Steven Ward
Steven Ward is the features editor at The Clarion Ledger in Jackson, Miss., as well as a freelance music writer. He has been the senior editor at Rockcritics.com and has had music writing published in Las Vegas Weekly, Harp, Classic Rock, The Boston Phoenix, Blurt, Louisiana Life, Offbeat and the webzine Popmatters. Ward, who was raised in New Orleans, now lives with his wife and daughter in Jackson, Miss.
32 articles
List of articles in the library
Lester Bangs, Warren Zevon: What ever happened to rock critic Paul Nelson? An Interview
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, March 2000
ROCK WRITING WAS not the first choice of Paul Nelson. A pioneer of rock criticism, and one of its most talented practitioners, Nelson (who cites ...
The not-so-hip J.D. Considine: A music critic who writes about music
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, May 2000
J.D. CONSIDINE has been writing about popular music since 1977. During his more than 22-year career in rock criticism, he has polarized as many of ...
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, July 2000
IF CHUCK EDDY is heavy metal's bastard child, Martin Popoff is its favourite son. Popoff, 37, has been writing about metal for more than a ...
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, August 2000
STANLEY BOOTH IS one hell of a writer. The evidence is clear once you pick up his book on the world's greatest rock ‘n' roll ...
Part-Time Writer: Tom Smucker Keeps Us Hangin' By the Telephone
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, October 2000
TOM SMUCKER writes about music when he wants to. I wish he would "want to" more than he does. ...
Anthony DeCurtis: Populist at Large
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, November 2000
ANTHONY DECURTIS never liked the rock writing of Lester Bangs. He never read Creem. After 20 years, DeCurtis still writes for Rolling Stone and still loves and defends ...
He Got a TV Eye on You: The Ken Tucker Interview
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, December 2000
ONE DAY, BACK in 1974, a Lower East Side resident named Ken Tucker wrote Village Voice music editor Robert Christgau an angry letter because the Voice wasn't covering the ...
David McGee: He will never be the editor of a rock magazine again
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, January 2001
IF ANYONE EVER writes a history on rock criticism and music writing, the names of Stanley Booth, Peter Guralnick and Nick Tosches will surely lead ...
The Rev. Charles M. Young calms down, grows up, and sings the joys of middle-age
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, February 2001
BACK IN THE mid and late '70s, Charles M. Young – known then as The Rev. Charles M. Young – roamed the halls of Rolling Stone magazine ...
A Rousing Interview of Self-affirmation with John Mendelssohn, King of L.A.
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, March 2001
ALTHOUGH NO one has written a biography about him, portrayed him in a movie, or released a collection of his rock writing, John Mendelssohn's name ...
Richard Riegel: From Jester to Lester
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, March 2001
THERE WAS A TIME when Richard Riegel worried about his idolization of a friend. Worshipping a friend, co-worker and colleague doesn't really sound too healthy, ...
Gina Arnold in the Present Tense
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, April 2001
LOVE HER OR hate her, rock critic Gina Arnold writes from her own point of view. For Arnold, when writing about music, objectivity is thrown ...
Caught With His Trousers Down: The Ira Robbins Interview
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, May 2001
IF ANYONE OUT there has a million dollars and wants to start a music magazine, please let Ira Robbins know about it. ...
El David: Saint Dalton Shoots His Mouth Off
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, May 2001
DAVID DALTON WAS a founding editor of Rolling Stone magazine. In between 1968 and 1971, Dalton penned Rolling Stone cover stories on Little Richard, James Brown and Elvis Presley. ...
glenn mcdonald's War Against Rock Criticism
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, June 2001
glenn mcdonald [all lower case – RBP Ed.] is one of the most important rock critics working in the field today, though maybe "working" is ...
The Grey Lady's Pop Music Man: Jon Pareles in Conversation
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, July 2001
WHENEVER I INTERVIEW rock writers for this site, I always ask them to name their favourite music critics — writers that make them want to ...
