARERS of L.A. rock's second wave, the Eagles were a streamlined hybrid of proven rock strategies. ...

Gram Parsons: David N. Meyer: Twenty Thousand Roads – The Ballad of Gram Parsons and His Cosmic American Music

Book Review by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 14 December 2007

TO HIS CHAMPIONS, Gram Parsons was a cult-hero musical genius and the primary inventor of "country rock". But he was also a tragic figure who ...

Brandi Carlile: Borderline, London

Live Review by Tim Cooper, The Independent, 18 December 2007

"DO YOU MIND if we get a little bit country on ya?" inquires Brandi Carlile cheerfully, as her entourage of publicists, watching anxiously in the ...

k.d. lang: The Second Coming of k.d. lang

Profile and Interview by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 13 January 2008

When she came out 15 years ago, she became the poster girl of lesbian chic. Even Madonna courted her. Then the spotlight dimmed — until ...

John Stewart, 1939–2008

Obituary by Richard Cromelin, Los Angeles Times, 21 January 2008

Folk patriarch recorded California Bloodlines ...

Miranda Lambert, Carrie Underwood: Carrie Underwood/Miranda Lambert: Blonde Ambition

Comment by Geoffrey Himes, Nashville Scene, 24 January 2008

Carrie Underwood's sold more records, so why did Miranda Lambert sweep our poll? ...

Carolina Chocolate Drops: Digging the new-old roots

Comment by Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 30 January 2008

YODELING IS AFRICAN? Well, one could certainly trace the practice from the Ituri of the Congolese rainforest, described as the first people by ancient Egyptian ...

John Stewart: Daydream Believer: John Stewart, 1939-2008

Obituary by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 21 February 2008

JOHN STEWART – singer, songwriter, guitarist, artist, husband, father, grandfather, Californian, American – was scheduled to perform at McCabe's in Santa Monica on Saturday, February ...

John Anderson: Just Came Home To Count The Memories/All The People Are Talkin'/Eye Of A Hurricane/Tokyo, Oklahoma/Countrified

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 29 February 2008

FIRST CHARTING in 1977 and coming on strong by 1980, John Anderson was a harbinger of the New Traditionalist movement that hit Nashville in the ...

Kathy Mattea: Station Inn, Nashville

Live Review by Holly Gleason, Harp, March 2008

IT'S AMAZING how expansive Kathy Mattea's old leaves and fall rainwater alto can be. With just a few acoustic guitar notes cascading around her on ...

k.d. lang: kd lang: Kravis Center, West Palm Beach, FL

Live Review by Holly Gleason, Harp, March 2008

KD LANG WALKED onstage, guitar on her back and glided effortlessly into 'Upstream', a song about the nature of life, the struggle of human nature ...

Dolly Parton: Backwoods Barbie **½

Review by Mark Kemp, Rolling Stone Online, 6 March 2008

NO MATTER how flamboyantly pop Dolly Parton's music became in the early Eighties, she was always a country girl at heart. ...

Willie Nelson: Austin, 1972

Book Excerpt by Joe Nick Patoski, Austin Chronicle, 25 April 2008

This is an excerpt from Joe Nick's biography Willie Nelson: An Epic Life, published by Little, Brown and Co. ...

Willie Nelson: One Hell Of A Ride

Review by John Morthland, No Depression, 30 April 2008

SOMEDAY, SOMEBODY with great taste, and no desire to be all things to all markets, is going to put together a Best Of Willie Nelson ...

The Byrds, Gene Clark, Bob Dylan, Gram Parsons, Tom Petty & The Heartbreakers: Gene Clark remembered: "Genius and insanity hand in hand…"

Retrospective by Luke Torn, Uncut, May 2008

IT'S ANOTHER DAY in the busy life of one of the biggest bands in America. The Byrds have just recorded 'Eight Miles High', and are ...

Dolly Parton: American Idol

Profile and Interview by Mat Snow, MOJO, June 2008

Raised in a one-room cabin in Tennessee, schooled in love songs by a pompadoured '60s TV start, Dolly Parton turned her back on pop and ...

Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons: The Ballad of Emmylou Harris

Retrospective and Interview by Robert Sandall, The Sunday Times, 1 June 2008

At 61, Emmylou Harris is still the drop-dead-gorgeous queen of country rock. But behind closed doors the singer has sad secrets to reveal. ...

Dolly Parton: Warmth, Wonder and Wisdom: Dolly Parton, O2 Arena, London

Live Review by Jude Rogers, New Statesman, 17 July 2008

The superstar country singer proves her worth as a feminist icon. ...

Hank Williams: Don Helms, 1927-2008

Obituary by Alan Clayson, The Guardian, 26 August 2008

Steel guitarist who backed Hank Williams ...

George Jones: The Grand Tour

Review by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, October 2008

Hard-living legend's monument to heartbreak. ...

Johnny Cash: Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison (Legacy Edition)

Review by Mark Kemp, Paste, October 2008

IN THE DOCUMENTARY included with this new edition of Johnny Cash at Folsom Prison, daughter Rosanne shatters the mythology surrounding her dad, gently bringing him ...

Hank Williams, Hank Williams Jr., Hank Williams III: Go your own way: Hank Williams and his progeny

Report and Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 24 October 2008

Hank Williams changed the face of country music. How can his descendants live up to that? Angus Batey finds out. ...

Lucinda Williams: Little Honey (Lost Highway)

Review by Graeme Thomson, The Word, November 2008

WHENEVER A MUSICIAN announces that their new offering is the "most eclectic album they've ever made", it's sure to be a rough ride. ...

J. D. Souther: J.D. Souther comes back

Interview by Bill Holdship, Detroit Metro Times, 5 November 2008

THOUGH HE'S ONE of the most underrated composers of the rock era, J.D. Souther's songs — especially those he wrote for the Eagles — are ...

Solomon Burke: Still on Fire

Interview by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, December 2008

Soul survivor Solomon Burke has endured bigger setbacks than most, but continues to make records as lauded as his perceived '60s heyday. ...

The Master: Reggie Young

Profile by Barney Hoskyns, Uncut Legends, December 2008

REGGIE YOUNG is a southern institution: the session guitarist's session guitarist. His inimitable licks and fills, at once clipped and fluid, have graced a zillion ...

Jessica Simpson: Gone Country: On Jessica Simpson's Nashville Conversion

Comment by Mark Kemp, Texas Music, January 2009

ASIDE FROM HIP-HOP, country music is the most wildly popular musical style people love to hate. The Bottle Rockets once wrote a song about a ...

Lucinda Williams: Album By Album

Interview by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, January 2009

"SNOW COVERS the street lamps and the windowsills," sang the alt.country queen on 2003's 'Minneapolis'. When Uncut calls her in that same city on her ...

Hayseed Dixie: Meet… John Wheeler

Profile and Interview by John Lewis, Hotline, January 2009

John Lewis talks to the Hayseed Dixie frontman turned solo comedy troubadour ...

Jeb Loy Nichols: Parish Bar

Review by j. poet, Crawdaddy!, 14 January 2009

WHEN YOU PUSH THE PLAY BUTTON on a track by Jeb Loy Nichols, you never know what you're going to get. Parish Bar opens with ...

Clover: The Sound City Sessions – 1975

Review by Terry Staunton, Record Collector, February 2009

Inspirational pioneers deserving of credit they never got ...

Chris Darrow, Kaleidoscope: Chris Darrow's Kaleidoscopic Vision

Profile and Interview by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 25 February 2009

HE HAS AN upcoming tribute concert and box-set release and yet the question many will ask is, "Who is Chris Darrow?" ...

Ernest Stoneman: Ernest R Stoneman: The Unsung Father Of Country Music 1925-1934

Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, March 2009

JIMMIE RODGERS is normally identified as the "father of country music". However, in the booklet notes to this two-CD, 46-track set, Hank Sapoznick argues a ...

