They call it Geek Rock. The five N.C. School of the Arts teenagers who formed the b-sides must have locked themselves away in library carrels and put in the time only a geek would spend studying instruments only an geek would play. Piano? Chimes? But those guys who went home to practice piano every afternoon […]
John Martin
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Alejandro Escovedo
The credits for some of Alejandro Escovedo’s songs list a lineup more familiar to baroque chamber music–violin, double bass, cellos, tremelo pizzicato cello and orchestral percussion–than roots rock. But despite this ornate instrumentation, there’s a sweet spareness to his compositions–maybe it’s the rattling of the castanets or the pedal steel’s whine, or the occasional mandolin […]
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John Saylor
Based on its cover art and liner notes, The Afterbucket Experience is something like a nasty hangover or the day after Christmas–the inevitable, recurring moment when all the euphoria ends and the only thing left is to move on or regress into the same situation. Saylor’s album–with its lengthy track list of standard country arrangements […]
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Old 97’s
On their first three records, the Old 97’s carried their singular style about as far as they could take it. The band created a playful, slack-jawed sound, an impetuous cross between punk and Western Swing, that just kept getting bigger as the band experimented with more complex production techniques. Their latest effort, Satellite Rides, has […]
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The Steep Canyon Rangers
Bill Monroe’s home place is a little crossroads town in western Kentucky called Rosine. Its corners consist of a graveyard where the Father of Bluegrass is buried with his dog and his Uncle Pen, a gas station that serves up Blue Moon Cheeseburgers, and a barn that hosts the Rosine Jamboree every Friday night. Between […]
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How Many Licks
The DJs at Five Star in Raleigh spin and cut their records through three K1 amps and a set of double 15s. A 15-inch speaker is a hulking, black dinosaur. Each K1 emits 1000 watts per channel. That’s 3000 watts of available power growling against the hardwood floor and purring through the loins and heartstrings […]
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Aleman Left
Aleman Left”You can tell by the way people walk,” Gene Hubert whispers in my ear during the break. “The beginners always act funny and nervous when they walk up to the square.” I’m walking mighty funny tonight, but that’s all right. A lot of the people who came here to Mike Fishback’s square dance at […]
Posted inMusic
Striking a Chord
The few uneaten tamales are warming over on the buffet line as Jacques Menache pulls down the banjo hanging above a neon Tecate beer sign. For the most part, the host band has scattered to outlying booths. The cloggers are tired and thirsty; their sweaty foreheads shine in the bar lights. But the fiddler and […]
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Hip-hop Hope
The lyrical spell that DJ Mike Nice broadcasts every Saturday afternoon on WNCU is as likely to draw from the rhymes of local hip-hop acts Tyfu and Flawless as from rap superstar Jay Z. It’s not East Coast or West Coast or Dirty South, but the Triangle beats with enough hip-hop passion and talent to […]
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Bolsa de Agua
The year before Austin legend Doug Sahm died, he told Gourds’ cofounder Kevin Russell that he wanted to pass his legacy on to him, the same thing that Willie Nelson imparted to Sahm’s band in the ’70s. The Gourds must be making Sir Doug and the rest of the Austin kin right proud. All of […]