Back when rebellious bands such as New Grass Revival weren’t welcome at some “family” festivals, the Telluride Bluegrass Festival provided a home for collections of like-minded insurgent bluegrass musicians. Now that baby boomers Peter Rowan, David Grisman and NGR’s Sam Bush have become aging masters themselves, a new climate exists to pay homage to the [...]

It seems there are only four basic rules that govern a Mekons show these days: 1) They will play music. 2) The crowd will lose their minds. 3) Everybody has a good time. 4) Mitch, the roadie, will come out a take lead vocals for an unintelligible, thrashing punk song to end the evening. Everything [...]

Fans at the 17th annual American Music Festival, held every Independence Day at this suburban Chicago haven for roots music, had plenty to celebrate on a long, hot evening. Not only were they toasting their country’s freedom, they were also gettin’ jiggy with the Hackberry Ramblers, Cheri Knight, Terrance Simien, Jimmy LaFave and Dave Alvin. [...]

Guitarist Gary Louris and keyboardist Karen Grotberg took the stage alone for the opening song of the encore of this rare small-venue appearance by Minneapolis band the Jayhawks. After the first chords, Louris stopped with a laugh. He’d forgotten the words. Fans helpfully hollered. “I’ve been gettin’ by…”, to which he responded, “Thanks…fuckin’ poetry.” What [...]

“We’re in D, Buddy — we’re playing in D,” Peter Case hollered between songs from the sidestage where he was playing over to the mainstage, where Buddy & Julie Miller were performing at the same time.
“We send this song out to Peter Case,” came the playing-along response from Julie Miller. It was a surreal [...]

One of the grand clichés of music criticism asserts that the test of a great song is whether it stands up once it’s stripped down to its bare, acoustic rudiments. But, like a lot of clichés, this one tends to be a gross oversimplification, and a Slow River Records showcase at the recent North By [...]

It’s almost always a special treat to see a band that has worked its way up the ladder of success play a hometown gig at a small venue (under an assumed name to keep large crowds at bay). Dallas’ Old 97’s have made quite a name for themselves in the past couple years, releasing acclaimed [...]