The Louvin Brothers

Retrospective by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, March 2009

Charlie, his hellraising late sibling Ira, and a 16-foot plywood Satan. The confessions of a country legend... ...

Sugarland, Taylor Swift: Taylor Swift, Sugarland et al: Far From The Old Country Music

Report and Interview by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 13 March 2009

Nashville is making yet another attempt to conquer the UK charts with artists who have crossed over so far they are virtually mainstream. Nick Hasted ...

Black Lips: 200 Million Thousand

Review by Pat Long, New Musical Express, 14 March 2009

Even without all the pissing in each others' mouths, they still warrant your attention. ...

Merle Haggard Stands Tall

Interview by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 29 March 2009

AS LONG AS people speak of country music, the music of Merle Haggard will live. As his career nears the half-century mark, Haggard's imprint is ...

Steve Earle, Townes Van Zandt: Steve Earle: Townes (New West)

Review by Roy Trakin, SonicBoomers.com, 29 May 2009

IF YOU'RE LOOKING for a dark-horse Grammy Album of the Year contender, you couldn't find a better one than this effort, which boasts the requisite ...

Another Look at the Nashville Skyline

Report by Bill Wasserzieher, Rock's Backpages, June 2009

NASHVILLE IS a town of serene churches and raucous honky tonks. ...

Steve Earle: Townes

Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, June 2009

All-covers homage to his mentor, Townes Van Zandt ...

Brad Paisley: American Saturday Night

Review by Andrew Mueller, bbc.co.uk, 26 June 2009

A spirited challenge to the prejudices of both sides of country's enduring schism. ...

The Eagles: NIA, Birmingham

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, July 2009

THE BABY BOOMER rockers of the 1960s and 1970s will clearly never die — they just become more popular and more profitable every year. ...

Neil Young: Out of the blue: Neil Young's archives

Essay by Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 7 July 2009

THIS IS THE briar patch, the place from which all funky thangs flow. On the anniversary of the death of my Afro-Algonquin Southern (re)belle mother, ...

Alison Krauss: An Interview

Interview by Paul Sexton, Daily Telegraph, 22 July 2009

ALISON KRAUSS IS wandering through a meadow, elegantly, if incongruously, attired in a black ballgown, her fingers languorously brushing the tall grass as she sings ...

Jim Dickinson: Remembering Jim Dickinson

Obituary by Andria Lisle, Memphis Flyer, 25 August 2009

I'VE SAID GOODBYE to a lot of cultural heavyweights and big personal influences over the last few years: Otha Turner, Ike Turner, Rev. Gatemouth Moore, ...

Crosby Stills and Nash: Crosby, Stills & Nash

Report by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 26 August 2009

THOUGH THE HOOPLA surrounding Woodstock's 40th anniversary has (mostly) subsided, one of the most anticipated performances at that little outdoor festival came from this trio, ...

The Jayhawks: Music From The North Country – The Jayhawks Anthology

Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, September 2009

Roots-rockers' double-disc retrospective, with excellent extras ...

Monsters of Folk: Monsters Of Folk

Review by Bud Scoppa, Uncut, October 2009

Indie supergroup rewrites the country-rock bible. ...

David Rawlings (2009)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, 6 October 2009

On the release of his solo debut, A Friend of a Friend, the man who (usually) accompanies Gillian Welch talks about discovering his own voice; assembling the material, including his co-write with Ryan Adams, 'To Be Young (...)'; recording the album, and the state of acoustic roots music today.

File format: mp3; file size: 33.6mb, interview length: 36' 39" sound quality: ** (phoner)

Lyle Lovett

Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, November 2009

DAMN THAT Lyle Lovett, he sure is one elegant gent. While this R2 writer, in a Prada or Armani suit, would look plain guilty, Lovett ...

Rosanne Cash

Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, November 2009

THERE COMES A time in every young man or woman's life when dad mounts the pulpit and delivers a homily on the kind of music ...

James Hand: The Ballad of James Hand

Profile and Interview by Holly George-Warren, Texas Music, Fall 2009

"When I turned 13 I had a honky-tonk bandAnd now I guess I still doThere's a lot I've seen that I don't understandBut I'll tell ...

Brewer and Shipley: Weeds/Tarkio Road

Sleeve notes by Richie Unterberger, Collector's Choice, 2010

AFTER INTRODUCING their harmony-driven brand of folk-rock on their late-'60s A&M debut album Down in L.A., singer-songwriter-guitarists Brewer & Shipley moved to the Kama Sutra label ...

Taylor Swift: Wembley Arena, London

Live Review by Kate Mossman, The Word, 10 February 2010

Taylor Swift's conquest of the teenage-girl market is so controlling it's creepy. In the front stalls: Kate Mossman. ...

Valerie June, Whispering Pines: In the Whispering Pines

Report by Kandia Crazy Horse, San Francisco Bay Guardian, 25 February 2010

THIS IS THE YEAR when your scribing cowgirl returns wholly to the barn — or at least the fabled Cabin-in-the-Pines where folks used to pick, ...

Mickey Newbury: An American Triology

Review by Jim Irvin, MOJO, March 2010

He was the hottest songwriter in town. But when he made his own records, the world wasn't ready for songs of utter despair accompanied by ...

Stephen Stills

Interview by Rob Hughes, Record Collector, March 2010

Stephen Stills looks back on a rollercoaster career that has seen him survive superstardom, booze, drugs and cancer to enjoy his current renaissance. ...

Various Artists: Gastonia Gallop – Cotton Mill Songs & Hillbilly Blues

Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, March 2010

Piedmont Textile Workers On Record, Gaston County, North Carolina 1927–1931 ...

Lady Antebellum: New band of the week: Lady Antebellum

Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 17 March 2010

There's no denying their huge success in the US, but the polished country-rock trio are simply not worthy of an iPod slot next to the ...

Barry Goldberg & Bob Dylan's Secret Gem

Profile by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 18 March 2010

ONE OF THE QUIET GEMS OF 2009 was an album originally produced by Bob Dylan in 1973. Other than his own work under the pseudonymous ...

Wanda Jackson: You Know I'm So Good!

Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Uncut, April 2010

Elvis Presley, Jack White, Amy Winehouse... and the return of Wanda Jackson, first lady of rock'n'roll. ...

Merle Haggard: I Am What I Am

Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, May 2010

The return of the Hag... in imperious form ...

Kris Kristofferson: A Nashville Rebel Reminisces

Retrospective and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 6 May 2010

THERE'S SOME wonderful YouTube footage of Kris Kristofferson receiving a gong at the 1970 Country Music Association awards. He lopes on stage with his hair ...

Brad Paisley: A Different Kind of Cowboy

Interview by Angus Batey, The Guardian, 10 June 2010

Brad Paisley is not your usual Nashville country star. He talks about how Obama made him proud to be American – and why he dreams ...

Willie Nelson For President?

Interview by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, July 2010

Onboard his battle bus, Uncut is granted a conference with the laid-back potentate of country music, Willie Nelson. On the agenda: Patsy Cline, Johnny Cash, ...

Kinky Friedman: I Was a Texas Jewboy

Memoir by Michael Simmons, L.A. Weekly, 29 July 2010

MY FIRST LIVE sighting of Richard "Kinky" "Big Dick" Friedman was at Max's Kansas City in New York in 1973. He was headlining Upstairs at ...

Lady Antebellum: Shepherd's Bush Empire

Live Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 August 2010

THE GULF BETWEEN UK AND US MUSICAL TASTES is epitomised by Nashville's Lady Antebellum. Back home, the trio's emollient country-pop — which, to British ears, ...

Brad Paisley: New England Country Music Festival, Gillette Stadium, Mass.

Live Review by Jim Sullivan, Boston Herald, 22 August 2010

"ONE OF THE greatest country cities in the world, Boston, Massachusetts," Brad Paisley gushed last night to a Gillette Stadium crowd of 51,000. And as ...

