Mickey Mills is a man of steel. Banging on a reconstituted 55-gallon drum is his main gig. But when he wants to communicate with children, he uses a different instrument. “I call ’em canophones,” he cackles. Growing up in Trinidad, Mills made instruments from juice cans. The custom seems to have died off in his […]
Grant Britt
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Rhonda Vincent and the Rage
“I’m an All American bluegrass girl,” Rhonda Vincent appropriately proclaims on All American Bluegrass Girl, her latest release on Rounder Records. It’s no idle claim. Vincent has clawed her way up the bluegrass ladder as a working pro since the age of 6, performing in her family band the Sally Mountain Show. “All my life […]
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Singing on faith
Even as a child, George Hamilton IV knew he was different. When his grandmother took him to Saturday afternoon picture shows to see Gene Autry and Roy Rogers, he was that kid who didn’t boo when the song started. “Usually when the cowboy stars started singing, some of the kids would throw bubble gum at […]
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Burrito supreme
From the outside, the place looks like the car dealership it once was. But a peek through the massive front windows reveals a collection of mismatched chairs and an assortment of tables, something one might find in an aging diner. Inside, that image is questionable, too, walls covered with an assortment of paintings, every other […]
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Madison Clouds of Heaven, a trombone shout band
God a’mighty! That’s Big Easy funeral band music bubbling out of the church doors. Have you died in your sleep and been resurrected in New Orleans? It’s an honest mistake. If you happen to be strolling past the United House of Prayer for All People in Charlotte on any given Sunday, you could be transported […]
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Live Reviews
Gretchen Wilson/Trace Adkins Alltel Pavilion Thursday, May 25 They came to see the “Redneck Woman,” but at Thursday’s show at Alltel Pavilion, Gretchen Wilson was more of a rock ‘n’ roll diva. Second-billed Trace Adkins delivered the country goods. Opener Blaine Larsen kept it even more country, his band playing raunchy honky-tonk behind Larsen’s spot-on […]
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Hubert Sumlin
Some people would do anything to see Howlin’ Wolf perform. In 1942, Hubert Sumlin was 10. He snuck up to a joint where Wolf was playing and stood on a crate to peer through the window. The crate collapsed, sending Sumlin through the window and nearly into Wolf’s lap. Impressed with the boy’s nerve, Wolf […]
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Johnny Winter
Johnny Winter’s music has been known to move listeners to tears. But when he talks, it affects people to the opposite end. “I wet my pants,” says Paul Nelson, Winter’s guitar player and manager, in response to Winter’s casual comment a couple of days ago that he wanted to record Jimi Hendrix’s “Red House” for […]
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The Dirty Little Heaters
Grace Slick fronting X? Janis Joplin sitting in with the Germs? Think smaller and closer to home. Durham’s Dirty Little Heaters–drummer Melissa Thomas and guitarist/vocalist Reese Gibbs–take the two-piece concept to another dimension. If you’re thinking a sound similar to another local two-piece, Melissa Swingle and Laura King’s The Moaners, you need to rethink your […]
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Carrying the kora
His ancestors were the voices of kings. His surname identifies him as a member of a musical family that can trace its genealogy to the 13th century, a lineage of storytellers, singers and musicians, known as jelis, or griots, on which royalty relied to pass their decrees to the people. Mamadou Diabate is the latest […]
