In 1997, the most surprising thing about Whiskeytown’s major-label debut was how quiet it was. The big-league polish, that much was expected — but not its overall subdued tone. If Whiskeytown’s mythically chaotic live shows back then evoked a liquor-driven bender, Strangers Almanac was the soundtrack to the early-morning hours after the peak but before [...]

In no way does it denigrate Gram Parsons’ role in helping define country rock to note that others forged similar trails. Forget the utterly pompous Eagles. The Dillards, New Riders, Linda Ronstadt, Michael Nesmith and Poco all played major roles, as did the shamefully overlooked Commander Cody & His Lost Planet Airmen. Emerging from the [...]

George Jones’ brief stint at United Artists is sometimes cited as a kind of personal golden age for the singer, and it’s easy to see why. He recorded some of his signature hits for the label — “The Race Is On”, “She Thinks I Still Care” — and it was at United Artists, too, that [...]

Someday, somebody with great taste, and no desire to be all things to all markets, is going to put together a Best Of Willie Nelson box. Because nobody’s taste is absolute, fans like me and you will question some of the selections, and complain about what’s been left out. But the box will not contain [...]

Over six years before this often-fascinating set begins, the kid known as Ricky Nelson racked up some of the strongest sales figures the worlds of pop and rock have ever seen, with great singles including “Hello Mary Lou”, “Travelin’ Man” and “It’s Late”. There’d been doubters about the kid, among those who’d grown up seeing [...]

Over three CDs, the aptly titled Not Fade Away details Buddy Holly’s rise from struggling singer to international star during 1957. Along with Chuck Berry and Carl Perkins, Holly helped to create the template for the singer-songwriter with his breakthrough hits “That’ll Be The Day” and “Peggy Sue”. Taking a cue from fellow guitarist Les [...]

While Bill Monroe stood as the father of bluegrass in the 1960s (though often eclipsed during that time by Flatt & Scruggs), older brother Charlie — half of the legendary pre-bluegrass duo the Monroe Brothers — worked two jobs, one as a fry cook at a Howard Johnson’s in Martinsville, Indiana. It was a profound [...]

Though the cover remains mum on the subject, this single disc collects the entirety of Norma Jean’s 1972 album I Guess That Comes Being Poor and her 1968 LP Body And Mind — and tosses in all but three of the eleven tracks from 1970′s Another Man Loved Me Last Night. That’s a lot of [...]

Though revered as an influential singer-songwriter, Fred Neil is best known for other people’s recordings of his work, particularly Harry Nilsson’s 1969 Top-10 hit “Everybody’s Talkin’”. With that in mind, it makes sense that, before he gravitated to the Greenwich Village folk scene, Neil worked in the hits-for-hire hive the Brill Building. The Neil originals [...]

Before striking Hollywood gold penning music for TV shows such as “Third Rock From The Sun”, Ben Vaughn was part of the 1980s New York/Hoboken scene, along with fellow retro-minded music-geek rockers the Fleshtones and Marshall Crenshaw. The latter, in fact, covered Vaughn’s sublime “I’m Sorry (But So Is Brenda Lee)”. While that song isn’t [...]