Dylan LeBlanc: Paupers Field

Review by Everett True, bbc.co.uk, 23 August 2010

Louisiana singer taps into Gram Parsons and Neil Young on a smooth debut LP. ...

Kris Kristofferson looks back on his early years

Retrospective and Interview by Rob Hughes, Record Collector, September 2010

THERE WERE two crucial moments in Kris Kristofferson's early career. The first came on the night of 8 April 1970, in a converted old church ...

Brenda Lee: Brenda Lee Rocks

Sleeve notes by Todd Everett, Bear Family Records, 2011

PAT BOONE, WHO GOT HIS START before rock and roll was invented, remarked in 2008 that he had issues with the fact that he hadn't ...

Mickey Newbury: Guitars, Boats And Fairways: Mickey Newbury and Friends on Old Hickory Lake

Sleeve notes by Chris Campion, Saint Cecilia Knows Records, 2011

IT LOOKS, FROM ABOVE, like a snake arching through the brush. A series of long blind curves that begins at Hendersonville, the small community formed ...

Charlie Louvin: The Battles Rage On

Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, January 2011

Old stager returns to his post for military-decorated album ...

James Booker, Alison Krauss, Robert Plant and Alison Krauss: Various Artists: 40 Years Of Rounder Records

Review by Kate Mossman, The Word, January 2011

Now in new hands, Rounder Records looks back after four decades of progressive signings in country, blues and folk. ...

Charlie Louvin, 1927-2011

Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 28 January 2011

THE SINGER AND guitarist Charlie Louvin, who has died aged 83, was half of one of country music's best-loved and most influential double acts. ...

Chris Hillman: Byrds, Burritos, and Bluegrass: Chris Hillman Interviewed

Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 3 February 2011

OFTEN OVERSHADOWED by flashier, more volatile, or more tragic bandmates, singer and multi-instrumentalist Chris Hillman's cred as a pioneer of country-rock is nonetheless impeccable. As ...

Lady Antebellum: Grammys 2011: Why can't Lady Antebellum find success in the UK?

Report by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 14 February 2011

COUNTRY-POP TRIO Lady Antebellum were The King's Speech of last night's Grammys, winning six awards (compared to Firth and Co's seven at the Batfas), including ...

Nashville Cats: David Briggs Reflects at the Country Music Hall of Fame

Report by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 26 March 2011

Nashville Cats: David Briggs at Ford Theatre, Country Music Hall of Fame, Nashville, TN ...

Taylor Swift: O2, London ****

Live Review by Dorian Lynskey, The Guardian, 31 March 2011

ONE NIGHT in London, even a night at the O2, is small beer compared to Taylor Swift's record-breaking success back home in the US. ...

The Louvin Brothers, Charlie Louvin: Charlie Louvin, 1927-2011

Obituary by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, April 2011

THE PASSING OF Charlie Louvin on January 26,2011, aged 83, from complications associated with pancreatic cancer, detaches country music from a vital living root. ...

Steve Earle: Alive and Kicking: Steve Earle

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, May 2011

STEVE EARLE IS, as his fellow Americans are wont to say, in a good place. "I'm pretty happy. I've got a new little boy, a ...

Emmylou Harris: Hard Bargain

Review by Steven R Rosen, American Songwriter, May 2011

IT'S SURPRISING THE American Association of Anesthesiologists hasn't chosen Emmylou Harris as the best voice to hear when awakening from surgery. ...

Alison Krauss: Key coordinates for the First Lady Of Bluegrass ALISON KRAUSS are Paul Rodgers + ELO x Ralph Stanley

Interview by Kate Mossman, The Word, May 2011

PAPARAZZI CAME to the Baglioni Hotel at Hyde Park Gate this morning to catch Debbie Harry, who's staying in Room Four. They went into bonus ...

Mickey Newbury: American Trilogy (Saint Cecilia Knows/Mountain Retreat)

Review by Rob Young, The Word, May 2011

Mickey Newbury's songs were made famous by other people. In his own hands they reveal a strange and magical thumbprint. ...

Steve Martin (2011)

Interview by Andrew Purcell, Rock's Backpages audio, May 2011

The comedian/bluegrass picker Steve Martin talks about banjos, learning to play, his long association with the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band and more.

File format: mp3; file size: 27.4mb, interview length: 29' 58" sound quality: *****

Laura Cantrell: St. Bonaventure's, Bristol

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 4 May 2011

Moonlighting from her unlikely day job as a Wall Street consultant, the country-folk singer embarks on a low-key UK tour. ...

Matraca Berg: Dreaming Fields

Review by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 13 May 2011

I SHOULDN'T be writing this. It's not right. ...

J. D. Souther: J.D. Souther: Natural History

Review by Andrew Mueller, bbc.co.uk, 13 June 2011

Old songs, newly recorded, many of which are fine indeed. ...

Jimmie Dale Gilmore and the Wronglers: Beachland Ballroom, Cleveland

Live Review by Holly Gleason, nodepression.com, 21 June 2011

THEY CALL IT Heirloom Music, going so far as to make it the title of their first collaborative recording; but for Jimmie Dale Gilmore and ...

Frank Fairfield: Out On The Open West

Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, August 2011

FRANK FAIRFIELD looks and sounds like a transplant from another age. All starched collars and hair oil, he plays vintage hillbilly folk on similarly vintage ...

Dolly Parton: The Liberty Belle: Dolly Parton Speaks

Interview by Jude Rogers, The Quietus, 30 August 2011

Ever the showbiz professional, Dolly Parton leads Jude Rogers a merry dance during her allotted 20 minutes of chat about partners, Gaga, sexuality, The Lord ...

Hank Williams: On The Lost Highway: Hank Williams

Retrospective by Mark Mordue, The Australian, 22 October 2011

DAMNED cold. An ice storm over Nashville has closed down flights across the state of Tennessee. ...

Alison Krauss: Flight Plan

Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, November 2011

IF I WERE TO tell you that Alison Krauss has won more Grammy Awards than any other female artist, and is third on the all-time ...

Gillian Welch: Brighton Dome

Live Review by Chris Charlesworth, Rock's Backpages, 14 November 2011

THE ACHING melancholia of Gillian Welch's songs about struggle is only partially balanced by the sprightly, lyrical playing of her immensely skilled guitarist and partner ...

John Prine: Innocent Days

Interview by Holly Gleason, Paste, 23 November 2011

"FIONA MADE ME CLEAN OUT THE GARAGE," John Prine confesses with a chuckle that's equal parts warm breeze, cold beer and fried chicken. "I cursed ...

Taylor Swift: Madison Square Garden, November 22nd, 2011

Live Review by Iman Lababedi, RockNYC, 24 November 2011

STANDING ON A PLATFORM in the middle of the Arena, Taylor Swift looked genuinely amazed. A young girl in the cheap seats randomly began to ...

Billie Jo Spears, 1937-2011

Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 15 December 2011

Country singer whose biggest hit was 'Blanket on the Ground' ...

Gillian Welch: Air Miles: A Transatlantic Conversation with Gillian Welch and Dave Rawlings

Report and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, Fall 2011

MOBILE PHONES, don't you just hate them? I know that to most of the Earth's populace they're as essential as a limb these days, but ...

Ringo Starr: Beaucoups of Beatle: Ringo Starr in Nashville

Retrospective by Daryl Sanders, The Nashville Musician, January 2012

Ringo Starr pursued his love for country music on 1970 Nashville album. ...

Charlie McCoy: Fad Gadget

Retrospective and Interview by James Medd, The Word, January 2012

Multi-instrumental session vet Charlie McCoy has a motto: have harmonica, be eternally employable. ...

Nanci Griffith: Blue Moons and True Believers

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, January 2012

About to make a welcome return to our concert halls and with a new album imminent, Nanci Griffith is in conversation with R2's David Burke. ...

