It’s not a stretch to describe Bill Kirchen as one of the music world’s Zeligs. There he is back in his Ann Arbor, Mich., childhood in a school picture with Bob Seger and James ‘Iggy Pop” Osterberg, Jr. That’s him, Fender Telecaster in hand, in the team photos for Commander Cody and the Lost Planet […]
Rick Cornell
Posted inMusic
At Schley Grange Hall, a guitars-and-cakes congregation
For details and directions, see the Schley Grange Hall website. It’s 6:45 on Thursday night at the Schley Grange Hall, and from my perch just outside the room at the far right of the foyer I watch the numbers grow on both sides of the microphones. There are close to 10 guitarists lined up behind […]
Posted inMusic
Joe Pug’s “Speak Plainly, Diana”
Listen up! or stream it below. If you cannot see the music player below, download the free Flash Player. As a student at University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, Joe Pug (or Joe Pugliese, in his pre-abbreviated undergrad days) was focused on becoming a playwright, not a songwriter. He kept his ears open, though: He didn’t […]
Posted inMusic
The Static Minds’ “Rich Girl Blues” / “She’s a Bore” 7″
Old-fashioned, good-time loud rock music tends to be about women, partying, women, smoking in the boys’ room, school being out forever and women. And old-fashioned, good-time loud rock dudes tend not to be overly deep thinkers when it comes to women, leading to four basic categorizations: unattainable, teasing, willing, disinterested. When the dude psyche, a […]
Posted inMusic
Shipwrecker’s Shipwrecker
I love music that balances the rootsy with the off-kilter and unsettling, ending up with country music captured in deep spaceyour Souled American and Geraldine Fibbers of the world. I love bands with a large membership and, contrary to logic, a less cluttered sound than groups half their sizeyour Lambchop and Tindersticks of the world. […]
Posted inMusic
Wanda Jackson, still meeting ‘em head on: An interview
It was a good year for the future Queen of Rockabilly, Wanda Jackson. Yup, in 1952, still in her early teens, she won a talent contest, which led to her own radio show on a local station and, subsequently, an offer from bandleader Hank Thompson to perform with his Brazos Valley Boys. And 2009 was […]
Posted inMusic
Five words without Jonathan Richman (tonight at Cat’s Cradle)
There were warning signs from the start. The first two Web sites encountered during a little table-settingthe Vapor Records site and Richman’s MySpace pagedelivered direct hits to my optimism. ‘Please note that Jonathan Richman does not have any direct involvement with the Vapor Records Web site and does not participate in the Internet on any […]
Posted inMusic
PineCone presents a winter weekend of Americana
The ability to serve as an effective master of ceremonies is underappreciated and often anonymous. Emcees are like baseball umpires: If you’re too conscious of them, they’re not doing a good job. But they do get a pretty nice seat for the festivities. “Offer a brief introduction to each artist and then sit back, soak […]
Posted inMusic
Hearts and Daggers’ …And Then There Was Dust
God bless ’em: The guys in Raleigh’s Hearts and Daggerssinger/ guitarist/ songwriter Kevin Wolfe, lead guitarist Ben Bucklew (recently replaced by Brit Tim Shearer), bassist Steve Judge and drummer Marshall Millerdon’t make it easy for themselves. It’s not just that the quartet traffics in a brand of bruised-and-boozed rocking country that could be shoehorned to […]
