Archive for September, 2011
Celebrating, And Re-Examining Bluegrass In Music City
(The Infamous Stringdusters) Bluegrass has something most other active American musical genres don’t—the ever-present notion of a musical family tree. The patriarch at the top of it is Bill Monroe. He and his Blue Grass Boys arrived at the hot, new, hard-driving, high-and-lonesome sound heard ‘round the world in the mid-‘40s. To this day, he [...]
VH1 Picks The Greatest 100 Songs Of The ’00s
Did everybody have a good decade from 2000-2010? During those fateful ten years of Facebook and epic failures, pop culture became even poppier, as evidenced by VH1′s newly released Greatest 100 Songs Of The ’00s list. On the rock side of things, you’ve got tunes by U2, Kings Of Leon, Bruce Springsteen, Foo Fighters, The [...]
Steve Martin & The Steep Canyon Rangers Named IBMA Entertainer Of The Year
In retrospect, Steve Martin was always destined to win the IBMA Entertainer of the Year Award. If you’ve ever seen him crack jokes while leading The Steep Canyon Rangers, his crack band of bluegrass vets, on the banjo, you’d know why. Says Rangers’ lead singer Woody Platt: “Working with Steve, we might be the most [...]
Q&A: Diana Jones
Here’s the problem with assuming new songs will sound new and music that feels generations old is, in fact, generations old: Diana Jones is a singer-songwriter who’s filled three albums—including this year’s High Atmosphere—with new, original material and the spirit of traditional mountain balladry. Sometimes she writes songs in her hundred-year-old East Nashville house. [...]
Sarah Siskind On Her New Album, Bon Iver, Joni Mitchell and More
Raised in North Carolina in a household steeped in bluegrass, old-time and Celtic music, singer-songwriter Sarah Siskind says she never even thought about not being a musician. Called an “underexposed treasure” by NPR, she had early success after a friend (fellow Nashville songwriter Julie Lee) sent some of Sarah’s songs to Alison Krauss, resulting in [...]
Hiding Pieces of Sound: A Q&A With SoundCloud’s Alex Ljung
SoundCloud, a sound platform for creators, has about 7 million users worldwide. The Berlin-based startup recently secured a Series B funding from venture capital rock stars Union Square Ventures and has opened a new office in San Francisco. On the morning that I spoke to SoundCloud’s 28-year-old UK-born, Sweden-raised founder Alexander Ljung, he was checking [...]
Song Premiere: Quiet Company, “Set Your Monster Free”
Check out this great new track from Austin, Texas rock outfit Quiet Company, a group that’s been earning raves for their earnest, catchy pop confections. Set Your Monster Free by Quiet Company The song, written by lead singer Taylor Muse to his daughter, hails from the band’s upcoming album, We Are All Where We Belong, [...]
Video Premiere: Joseph Arthur, “Almost Blue”
We’re excited to debut the artful video for Joseph Arthur’s “Almost Blue,” a stellar track from his latest album, The Graduation Ceremony. We asked him to tell us about the video, and, being Joseph Arthur, he wrote back in poem form: i was touring when i made it i discovered painting apps on my ipad [...]
Elvis Costello At The Ryman Auditorium In Nashville (9/25/2011)
Elvis Costello brings his wheel of songs to Nashville.
R.E.M. Life’s Rich Pageant
R.E.M. Life’s Rich Pageant (Capitol/I.R.S.) Rating: When Life’s Rich Pageant hit the airwaves in 1986, no one – not even the bandmates themselves – could have predicted the mainstream success that awaited R.E.M. later that decade. Document, with its polished production and blockbuster radio singles, was only 13 months away. At the time, though, Life’s [...]
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