Miranda Lambert: The House That Miranda Built

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Nashville Scene, 26 January 2012

With two critically acclaimed albums out in 2011, Miranda Lambert finds that integrity and success aren't mutually exclusive ...

First Aid Kit: The Lion's Roar

Review by Rob Young, The Word, February 2012

Gorgeous close-harmony singing and undiluted Americana —from the wide-open prairies of Stockholm ...

Various Artists: Country & Western Hit Parade 1961-1965

Review by Andy Gill, The Word, February 2012

At the height of rock and roll, country music fought hack with a string of urban-hillbilly hits. But did they go too far? ...

Earl Scruggs Passes On: Three Fingers, Hippie Kids + A Grace That's Felt 'Round The World

Memoir by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 28 March 2012

I'LL NEVER LOOK at the Waffle House the same way. The one out by the Assault & Battery Lane exit, 65 South out of Nashville, ...

Earl Scruggs, 1924-2012

Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 29 March 2012

Banjo player with a breathtaking style who shaped bluegrass and explored other genres ...

Johnny Cash: Out Of The Blue and Into The Black: Johnny Cash

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, April 2012

IT'S NOT EXACTLY boom-chicka-boom, but the twangy guitar part that kicks off Johnny Cash's 1971 album Man In Black is the same minimal single-string picking ...

Nanci Griffith: Intersection

Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 10 April 2012

"I'M STILL GONE and it's all the same/ I'm taking notes and naming names…" snarls Nanci Griffith on the churlish, Pogues-evoking-the-Everlys 'Hell No, I'm Not ...

Ray Wylie Hubbard plays Joe's Pub tonight, talks new album (with a Beatle)

Report and Interview by Jeff Slate, Examiner.com, 17 May 2012

RAY WYLIE HUBBARD will bring his raw, honest Texas rock'n'roll to Joe's Pub tonight. When I caught up with him the other day he was ...

Alan Jackson: 30 Miles West, and Movin'

Profile and Interview by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 30 May 2012

"So here I am on my stool tonight Yeah, I'm practicing for the afterlife, Cause when I'm nothing but a pile of bones I'm gonna ...

Doc Watson, 1923-2012

Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 30 May 2012

FOR ALMOST 50 YEARS, Doc Watson, who has died aged 89, was the most illustrious name in traditional American folk music. A superb, original guitarist ...

Willie Nelson's Heroes a great Father's Day pick says his son, Lukas

Report and Interview by Jeff Slate, Examiner.com, 15 June 2012

"HE'S A GREAT DAD. I'm an incredibly lucky guy to have grown up with him," Lukas Nelson told me of his dad, music legend Willie ...

Robert Ellis: New band of the week: Robert Ellis

Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 4 July 2012

Gram Parsons is long dead, but those with a taste for LA country might sense the return of the Grievous Angel in this singer ...

Kitty Wells, 1919-2012

Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 17 July 2012

The "Queen of Country Music" in the post-war era, she had her first hit with 'It Wasn't God Who Made Honky Tonk Angels'. ...

Dawes: An Interview

Interview by Graeme Thomson, Uncut, August 2012

"SOMEONE TOLD ME that Bruce Springsteen is aware of our band." At the end of a telephone wire some 5,000 miles away, 25-year-old Taylor Goldsmith ...

Rodney Crowell's Melodic Literacy

Interview by Charles Bermant, Rock's Backpages, 6 August 2012

RODNEY CROWELL, who turns 62 on August 7, has been on our radar since the 1970s, when he was the freshest horse in Emmylou Harris' ...

The Lumineers: New Band Of The Week — The Lumineers

Profile by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 17 August 2012

With a cornucopia of campfire singalongs, this Colorado crew are poised to paint the world sepia with their rousing, rustic folk. ...

Bonnie Guitar, Jean Shepard, Kitty Wells: Honky-tonk women: the female artists who made it big in country music

Report and Interview by Sean O'Hagan, The Guardian, 6 September 2012

It's not easy for women to survive in the macho world of country. Some of those who did, such as Jean Shepard and Bonnie Guitar, ...

Dwight Yoakam: 3 Pears

Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 18 September 2012

A CASCADING BASS LINE that evokes the work of Motown's James Jamerson, all fat, swollen and narcotically melodic, opens 3 Pears, Dwight Yoakam's return to ...

Chely Wright's Rediscovered Country

Profile by Charles Bermant, No Depression, 24 September 2012

WE ALL HOLD our own set of prejudices and preconceptions, with clear ideas about politics and religion, tolerance and hatred for country music singers and ...

Connie Smith: Honoring Connie Smith: 45 RPM at Douglas Corner, Nashville

Live Review by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 7 November 2012

FOR THOSE WHO believe real country music has fled Nashville, the recent CMA Awards would do little to ease your notion. Bombast, smoke, lasers and ...

Emmylou Harris (2012)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, December 2012

Ms Harris talks about her latest album (a collaboration with old associate Rodney Crowell) Old Yellow Moon; looks at how she fits into the current country/folk/Americana scene, and looks back at length at her early years and her work with the legendary Gram Parsons.

File format: mp3; file size: 25.5mb, interview length: 55' 45" sound quality: * (phoner)

Rosanne Cash: Union Chapel, London

Live Review by Stephen Dalton, The Times, 3 December 2012

A HOST OF FACTORS, including brain surgery, have conspired to keep Rosanne Cash away from London for the last six years. Returning to a full ...

Kris Kristofferson: Troubadour writing on into the sunset

Interview by Rob Hughes, Daily Telegraph, 4 December 2012

Country singer Kris Kristofferson reflects on a long and "lucky" career on his new album, Feeling Mortal. He talks to Rob Hughes about why. ...

Ben Bullington, Rodney Crowell: Rodney Crowell, Ben Bullington and More: Station Inn, Nashville

Live Review by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 7 December 2012

BEN BULLINGTON had never played Nashville. The Montana doctor who'd lovingly crafted three albums thick with simple details and a voice that has a warm ...

Lady Antebellum: On This Winter's Night

Review by Caroline Sullivan, The Guardian, 13 December 2012

A CHRISTMAS ALBUM by America's unfathomably all-conquering Lady A? Why didn't they think of it before? In fact, they almost did — six of the 12 tracks ...

Various Artists: Behind Closed Doors (Kent)

Review by Mike Atherton, Echoes, 2013

AARON NEVILLE is a remarkable bloke. Muscular and tattooed, he looks like a bodybuilder or a bouncer, until he opens his mouth and sings: the ...

Dawn McCarthy & Bonnie "Prince" Billy, The Everly Brothers: Dawn McCarthy & Bonnie "Prince" Billy: What The Brothers Sang

Review by Jamie Atkins, Record Collector, February 2013

FOLLOWING THEIR bleakly festive 'Christmas Eve Can Kill You' single, Will Oldham and Dawn McCarthy return for an album-length exploration of the Everly Brothers’ songbook. ...

The Mavericks: In Time

Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 27 February 2013

NASHVILLE HAD NEVER quite heard the likes of The Mavericks, a Miami five-piece with a retro countrypolitan lean and a Cuban-American lead singer with a ...

Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons: Heartaches and Hangovers: Gram Parsons' GP

Retrospective and Interview by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, March 2013

IT IS A FINE irony of her long career as the Queen of Country Rock that, on the night when Gram Parsons stopped by to ...

Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris: Old Friends, New Record: Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, March 2013

It was a long time coming but, as Emmylou Harris and Rodney Crowell explain to David Burke, their new album together was all a matter ...

Ashley Monroe: Like A Rose

Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 12 March 2013

TO LOOK AT THE PRETTY GIRL in the sundress under the parasol, Ashley Monroe could be one more Southern belle looking for her place in ...

Kacey Musgraves: Same Trailer, Different Park

Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 26 March 2013

KACEY MUSGRAVES, 23, sings unvarnished truths about being hooked on "Mary Kay, Mary Jane and Mary down the block," but she's maintained the sunniness that ...