Man On the Moon: An Interview With Tom Moon
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, August 2001
FORMER PROFESSIONAL musician Tom Moon, currently the pop music critic at the Philadelphia Inquirer, started his career in rock journalism because he was anxious to hear ...
Flaubert On the Off Days: Interview with Fred Schruers
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, September 2001
FROM AN EARLY stint at Circus, through a tenure at Rolling Stone magazine that spanned from the late '70s to the early '90s, then to Entertainment Weekly and Premiere in the '90s ...
Some Smiles With Miles: Milo Miles in Conversation
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, September 2001
IF YOU HAVE read rock criticism consistently during the last two decades, odds are, you have a read a piece by Milo Miles. Or maybe ...
Lester Bangs: Cum on Read The Noise: An Interview with former Creem writer Robert Duncan
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, October 2001
ROCK CRITIC Robert Duncan, a second generation Creem writer — he joined the magazine in the mid-'70s — is also the author of The Noise: Notes From a ...
Losin' His Mind in Detroit Rock City: Gary Graff
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, January 2002
GARY GRAFF FIRST earned his reputation in the mid-'80s as the in-house music critic for the Detroit Free Press, a stint that terminated a decade ...
From Hard Rock to Rock of Ages: Former Hit Parader Writer, Father Charley Crespo
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, February 2002
BACK IN THE '70s and '80s, Charley Crespo frequented the rock clubs of New York and New Jersey gathering info for his fan-obsessed dispatches for ...
Chuck E… So Addictive: Voice Music Editor in His Second rockcritics.com Interview
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, March 2002
ROCK CRITIC Chuck Eddy. Love or hate? Let us count the ways… ...
Blue Öyster Cult: Rock Criticism as Brain Surgery: Deborah Frost Looks Back
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, June 2002
MUSICIAN/SONGWRITER Deborah Frost took a little break in the early '70s from a gig with an all-girl band that lasted until the early '90s. ...
Marillion: An Interview With Pete Trewavas
Interview by Steven Ward, PopMatters, 10 June 2003
MARILLION MAY BE the best-kept secret in rock. Formed in London in 1981, Marillion started out like any other young band. The band members, including ...
Peter Gabriel: Peter Gabriel [2]
Review by Steven Ward, PopMatters, 3 December 2003
FIRST, THERE'S THE voice. It's a scratchy tenor. Peter Gabriel was only 28 when he recorded his second solo album in 1978. I'm sure his ...
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, 2006
RJ SMITH IS a senior editor at Los Angeles magazine, where he writes about the media. Smith previously wrote about music for the Village Voice and Spin. Instead of composing ...
Review by Steven Ward, Las Vegas Weekly, 23 March 2006
YOU KNOW WHAT Van Morrison, David Gilmour, Ray Davies and Donald Fagen have in common, besides their royal rank in rock geezerdom? They have new ...
Review by Steven Ward, Las Vegas Weekly, 30 November 2006
WHEN I FIRST heard the sweet-sounding chorus, "I go where true love goes/I go where true love goes" from 'Heaven/Where True Love Goes' on the ...
Douglas Wolk… Dean of American Comics Critics
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, 2007
THAT TITLE WAS not self-proclaimed by Douglas Wolk. I came up with the unofficial designation as soon as I finished the last page of Wolk's ...
Strumming, Picking, and Shredding: An Oral History of Guitar Player Part 3: Steven Rosen
Interview by Steven Ward, rockcritics.com, 2007
STEVEN ROSEN is a professional music journalist with a career spanning thirty years. During this period he has published well over 700 articles appearing in ...
Rick Wright: Shine On, Rick Wright
Obituary by Steven Ward, Blurt, 18 September 2008
FOUNDING PINK FLOYD keyboardist Rick Wright is playing the great gig in the sky right now. Maybe Syd Barrett is watching from the wings of ...
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