Author: Ron Wynn
Farther Along - Obituary from Issue #59 Sept-Oct 2005
Big Al Downing: 1940 to 2005
Big Al Downing never considered himself a pioneer, nor an oddity, although being arguably the most successful black country music performer after Charley Pride certainly distinguished him. But Downing, who died July 4 at age 65 from leukemia, felt he was doing what came naturally, performing the music he had heard and absorbed growing up [...]
Bound - Book Review from Issue #50 March-April 2004
Between Midnight & Day: The Last Unpublished Blues Archive
Anyone who’s ever met Dick Waterman knows he deplores hyperbole. So he’d probably reject the notion that he’s the most important non-musician in blues history. Yet there’s substantial evidence indicating this is precisely the case. Waterman’s accomplishments include his involvement with Nick Perls and Phil Spero in the 1964 rediscovery of Son House; his formation [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #50 March-April 2004
Charlie Pride – Anthology
It can be argued that Charlie Pride’s emergence during the ’60s was the decade’s most surprising musical event. While British invaders and white soul stars were routinely landing hits simultaneously on the pop and R&B charts, only Pride among African-American performers enjoyed consistent success in the country arena. Several optimistic individuals thought Pride’s ascension to [...]
Town and Country - Shorter Artist Feature from Issue #46 July-Aug 2003
Big Al Downing – Still havin’ a party
Vocalist/pianist Big Al Downing considers himself neither a trailblazer nor a pioneer. He understands that as an African-American artist whose music is predominantly country, and whose career stretches over parts of six decades, he is widely viewed as having zero commercial potential, as a relic doing music that’s too black for the white folks and [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #44 March-April 2003
Various Artists – When The Sun Goes Down: The Secret History Of Rock & Roll
The advent of rock ‘n’ roll indisputably altered the course of American cultural history. It’s virtually impossible to overstate how dramatically this society’s music changed during the 1950s, but it is possible to undervalue every style, idiom and sound that led to the emergence of rock. A prime example of that tendency is embodied in [...]
Not Fade Away - Reissue Review from Issue #40 July-Aug 2002
Fats Domino – Walking To New Orleans
Antoine “Fats” Domino is among the most understated and underrated great musicians and performers who emerged during the era of vintage R&B and rock ‘n’ roll. Domino had a pleasing, if limited, voice, and his piano technique relied heavily on triplets, two-handed fills, and elements of boogie-woogie. His delivery occasionally also revealed in his enunciation [...]
Waxed - Record Review from Issue #38 March-April 2002
David Andersen – Countrypolitan
Nashville guitarist David Andersen nicely blends jazz and country influences into a cool, yet energetic and harmonically imaginative approach. Andersen is able to execute intricate, dazzling runs, deliver crisp turnbacks in mid-solo, or craft elegant, clean melody runs and sweeping answering rhythms. But he displays his more sentimental side on Countrypolitan, a self-produced solo disc [...]
Sittin' & Thinkin' - Essay from Issue #37 Jan-Feb 2002
Pan American Blues: Why DeFord Bailey Should Be in the Country Music Hall of Fame
This business of racial music profiling wasn’t a concept that ever occurred to me growing up as an African-American in Knoxville, Tennessee, during the 1950s and early ’60s. Until James Brown purchased a low-power AM station in town during the late ’60s, country music dominated the broadcast airwaves, and that’s what you heard if you [...]
Shop Amazon by clicking through this logo to support NoDepression.com. We get a percentage of every purchase you make!