George Jones: Farewell to the King of Heartbreak

Retrospective by Peter Stone Brown, CounterPunch, 26 April 2013

THIS MORNING while finishing my first cup of coffee and checking my Facebook notifications, an email came from a good friend of mine.  The title ...

The Eagles: Where Eagles Dared: California's Signature Rock Band Comes to London

Report by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages, 29 April 2013

Messrs. Schmit, Henley, Frey and Walsh (photo: Debbie Kruger) WELCOME TO the Hotel Connaught, the plush old Mayfair institution where Glenn Frey, Don Henley, Joe Walsh ...

Alison Krauss: Crossing County Lines: Jerry Douglas + Alison Krauss Call Their Friends for Americana Night

Live Review by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 3 June 2013

AMERICANA – as the big tent pitched by the Americana Music Association – is its own conundrum. Drawing an audience that's decidedly 30+, it embraces ...

George Jones: 1931-2013 — "He could make you cry with his voice..."

Obituary by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, July 2013

HIS FANS RANGED from Gram Parsons to Frank Sinatra, while Roger McGuinn calls him "more than just the greatest country singer ever". Yet, for much ...

Guy Clark: My Favorite Picture Of You

Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 23 July 2013

AS HE ENTERS HIS 70TH YEAR, Guy Clark consolidates his standing as the eminence grise of Texas singer/songwriters with My Favorite Picture of You. A ...

Civil Wars, the: The Civil Wars: The Civil Wars

Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 1 August 2013

TAYLOR SWIFT disses exes with singalong choruses, Rihanna duets with her abusive beau, but no pop act makes outsize romantic dysfunction sound as extravagantly pretty ...

Jack Clement, 1931-2013

Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 11 August 2013

JACK CLEMENT, who has died aged 82, was not only a prolific and successful songwriter and an able musician but had a long track record ...

Robbie Fulks: Gone Away Backward

Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 27 August 2013

ALWAYS THE contentious kind, Robbie Fulks flexes the old Tareyton Cigarettes mode of doing business: "I'd rather fight than switch." To that end, he's remained ...

Kris Kristofferson

Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, September 2013

HUMILITY can be a deceptive character trait. Those who profess it are not always quite as humble as they seem. Like Friedrich Nietzsche wrote, "He ...

The Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: Nitty Gritty Dirt Band: The Making Of Will The Circle Be Unbroken

Retrospective and Interview by Johnny Black, Country, October 2013

AT THE START of the '70s, America was riven by conflict. Inter-racial strife, the Vietnam War and the emergence of a new, left-leaning youth culture, ...

Ray Price 1926-2013

Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 18 December 2013

COUNTRY MUSIC entered a golden period after the second world war, as scattered regional styles such as honkytonk, western swing and bluegrass began to coalesce ...

Kandia Crazy Horse: Stampede

Review by Barney Hoskyns, MOJO, Fall 2013

Stellar first offering from maverick former contributor to the Village Voice and Creative Loafing ...

Johnny Horton

Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, 2014

THE ANNALS OF rock 'n' roll are littered with tragic narratives of lives cut short in their prime, whether it be Eddie Cochran's death in ...

Spade Cooley: Eye Witness: Spade Cooley Murders His Wife

Retrospective by Johnny Black, Country, January 2014

IN THE EARLY 1960s, ageing country music star Spade Cooley and his significantly younger wife Ella Mae were living on his remote ranch, Rosamund, in ...

The Everly Brothers, Phil Everly: Remembering Phil Everly

Memoir by Peter Stone Brown, CounterPunch, 3 January 2014

I PROBABLY FIRST heard the Everly Brothers when I was a real little kid about six or seven, playing in the driveway behind my family's ...

Phil Everly never got to soar as a solo act

Obituary by Joel Selvin, San Francisco Chronicle, 4 January 2014

Phil Everly never got to be his own man. He was always – and always will be - Phil Everly of the Everly Brothers. ...

Rosanne Cash: The River & The Thread

Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 21 January 2014

LIKE A GOOD claret or damp moss, Rosanne Cash's singing is something to sink into. Surrender to the tones – mostly dark, but marked by ...

Matraca Berg: The Daughter of Music Row

Retrospective and Interview by Holly Gleason, Oxford American, 22 January 2014

A SLIGHT, YOUNG brunette stood alone in a navy Richard Tyler slip on the Opry House stage, backed by a pianist and a string quartet, ...

Kacey Musgraves: A Whole New Trailer Park

Interview by Geoffrey Himes, Nashville Scene, 23 January 2014

Kacey Musgraves tops this year's poll for one simple reason: good, smart songs ...

Rosanne Cash (2014)

Interview by Adam Sweeting, Rock's Backpages audio, 10 February 2014

The not-so-native New Yorker on her current album The River and the Thread; on rediscovering the American South, and the Tallahatchie Bridge; on being Johnny Cash's daughter; working with her husband and co-writer John Leventhal; on songwriting, and her sewing circle!

File format: mp3; file size: 57.9mb, interview length: 1h 00' 16" sound quality: ****

Sheryl Crow

Report and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, March 2014

SHERYL CROW'S made a country album, they said. She's living down there in Nashville, hanging out with Vince Gill and Brad Paisley, going to church ...

Béla Fleck, Abigail Washburn: Béla Fleck and Abigail Washburn

Interview by Bill DeYoung, Connect Savannah, April 2014

FROM LOUIS & Keely to John & Yoko to Derek & Susan, married couples have worked together to give us some of the most interesting ...

Nickel Creek: A Dotted Line

Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 1 April 2014

FROM SEAN WATKINS' FIRST commanding acoustic guitar strokes on 'The Rest of My Life', it's obvious Nickel Creek has grown up. Sister Sara Watkins' fiddle ...

Lavender Country, Chely Wright: Country music's gay stars: "We're still kicking down the closet door"

Report and Interview by Graeme Thomson, The Guardian, 10 April 2014

Country music is known for tears, beers and big hats – not gay anthems. One singer set out 40 years ago to change that, but ...

Nickel Creek: Celebrating the Now

Profile and Interview by Holly Gleason, Paste, 15 April 2014

NEVER MIND THE GRAMMY AWARDS, the accolades and being young, gifted and at her creative peak. There was a moment during the recording of 2005's ...

Dolly Parton: Blue Smoke

Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 13 May 2014

BEFORE DOLLY PARTON was country music's Mae West, she was a crystal-voiced songwriter who captured Appalachia's tiniest moments like fireflies in a jar. On Blue ...

The Eagles, Don Felder: Don Felder Surprised at Ex-Eagles Mates' Ill Will Toward Him

Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 16 May 2014

WHEN GUITARIST Don Felder joined the Eagles in 1974, he was seen by many as a sort of bridge member, as the band was morphing ...

Sturgill Simpson: Metamodern Sounds in Country Music (Loose)

Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, June 2014

Anyone for metaphysical prog country? Nashville songwriter heads for the stars ...

Carlene Carter and the Unbroken Circle

Interview by Michael Simmons, Huffington Post, 8 June 2014

If there's a better hardcore country record in 2014 than Carlene Carter's Carter Girl, I haven't heard it. ...

Holly Williams

Profile and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, July 2014

HOLLY WILLIAMS carries her lineage lightly. Which can't be easy when your grandfather was Hank Williams Sr, the beating heart and tortured soul of country ...

Kenny Chesney

Profile and Interview by Alan Light, Radio.com, September 2014

"THERE'S THIS perception that I only sing about partying and getting drunk," says Kenny Chesney. "If people saw how hard I work, and how much ...

Sid Griffin: The Trick is To Breathe

Review by Terry Staunton, Uncut, December 2014

SINCE THE demise of the Long Ryders at the beginning of the '90s, Kentucky native Griffin has made London his musical base, cutting records mostly ...

