This Sunday (December 7), Thomas Hoyt Bryant, better known as Slim Bryant, turns 100. He may be the last of his breed, the lone surviving pre-war country musician tied to Jimmie Rodgers (father of modern country), and to pioneer fiddler-bandleader Clayton McMichen. He still receives royalties from his original ballad “Mother The Queen Of My [...]

The Seattle to which San Angelo, Texas, native Will T. Massey moved circa 1990 – he was, what? 20 years old? — was a location sought by way of retreat, an end-of-the-road place that had not yet become the center of genetic engineering, gaming, Microsoft, and grunge. It was still a cheap city in which [...]

WHATTA TEASE!: The launch of Neil Young’s Archives series had been widely and fervently anticipated before the end of this year, after delays that have extended for decades. The project had originally begun as a follow-up to 1977′s career-defining Decade, but new technology and new Neil Young music interceded. The latest announcement is that the [...]

Earlier this week, longtime ND magazine senior editor Bill Friskics-Warren contributed a Monday guest-column about Midwest Farm Disaster, a 1972 album by the largely forgotten singer-songwriter Bob Martin. As fate would have it, columnist Lloyd Sachs followed on Wednesday with a remembrance of the 1972 debut album by another largely forgotten singer-songwriter, Danny Epps. Within [...]

People take inspiration from unexpected sources: Tales of burning shrubbery that spouts prophecy; those ridiculous “Hang In There, Baby” posters of endangered kittens. So I suppose I should not be flabbergasted that right now I am fired up by a Lucinda Williams song – even though her music has failed to resonate profoundly with me [...]

I can’t for the life of me remember how Danny Epps’ self-titled debut album came into my possession, only that I played it constantly after its 1972 release on Columbia Records. I wasn’t getting reviewers’ copies yet, there’s nothing on the jacket to indicate I bought it used (there’s no way I would have bought [...]

Apparently Tim Carroll’s most recent album, The Devil Is A Busy Man, came out about a year ago, at least according to his MySpace page, but it’s only on my shelf because his wife, the gifted singer Elizabeth Cook, sent it to me during the dark and quiet days of this last summer when I [...]

I’m not sure what prompted me to play Bob Martin’s Midwest Farm Disaster when I came across it while cleaning my office this fall. I knew that I’d never heard of Martin and that I couldn’t remember the promo advance arriving in the mail. It was more than likely, in any case, that I would [...]