When you show up to at a music festival to pick up your press credentials, and you’re handed a VIP pass with 12 free drinks ready to be punched, at a Sierra Nevada-sponsored festival, well - you just know it’s gonna be a great day. Nine hours later - after seeing and hearing the likes [...]

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I’ll admit to being an ignoramus about the band Canned Heat up until a few months ago. I was only familiar with two of their “hit” songs: “On the Road Again” and “Goin’ Up the Country”. Well, in my quest to expand my musical mind and historical perspective, I got a hold of this [...]

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Pinetop Perkins. Willie “Big Eyes” Smith. Bryan Lee. “Wild Child” Butler. “Honeyboy” Edwards. Etta Baker.
These are names that could go forgotten if not for projects like Kenny Wayne Shepherd’s new CD/DVD release, Ten Days Out. I can’t tell you how impressed I am not only with this project, but with Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Before this [...]

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Ickmusic sends a shout out to the skies above….Happy 72nd Birthday Elvis!
I watched King Creole a couple of times over the holidays to help prime me for my trip to New Orleans. Here’s a quality moment from the film when Elvis the bus boy jumps up on stage at the request of the film’s [...]

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It’s Saturday, and the question you have to ask yourself is “do I have my mojo working?”
Webster’s Dictionary defines mojo as “a magic spell, hex, or charm; broadly : magical power ; works his mojo on the tennis court“. Webster’s had to throw in the thoroughly white-bread sentence example, didn’t they?
The Wikipedia definition [...]

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Today, we have rockin’ Prince, and we have blues Prince. Coming from a 2002 aftershow in Copenhagen, Denmark, the man is all over his guitar here. May I recommend that you turn this m$%#@er up loud, and enjoy?
Prince:
Whole Lotta Love (mp3) (Led Zep cover)
The Question of U (mp3)
Live from a Copenhagen aftershow, October 26, 2002 [...]

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This would make a great St. Patrick’s day post, but it’s only September, and I’m way too impatient to sit on this show for too long. The date is St. Patty’s Day 1996. The location is Dublin, Ireland. Joe Ely and Bruce Springsteen both find themselves overseas on their latest tours (Joe for Letter to [...]

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This song was written in 1929 by one Blind Alfred Reed. I became familiar with the song through Bruce’s Seeger Sessions tour. I happened across this video tonight (thru a post on Crooks and Liars). It’s Ry Cooder performing the song in a 1987 concert in Santa Cruz, CA. It’s a completely different arrangement from [...]

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Led by singer, songwriter, and banjoman extraordinaire Osei Essed, the Woes have been a staple of the NYC music scene since they formed in 2002. Described by Essed as “post-apocalyptic traditional music”, the Woes employ a number of unique instruments to lay down their brand of folk / blues: banjo, banjo-mandolin, french horn, accordion, melodica, [...]

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Last July, my brother and I headed up to the Rhythm Room in Phoenix to see Chris Whitley. As I wrote not soon after, it was very sad to watch. Chris was part wasted, exhausted, emotional, and enraged. It was ugly to see. The show ended after a handful of songs, with Whitley being helped [...]

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