Taylor Swift: Billboard Woman of the Year Taylor Swift on Writing Her Own Rules, Not Becoming a Cliche and the Hurdle of Going Pop

Interview by Alan Light, Billboard, 5 December 2014

TAYLOR SWIFT never doubted that her fifth album, 1989, would sell 1 million copies in its first week. But others were not so confident. ...

Willie Nelson: Paul English: Watching Willie's Back

Profile and Interview by Joe Nick Patoski, Oxford American, 13 Winter 2014

PAUL ENGLISH was talking about breaking someone's legs, cheerily using the threat as a means to get to the punch line of a story. The ...

Gene Clark: The Byrd Who Flew Alone: The Triumphs and Tragedy of Gene Clark (Four Suns DVD)

Film/DVD/TV Review by Bill Wasserzieher, Ugly Things, Spring 2014

OF ALL THE hard-luck tales about musicians who died before their time – Brian Jones, Hendrix, Joplin, Morrison, Parsons, Bloomfield, Cobain, Winehouse, et al. – ...

Emmylou Harris, back where it all started

Profile by Geoffrey Himes, The Washington Post, 8 January 2015

THERE'S A REASON so many artists have signed on to take part in The Life and Songs of Emmylou Harris: An All-Star Concert Celebration on ...

Little Jimmy Dickens, 1920-2015

Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 8 January 2015

Country music star of the 1950s and '60s who remained a stalwart of the Grand Ole Opry. ...

Lady Antebellum: Nashville Skyline

Interview by Scott McLennan, mX, 13 March 2015

"YOU'VE GOT to ask yourself one question: 'Do I feel lucky?'" After playing golf with Dirty Harry himself, Hollywood icon Clint Eastwood, Lady Antebellum's Charles ...

Gram Parsons: The Read: Mr Gram Parsons

Retrospective by Barney Hoskyns, Mr. Porter, April 2015

Narcotics, Nudie Cohn suits, and the Rolling Stones – we pay homage to the fiercely talented founder of alternative country, whose untimely demise was as ...

Dwight Yoakam: Second Hand Heart

Review by Alfred Soto, Spin, 13 April 2015

ARTISTS DEPENDENT ON TRADITION as muse and subject gamble on fate. Eventually the marketplace will deal — so they think. Well, Dwight Yoakam has won ...

Merle Haggard (2015)

Interview by Barney Hoskyns, Rock's Backpages audio, May 2015

The Hag tells all about signing to Capitol Records: producer Ken Nelson; the Bakersfield Sound; Glen Campbell... and having the Rat Pack as fans.

File format: mp3; file size: 17.2mb, interview length: 18' 44" sound quality: ** (phoner)

Townes Van Zandt: The Nashville Sessions

Review by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, May 2015

IT COULD HAVE been the record that made him; maybe, even the record that saved him. ...

Rodney Crowell, Emmylou Harris: Emmylou Harris & Rodney Crowell: The Traveling Kind

Review and Interview by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, June 2015

THE ADAGE which holds that you get your whole life to make your debut album, and barely a year or two to furnish your second, ...

Merle Haggard: Keswick Theatre, Philadelphia

Live Review by Peter Stone Brown, peterstonebrown.com, 5 June 2015

WHEN I HEARD that Merle Haggard was going to play the Keswick Theatre just outside Philadelphia, I knew I had to go. I'm a firm ...

Watkins Family Hour: Watkins Family Hour

Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 14 July 2015

OFTEN COLLABORATIONS of wildly talented people fall short of the pieces, or force an outcome that feels designed to an end. For the Watkins Family ...

Ashley Monroe: The Blade

Review by Alfred Soto, Spin, 20 July 2015

THE SINGER AND WRITER of the most exquisite sighs in modern country, Ashley Monroe doesn't come off as a mope. Her high, fluting voice projects ...

Doug Sahm: Joe Nick Patoski on Doug Sahm

Interview by Stephen K. Peeples, stephenkpeeples.com, 25 July 2015

Totally true tall tales from Texas about Biblical floods, Doug Sahm, Texas music, Texas Tornados, rednecks, cowboys, hippies, San Antonio, Austin, Houston, Huey P. Meaux, ...

Johnny Cash, Leonard Cohen, Bob Dylan, Simon & Garfunkel: Bob Johnston, 1932-2015

Obituary by Richard Williams, The Guardian, 18 August 2015

Record producer who played a significant role in the recording career of Bob Dylan. ...

Willie Nelson: Willie and the Weed Factory

Profile and Interview by Chris Heath, GQ, 31 August 2015

Marijuana's state-by-state march toward full legalization would never have happened without Willie Nelson. He's 82 now, and he's spent nearly half his life as America's ...

The Eagles, Don Henley: Don Henley

Interview by Paul Lester, The Guardian, 1 October 2015

YOU WOULD NEVER know that a member of the biggest American band in history had just entered the building. Dressed down in chequered shirt and ...

The Eagles: Eagles: The Heroes Or Villains Of 70s Rock?

Retrospective by Bill Holdship, Classic Rock, 6 October 2015

The band who took country-rock to the masses ...

The Eagles: Eagles: The Heroes Or Villains Of '70s Rock?

Retrospective by Bill Holdship, Classic Rock, 6 October 2015

The band who took country-rock to the masses ...

The Avett Brothers, The Be Good Tanyas, Carolina Chocolate Drops, The Carter Family, The Hackensaw Boys, The Mammals, Old Crow Medicine Show, Ollabelle, Charley Patton, Uncle Earl: America Unfiltered: The World of Old-Time Music

Overview by Geoffrey Himes, American Songwriter, 8 October 2015

RUTH UNGAR understands that a lot of people can't tell the difference between bluegrass and old-time music. Anytime they see a group with a fiddle ...

Kacey Musgraves: The New Rebel Queen of Nashville

Profile and Interview by Rob Hughes, Daily Telegraph, 1 December 2015

THREE DAYS before I meet Kacey Musgraves, the American country singer appears at the Royal Variety Performance in London, sharing a bill with One Direction, ...

Kinky Friedman: Is Kinky Friedman "The Loneliest Man I Ever Met"?

Report and Interview by Stephen K. Peeples, stephenkpeeples.com, 5 December 2015

THE NIGHT after Kinky Friedman finished recording The Loneliest Man I Ever Met, between the epic floods of spring 2015, the Texas-based singer-songwriter, humorist, entrepreneur and ...

Waylon Jennings: Best Friend of Mine: Waylon Jennings on Buddy Holly

Retrospective by David Burke, Vintage Rock, 2016

HE MAY BE renowned as a pioneer of outlaw country, but Waylon Jennings had a rock'n'roll past long before he caused apoplexy among the Nashville ...

Guy Clark: Randall Knives, Desperados & Homegrown Tomatoes

Memoir by Holly Gleason, The Bitter Southerner, 2016

IT'S 6:42 in the morning, and traffic ain't moving. There's no notion of how far this snake of pick-ups, sedans, mini vans twists and lays ...

The Beau Brummels: Were The Beau Brummels America's Unluckiest Band?

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2016

EVERYTHING BEGAN so well. Almost a year after the all-consuming British Invasion began, the Beau Brummels were one of the first new homegrown bands to ...

Asleep at the Wheel, Howlin' Wolf, Jerry Lee Lewis, Elvis Presley: Peter Guralnick: Sam Phillips – The Man Who Invented Rock 'n' Roll/ Ray Benson & David Menconi: Comin' Right At Ya

Book Review by Peter Stone Brown, CounterPunch, 26 February 2016

SAM PHILLIPS, the man behind Sun Records was easily one of the most important figures in the history of American popular music. ...

Loretta Lynn

Retrospective and Interview by David Burke, R2/Rock'n'Reel, March 2016

THE WORD "legend" has been devalued by misappropriation in modern linguistic currency. These days it is increasingly (and stupidly) used as a synonym for "star" ...

