Posts by Leslie Michele Derrough

She is a singer, songwriter, doula, wife, mother, daughter and sister. And in a month, she will release her debut full-length album entitled Beyond Waves. It’s not that Domino Kirke hasn’t shown off her voice before, it’s just been in small bursts. But life has a way of nudging creativity in different directions and for […]

Blackberry Smoke has worked very hard to be here. From a bunch of guys doing ordinary jobs like working on cars and being plumbers, they are now true blue rock stars, with a penchant for making music with a blues, country and southern rock foundation – although you couldn’t tell they’ve had number one albums, […]

When The Kentucky Headhunters took off in 1989 following the release of their debut album, Pickin’ On Nashville, you knew they were the real deal. Their southern rock/blues/country sound appealed to a wide range of music lovers and they sold out concerts, shot up the Billboard charts and won a Grammy all within a two […]

If you gave up on Bush after 1996’s Razorblade Suitcase, then it’s time you gave them another try – especially if you catch them on their current Black & White Rainbows tour. You just may be surprised that they haven’t shriveled up like an old prune and are actually torching up venues as if twenty […]

ZZ Ward, the singer-songwriter with a blues edge and a rock & roll kick, is back with a vengeance on her new album, The Storm, out this past Friday, June 30. With lyrical bite marks and a whole bunch of sassy melodies, Ward has gathered up all her gnawing aggravations, anger, hurt and frustrations of […]

Lita Ford once told me that guitarists who spent their whole show looking down at their fretboards to see where to put their fingers drove her nuts. That is something you will NOT see at a Quinn Sullivan concert. The young man starts to play and before you know it he’s throwing his head back, […]

Imelda May has gone through a gamut of emotions these last few years but she’d rather not talk about it. She’d prefer to sing about them. Earlier this year, upon the release of Life Love Flesh Blood, an album of blunt honesty, May was bombarded with questions about the nitty-gritty of the songs, something she […]

With the release on Friday of Tug Of War, singer Gina Sicilia is upping her game. Labeled as a blues singer early on, she has continually strived to add more of the musical genres she loves into her music. And on her seventh recording, it all comes together in a nicely wrapped package of eleven […]

The Rolling Stones new DVD, Ole Ole Ole!, is a behind-the-scenes documentary about the excitement and ultimate struggle to make their historic Havana, Cuba, concert in 2016 become a reality. All this was happening while the band was on a super-short tour of Latin America, so you get the story of their trek through Buenos […]

“Working with my son was a delight and he made me realize a lot about myself.” For Dave Davies, who wrote a revealing warts and all autobiography about himself in 1996, that is a surprising mouthful of words. The son is Russell Davies and the project is Open Road, a nine song album released in […]

“Tonight was just like the old days. It was great,” Exene Cervenka told me after X’s show in New Orleans on May 18th at One-Eyed Jacks, as she wiped sweat from her face, still glowing with the energy from playing to a packed house. “It WAS a great show,” John Doe reiterated. “Couldn’t have fucked […]

John Doe. His name is synonymous with a letter, a city and a genre of music. Helping form the punk band X in a seedy Los Angeles forty years ago, Doe and his bandmates Exene Cervenka, Billy Zoom and DJ Bonebrake are celebrating that genesis with a 40th anniversary tour that began on May 1. […]

On Sunday, Jazz Fest closed the book on it’s 48th year of music, food and fun. And what a good book it was. No other festival can boast music with so many flavors happening all at the same time. You can walk from a blues stage, where Jonathan Boogie Long and Tab Benoit put on […]

When your Artist Of The Day sets the tone for what the day will be like then you know it’s going to be hot and funky. Big Sam Williams brought his Funky Nation back to the main Acura Stage to heat up an already hot afternoon. Ivan Neville’s Dumpstaphunk, Big Freedia and to end it […]

What happened on the 1st Sunday last week of Jazz Fest – wind and rain – happened again on Wednesday, the day before the 2nd weekend was to open. Just when everything was drying out, here came the pouring rain and it kept raining into the early opening hours of Jazz Fest on Thursday. But […]

When the legend on the stage calls himself a “folk rock dinosaur” yet still appears to be in the prime of his musical career, you wonder what kind of performance he’ll be putting on ten, twenty years from now when he is in his plus-seventies. It’s no secret that Richard Thompson has always had something […]

It appears that right now is a pretty good time to be a band called Dawes. With the release of their 2016 album, We’re All Gonna Die, solidifying their presence on the music scene as a band on the cusp of Americana superstardom, Dawes has kept their touring boots on and will continue to do […]

With the start of Jazz Fest 2017 only days away in New Orleans, fans have already secured their hotel rooms, booked their flights, circled their cubes and pulled out the vacation cash fund for food, food and more food. If it’s April, it’s time for the Laissez les bons temps rouler; in other words, let […]

Ian Astbury of The Cult Talks ‘Hidden City’ & Beyond The Music

Newest Two Time Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Greg Rolie (Santana/Journey) Talks Past & Present