Watch the Grammy awards—it doesn’t matter what year—and you’re watching an exercise in nomenclature. Americans love music, but they also love finding new words to categorize it. Is this song country, folk or Southern rock? Folk-rock, alt country or Americana? Is it neo-folk, country-punk or folkabilly? Why does anybody care? Well, it’s about money, of … Continue reading Is It Country? Is It Rock? 20 Ways to Tell
Uncategorized
Jeeves and the Yankee Yodeler
Author’s Note: Today, October 30, marks the 108th birthday of the great Patsy Montana (she died in 1996). The best way to mark the occasion is, of course, to listen to her music—particularly her immortal signature tune, “I Want to Be a Cowboy’s Sweetheart” (1935). Go ahead and do so; I’ll wait here until you … Continue reading Jeeves and the Yankee Yodeler
Fall in the Country, Country in the Fall
I spent the first week of this month in northern Michigan, about as far north as you can be on the Lower Peninsula (except for two days actually on the Upper Peninsula), spent most of the next week on the road and now have been back in New York City for slightly more than a … Continue reading Fall in the Country, Country in the Fall
Go South, Young Man
A few weeks back, a relative of mine wrote to me: “I'm so excited about your new career as a country-western singer.” I wrote back to clarify that I’m a country singer now, not a country-western singer. Earlier this week, when I again found myself explaining this distinction, this time to an old friend, I … Continue reading Go South, Young Man
Music for Grownups
My first blog post, back in February, was titled “What Is Country Music?” That question—or, rather, its kissing cousin, “What is it that you like so much about country music?”—is in my mind again today. It’s been there since July 10, actually, when I had a brief conversation with a young friend, herself a brilliant … Continue reading Music for Grownups
The Man in Back
On the cover of his autobiography, Marshall Grant is hard to pick out. You’d expect him to be the focus of the cover photo, but that’s Johnny Cash. As he so often was in real life, Grant is the guy at far left, almost slipping off the edge of the cover and three-quarters hidden by … Continue reading The Man in Back
The Smartest Guy in the Room
Arguments about the best album ever are for suckers, and that’s even truer of arguments about the best country album ever. Setting aside the obvious fact that “best” is as subjective as a word can get, many of country’s greatest artists spent their entire careers in the pre-album era. When Hank Williams, Jimmie Rodgers and … Continue reading The Smartest Guy in the Room
Getting On Up, Walking the Line and Seeing the Light: The World of Musical Biopics
Tom Hiddleston will be up early on January 17, 2017. So will Ethan Hawke. Don Cheadle too. That’s the day the next Oscar nominations will be announced, and Hiddleston, Hawke and Cheadle will be getting up before dawn to see whether they’ve been nominated as Best Actor for their performances as, respectively, country icon Hank … Continue reading Getting On Up, Walking the Line and Seeing the Light: The World of Musical Biopics
On the Road Again
Normally I try to give this blog a scholarly tone, but today I get personal. For the past two months and change, there’s been a countdown pad hanging over the doorway of the living room in the apartment that my lovely wife and I share in Steinway, N.Y. It originally said “66,” and a couple … Continue reading On the Road Again
Broke, Hungry, Wet and Far from Home: Things Are Looking Up
Jimmie Rodgers was arguably the most popular singer of his era. At the time of his death in 1933, he reportedly accounted for 10% of all records sold by RCA Victor, then the world’s largest record company. His contract had, in fact, been a key asset in RCA’s acquisition of the Victor Talking Machine Company … Continue reading Broke, Hungry, Wet and Far from Home: Things Are Looking Up
Tennessee Walt 