Merle Haggard: a Rebel To The End

Obituary by Peter Stone Brown, CounterPunch, 8 April 2016

I GUESS IT WAS sometime in early 1969, in some Morningside Heights apartment, when a friend sang a song about a death row prisoner on ...

Bonnie Bishop: Ain't Who I Was

Review by Holly Gleason, Paste, 6 June 2016

HOLLOW BASS CASCADING over a sunken groove, slinky guitar etching the melody and a palpable humidity establish 'Show A Little Mercy' as a satiny ribbon ...

Brandy Clark: Big Day in a Small Town

Review by Alfred Soto, Spin, 6 June 2016

A WRITER SINGING HER OWN SONGS isn't necessarily a singer. Brandy Clark made this point clear on 2013's 12 Stories; the title's J.D. Salinger allusion ...

Ralph Stanley, 1927-2016

Obituary by Tony Russell, The Guardian, 26 June 2016

FOLLOWING THE DEATH of Bill Monroe in 1996, Ralph Stanley became the leading name in bluegrass, embodying in both his music and his bearing the ...

Brandy Clark: Big Day in a Small Town

Review by Will Hermes, Rolling Stone, 1 July 2016

BRANDY CLARK'S 2013 DEBUT, 12 Stories, heralded a Nashville songwriting renaissance, alongside pathfinders like Kacey Musgraves and Eric Church. Its sequel, and proper major label ...

Dierks Bentley: How Dierks Bentley Became Country Music's Most Relatable Star

Profile and Interview by Maura Johnston, Esquire, 25 August 2016

IT'S A SULTRY August afternoon at the St. Louis record mecca Vintage Vinyl, and in the back of the shop amidst carrels of LPs, Dierks ...

Rick Nelson: Restless Kid: Rick Nelson at the Cusp of Country-Rock

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, September 2016

IT'S TOO BAD Rick Nelson recorded a top 5 single called 'Teen Age Idol', not just because the song is dreary fan-pandering, but because it ...

Margo Price: Scala, London

Live Review by Ian Gittins, The Guardian, 2 September 2016

Price is a country traditionalist who turns the hard-luck stories of her life into irresistibly vivid and vibrant music. ...

John Prine: Songs from the Gut: A Conversation with John Prine

Interview by Holly Gleason, No Depression, Fall 2016

JOHN PRINE, the original "new Dylan", has always written songs with a deep heart and a strong empathy for the people who go unseen. ...

The Beatles, Chuck Berry, Bob Dylan, The Everly Brothers, Marianne Faithfull, The Hollies, Graham Nash: In Praise of the Hollies

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2017

WITH THEIR EXUBERANT three-part harmony, chiming guitar riffs, and keen sense of what makes a memorable hook, the Hollies created a signature sound. At first, ...

Colin Blunstone, Jack Bruce, Al Kooper, Tracy Nelson, Michael Nesmith, Paul Revere & The Raiders, Sam the Sham and the Pharaohs, Ringo Starr, Bob Weir, Zal Yanovsky: What happened when these '60s artists decided to go solo?

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2017

GOING SOLO IS an ancient musical tradition. Probably there was a Gregorian monk whose yearning for the spotlight made him think, "I can do this ...

Kris Kristofferson: How Kris Kristofferson saved Nashville

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, February 2017

THERE ARE SO many reasons to be in awe of Kris Kristofferson. He survived Barbra Streisand's A Star Is Born, Heaven's Gate, and the movie ...

Jim Lauderdale: Jim Changes Everything

Interview by David Burke, Country Music, February 2017

JIM LAUDERDALE knows his country music history – and he's very aware of his and his contemporaries' modest place in it compared to the iconic ...

Zac Brown Band, Brad Paisley: Brad Paisley/Zac Brown Band: O2 Arena, London

Live Review by Andrew Mueller, The Guardian, 13 March 2017

Hats off to two entertaining stars of the C2C festival who take contrasting approaches to God, the south and the good ol' US of A. ...

Glen Campbell: Kate Mossman on extreme pop tourism: who would fly 5,000 miles for a gig?

Comment by Kate Mossman, New Statesman, 22 March 2017

Glen Campbell's daughter says, "Dad, she's come 5,000 miles to see you!" I add, "How sad is that?" ...

The Dixie Chicks: There's Your Trouble: Considering the Dixie Chicks controversy, with hindsight 20/20

Retrospective and Interview by Holly Gleason, No Depression, 23 May 2017

IT WAS EARLY 2003. The Dixie Chicks were easily the biggest girl group in history — and also the biggest act in country music post–Garth ...

Dolly Parton

Profile and Interview by David Burke, Country Music Legends, Summer 2017

SHE'S SOLD MORE than 100 million albums, chalked up twenty six number ones on the Billboard country charts, won nine Grammys and received the U.S. ...

The Byrds, Flying Burrito Brothers, Emmylou Harris, Gram Parsons: How the Ghost of Gram Parsons haunts Alt-Country

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, January 2018

GRAM PARSONS didn't care much for the term "country-rock". And he wasn't thrilled by some of the more candy-coated bands who were able to capitalize ...

Kylie Minogue: Golden

Review by Nick Hasted, The Independent, 5 April 2018

Download this: 'Golden', 'Shelby '68', 'L.O.V.E.', 'Music's Too Sad Without You' ...

Willis Alan Ramsey: The Follow-Up

Retrospective and Interview by Joe Nick Patoski, NPR, 9 April 2018

The price of perfection is cheap, if that's all you spend your money on. ...

The Byrds, Chris Hillman, Roger McGuinn, Gram Parsons: The Byrds' Sweetheart Of The Rodeo at 50

Retrospective and Interview by Harvey Kubernik, Rock's Backpages, June 2018

MARKING THE 50th anniversary of the groundbreaking Sweetheart of the Rodeo, Byrds co-founders Roger McGuinn and Chris Hillman have been performing the album in its ...

"Country Music … Was Anything BUT Pure": An Interview with Bill Malone and Tracey Laird

Retrospective and Interview by Will Hermes, Longreads, 4 June 2018

The co-authors of Country Music USA – a revised edition of the genre's definitive history – talk about the music's African-American tributaries, its unpredictable politics, ...

Elvis Presley: D.J. Fontana, 1931-2018

Obituary by Tony Burke, Record Collector, August 2018

DOMINIC JOSEPH "D.J." Fontana died in Nashville on 13th June. He was aged 87 and was suffering from complications of a broken hip. From 1954 ...

Charlie Daniels, Bob Dylan: In concert, Daniels doesn't mix politics with music

Interview by Jim Sullivan, Cape Cod Times, 16 August 2018

CHARLIE DANIELS is pretty clear about what you will hear and will not hear when he and his five-piece band take the stage Saturday night ...

The Beasts of Bourbon: Beasts of Bourbon's Spencer P Jones: hellraiser among Australian rock greats

Obituary by Andrew Stafford, The Guardian, 23 August 2018

Some were scared off by the guitarist's snarling delivery and reputation, but you'd be hard pressed to name a bad song. ...

Bon Iver, Cher, Jay-Z, Ke$ha, Migos, Travis Scott, Britney Spears, T-Pain, Kanye West: How Auto-Tune Revolutionized the Sound of Popular Music

Essay by Simon Reynolds, Pitchfork, 17 September 2018

An in-depth history of the most important pop innovation of the last 20 years, from Cher's 'Believe' to Kanye West to Migos ...

Shania Twain: SSE Hydro, Glasgow

Live Review by Graeme Thomson, Mail On Sunday, 29 September 2018

Shania Twain's empowering Friday night anthems have accrued a certain gravitas in the age of #MeToo, as her surprisingly meaty tour proves. ...

Kacey Musgraves: Bristol Hippodrome

Live Review by Jude Rogers, The Guardian, 24 October 2018

Despite a fantastic sound from her band, the Grammy-winning star is awkward on stage as her lyrics are lost in the dry ice. ...

