The writer and teacher Ellen Willis often described herself as a democratic, libertarian radical. Only 64 when she died of lung cancer November 9, she leaves behind a slim but essential body of cultural criticism. Willis was a fierce feminist and culture warrior who challenged both anti-porn crusaders and identity politics with special fervor, a [...]

Bassist, songwriter, promoter and manager Tillman Franks died in Shreveport, Louisiana, on October 26 after a lengthy illness. He was 86 years old.
Franks was best known for befriending Hank Williams Sr. and for bringing a young Elvis Presley to the attention of the Louisiana Hayride. Williams was still largely unknown and out of work when [...]

Buddy Killen, who passed away November 1 at age 73, belongs on the short list of those who most transformed country music from an amalgam of regional styles into a nationally recognized and Nashville-centered genre. Killen got very, very rich on country music, and he repaid the debt by launching the careers of many of [...]

Some called her “The Den Mother of Music Row,” but Marijohn Wilkin was one of the best pack members herself. In the film Tootsie’s Orchid Lounge: Where The Music Began, she sits there between Willie Nelson and Kris Kristofferson, reminiscing about the years when their generation of songwriters came to Nashville and raised everyone’s idea [...]

Perhaps his father’s name was Robert, too, but the junior stuck because he learned to play guitar just like his mother’s boyfriend, Robert Johnson. And so he became Robert Junior Lockwood in some circles, and almost certainly that name and legacy wore tired over the years.
No matter who taught him, Lockwood could play. Born poor [...]

“When Atlantic first recorded me, you know, I did ballads like ‘So Long’ and stuff from Broadway shows; Ethel Waters stuff, too. But one day I looked around and I had a tune with the tempo changed. And that they called rhythm & blues.”
So the woman dubbed “Miss Rhythm,” the singer whose smash hit records [...]