Tishamingo calls its music country rock. But don’t be lookin’ for no Eagles or Flying Burritos floppin’ around this stuff. Though the band now calls Athens, Ga. home, their sound was bred in the murky swamplands of Florida. Tishimingo has studied the basics of wildass and passed their final exams. Guitarists Cameron Williams and Jess […]
Grant Britt
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The spirit rolls on
At 79, Brother James Thomas is considered a youngster in the Raleigh gospel group Capitol City Five. “I’ve only been with the group for 50 years,” he laughs. “The boy that started the group, he’s 80. They’ve been organized 60, and when I got with ’em they’d been singing 10 years.” Thomas had been involved […]
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What a girl wants
Girl rock is not dead. Though radio may have you believing otherwise, there are still some female fronted bands on the local and national scene that will still shake, rattle and roll you. The problem is getting them heard over the clamor their male counterparts are making. So, Greensboro’s Dalloway Records has taken it upon […]
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Roots unbound
Derek Trucks is an old soul. By the time he was out of short pants, the guitarist was standing on stage and holding his own with legends like Buddy Guy, Dylan, Junior Wells and Gatemouth Brown. But where his young peers seemed to want to go no further than deepening their blues roots, Trucks began […]
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In weaving a tune
Scotland’s Tannahill Weavers kick up a Celtic wall of sound. Blending traditional Scottish airs with a rock ‘n’ roll attitude, and a healthy sense of humor, the quintet brings a roomful of equipment to bang, tootle, squeeze and strum. Guitars, banjo, mandolin, fiddle, whistles, flute, bodhran, bouzouki, keyboards, harmonica and of course, bagpipes are the […]
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12 bands, 3 nights, 1 big garage
“Rock ‘n’ roll is still the most vital form of music there is,” opines guitarist Todd Colberg, whose band the Spinns hosts the first-ever garage band festival at the Cave Oct 3-5. Called the Freaky Tiki Weekend, the festival features 12 bands from eight cities. Cave impresario Mouse Mock promises to utilize some high-tech electronics […]
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In artsy blues
“Here’s a picture called Pennsylvania blues,” artist Andy Friedman says at the start of his set. Though he doesn’t play guitar, blow harp, or sing, Friedman considers himself a bluesman nonetheless. His method of expression is to project original pencil drawings and Polaroid photographs onstage as he explains what the images mean to him. “Country […]
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CenterFest’s head-spinning 20th
I f you’ve ever had the desire to get down and spin around on your head in the middle of the street in downtown Durham, you could have done it with the city’s blessing in 1984. CenterFest, the Durham Arts Council’s annual downtown street fair was in its infancy then, and break-dancing was in vogue. […]
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The old masters, singing the blues
All his life, bluesman Milton Campbell–better known as Little Milton–has been compared to B.B. King. But all he ever wanted was to sound like T-Bone Walker. “He was a great guitarist, a great entertainer on stage, and he was a gentlemen,” Campbell says. “He had a unique style of his own. That’s what I was […]
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In Canadian pop
In her previous incarnation, Neko Case sang broken-hearted country with the power and intensity of Patsy Cline. Case played drums for the all-girl punk trio Maow in the ’80s, but left because she wasn’t hearing any women’s voices in punk at that time. Case persuaded her label to let her do a solo country record, […]