The Eagles, Bobby Fuller Four, The : (No) AMF, Boyd Elder: Texas "Artlaw" Dead at 74

Memoir by Stephen K. Peeples, stephenkpeeples.com, 30 October 2018

LEGENDARY TEXAS multi-media fine artist and rock 'n' roll "artlaw" Boyd Elder, who spent a lifetime expressing his artistic vision with often flagrant disregard for convention ...

The Wandering Hearts, Ward Thomas: Why country music is cool: the rise of Ward Thomas and the Wandering Hearts

Report and Interview by Lisa Verrico, The Sunday Times, 4 November 2018

Inspired and nurtured by Nashville, British acts are putting well-crafted lyrics and storytelling back at the heart of pop. ...

Rosanne Cash, Rodney Crowell, Steve Earle, Foster and Lloyd, Alan Jackson, Alison Krauss, k.d. lang, Lyle Lovett, Randy Travis, Dwight Yoakam: Five Years That Revolutionized Country Music

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, 2019

THE COUNTRY MUSIC situation in 1985 was so dire that The New York Times published an article that, if not quite an obituary, was a ...

Buddy Guy, Elvis Presley, Charlie Rich: Take The Music Seriously: An Interview with Peter Guralnick, 20th August, 2009

Book Excerpt by Maud Berthomier, 'Encore Plus De Bruit' (Éditions Tristram), 2019

"Because in the end to me, even today, it's never entirely clear exactly what any interview is about. Sometimes, the most important thing in an ...

Various Artists: Texas Hillbillies – 1922-1937 Restored and Remastered

Review by Tony Burke, Blues & Rhythm, April 2019

NINETY-THREE sides of vintage and rare old-time music from the Lone Star state (mostly instrumentals) on a four CD set – culled from the record ...

Roy Orbison, Roscoe Shelton, Joe Simon: Fred Foster, 1931-2019

Obituary by Tony Burke, Record Collector, May 2019

FRED FOSTER, the founder of Monument and Sound Stage 7 Records, died on 20th February in Nashville, aged 87. Born in North Carolina in 1931 ...

Guy Clark's Triumphant Last Act

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, July 2019

IF YOU WERE watching television after midnight on July 21, 1998, you may have witnessed a musical performance that belongs in the history books. David ...

Maren Morris, Kacey Musgraves: Kacey Musgraves, Maren Morris and the Politics of Joy

Comment by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, July 2019

NOT MANY people in the audience at Irving Plaza in New York knew who Kacey Musgraves was when she opened there for Little Big Town ...

Eric Church: How Eric Church Is Keeping Classic Rock Alive

Essay by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, September 2019

ERIC CHURCH was born too late, and no one knows that better than he does. His music is nostalgic for an era he wasn't alive ...

Tyler Childers: Country Squire (Hickman Holler/RCA)

Review by Rob Hughes, Uncut, September 2019

Kentucky's latest emergent star proves his worth  ...

Linda Ronstadt: Why Linda Ronstadt is the Quintessential "Girl Singer"

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, September 2019

I FIRST SAW her at the Bitter End on Bleecker Street in the early '70s; I was in the second row, sipping on an ice ...

The Mavericks: Why the Mavericks are the Bar Band of Your Dreams

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, September 2019

IT FELT LIKE some kind of a trick, the way the Mavericks seduced the world of country music when they came on the scene in ...

Chet Atkins, Dolly Parton: How Dolly Parton Became America's Sweetheart

Retrospective by Mitchell Cohen, Music Aficionado, October 2019

THE LAST SONG on Dolly Parton's My Tennessee Mountain Home, her autobiographical concept album from 1973, is a three-minute story about how she arrived in ...

Gene Clark: No Other

Review by Kieron Tyler, The Arts Desk, 3 November 2019

Deep-digging revisitation of one of the pre-punk 70s' best albums ...

Various Artists: The Rough Guide To Country Blues/The Rough Guide To The Roots Of Country Music

Review by Tony Burke, Vintage Jazz Mart, Fall 2019

Two 25-track CD sets containing an excellent cross section of artists representing the best in 1920s and 1930s country blues and hillbilly music. ...

Johnny Cash: Jail House Rock

Retrospective by Alan Light, MOJO, February 2020

JOHNNY CASH stood on the makeshift stage at Folsom Prison, set up in the cafeteria, behind death row. Almost a hundred men had been executed ...

AC/DC, The Band, James Brown, Kate Bush, Johnny Cash, Cheap Trick, Elvis Costello, Bob Dylan, Peter Frampton, Aretha Franklin, Grateful Dead, Led Zeppelin, Jerry Lee Lewis, Bob Marley & the Wailers, MC5, Metallica, Joni Mitchell, Motörhead, Nirvana, Pearl Jam, The Ramones, Simon & Garfunkel, Bruce Springsteen, Supertramp, Talking Heads, Thin Lizzy, U2, The Who, Wilco, Bill Withers: The 30 best live concert albums of all time

Guide by Ian Winwood, Daily Telegraph, 22 April 2020

LAST WEEK, A STORY appeared in the New York Times that predicted that live music would not return to the world's stages until the autumn ...

Steve Earle & the Dukes: Ghosts Of West Virginia

Review by Andrew Mueller, Uncut, May 2020

ON APRIL 5, 2010, 300 metres beneath Raleigh County, West Virginia, methane seeping from the coal seams of Massey Energy's Upper Big Branch mine ignited ...

Lucille Starr: Country singer Lucille Starr mastered yearning ballads and rockabilly yelps

Obituary by Nicholas Jennings, The Globe and Mail, 10 May 2020

SHE WAS Canada's consummate country music queen: petite, buxom and with towering hair to match a voice that could scale heartbreaking heights. Beginning in the ...

The Chicks: Gaslighter (Columbia)

Review by David Bennun, Metro, July 2020

THE CHICKS formerly known as Dixie haven't released a new studio album in 14 years, which makes Gaslighter a pretty big deal. ...

Firefall, Gram Parsons: Classic Rockers Firefall Drop First New Record in Two Decades

Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 30 November 2020

IT WAS, according to guitarist/singer Jock Bartley, not only one of the highlights of his musical career, but of his life. And it happened onstage ...

Chuck Berry, Fats Domino, Jerry Lee Lewis, Little Richard, Lonnie Mack: Peter Guralnick Gets Lost in Profiles of Musical Giants

Interview by Bob Ruggiero, Houston Press, 3 December 2020

PETER GURALNICK didn't set out to be a music journalist. The occupation didn't really exist at the time when a combination of luck and bluster ...

Bear Family 45th anniversary

Book Excerpt by Kieron Tyler, unpublished, Spring 2020

ASTONISHINGLY, Bear Family Records celebrates its 45th year in business in 2020. During that time, the label has never stopped producing the ultimate in reissues ...

Guy Clark, Townes Van Zandt: The Story of Guy and Susanna Clark Unfolds in New Documentary Without Getting Killed or Caught

Report and Interview by Geoffrey Himes, American Songwriter, 15 March 2021

The documentary movie, Without Getting Killed or Caught, is as much about Susanna Clark as it is about her husband Guy. Which makes sense, because ...

Don Everly, 1937-2021

Obituary by Michael Gray, The Guardian, 22 August 2021

Half of the Everly Brothers, the famous US pop duo known for hits such as 'Bye Bye Love', 'Wake Up Little Susie' and 'Cathy's Clown' ...

Luke Combs: Growin' Up

Live Review by Maura Johnston, Rolling Stone, 25 June 2022

Combs isn't reinventing Nashville clichés but he does give them a fresh coat of wax ...

Lil Nas X: Eventim Apollo, London

Live Review by Lisa Verrico, The Times, 14 November 2022

LIL NAS X will for ever be famous as the first pop star to spring from TikTok. It was there, in 2019, that his country-meets-trap ...

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