I did a great show last weekend in Deer Park—and I should emphasize that I did a show I’d done many times before, something like the 25th performance of Tennessee Walt’s The Other Great American Songbook, and did it neither better nor worse than usual; it was the audience that made it great, by being … Continue reading My Favorite Things
rock ‘n’ roll
The Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers
The most important event of the August 3, 1927, Bristol Sessions happened not on the second floor of the Taylor-Christian Hat Company building, where Ralph Peer had set up his portable Victor Talking Machine Company recording studio, but rather across town at Mrs. Pierce’s boarding house. Different parties involved had different recollections of what went … Continue reading The Jimmie Rodgers Entertainers
An Unlikely Queen
As one of the two parents of rock ‘n’ roll (the other is rhythm and blues), country music understandably has had a considerable impact on the younger genre, and it’s no surprise that 10 country artists are enshrined in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame. Not enshrined there, however, is the country star who … Continue reading An Unlikely Queen
Is It Country? Is It Rock? 20 Ways to Tell
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
Tennessee Walt 