Rick Cornell

The Hold Steady with The Big Sleep and Victory Factory Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro Sunday, Nov. 26, 9:30 p.m. Tickets: $12 in advance, $14 at the door A sticker on the cover of The Hold Steady’s third album, Boys and Girls in America, carries the question of Rolling Stone‘s Rob Sheffield: “Damn, Hold Steady. How can […]

Pre-Turkey Day Jam Cat’s Cradle, Carrboro Wednesday, Nov. 22, 8 p.m. Tickets: $10 When it comes to eves, the night before Christmas gets the love and publishing deals. But since 2001, Durham musician and band leader Jon Shain has been doing his best to get Thanksgiving Eve its share by hosting a charity concert that’s […]

It’s not going to happen. I’ve been trying for four days to get a few phone minutes with Susan Tedeschi as she and her band embark on a co-headlining tour with her husband, Allman Brothers member Derek Trucks, and his own blues-rocking Derek Trucks Band. Tedeschi is understandably busy with the traveling, the musician clinics […]

“I come from a family of storytellers,” says Peter Case by phone, stealing a few minutes just before soundcheck in Hamilton, Ontario. “Things happen in my family basically just so they can become stories.” It makes sense, then, that kindred spirit Will Kimbrough has described Case as having “a storyteller’s eye” in addition to “a […]

Listen! Listen to an eight-track Sparklefest compilation (No. 1 is two tracks). If you cannot see the music player below, click here to download the free Flash Player. It was originally christened The Shindig by its founder, with childhood TV images of bikinied girls in high boots go-going in his head. Then the cease-and-desist arrived. […]

“Tough question,” says Mary Gauthier when asked why so many people forge such strong bonds with her music. “I never know what people will like or not like. I just do my best to be honest and then hold my breath and throw the songs out there.” Gauthier’s been throwing out plenty worth liking: Last […]

Dave Alvin knows that music isn’t created in a vacuum. And although he excels at all four styles, he’d be the first to tell you that he didn’t invent blues, country, folk or rock. Calling him the godfather of alt-country may not be a stretch, though; from day one of his distinguished career, Alvin has […]

Just as it’s no doubt near impossible for the globe-hopping Bruce Cockburn to address the question “So, been anywhere interesting?”, it’s hard to know where to start when talking about his 40 years in the music business. It may very well be that his career is as seamless as careers get, but, for me, it […]

At this past Saturday’s Mucklewain Festival outside the small town of Harriman in an even smaller foothills town in Tennessee, Todd Snider was the mayor, at least for the duration of his 50-minute set. Ambling on stage barefoot and vested, his eyes wide and fragile whenever they broke the shadow of the brim of his […]