Posts by Leslie Michele Derrough

Judy Collins released her 29th album, Spellbound, a record entirely all her own compositions. She may be the goddess of interpreting songs by Leonard Cohen, Joni Mitchell, and Bob Dylan, but when it comes to her own words, she is at her brightest.

Spending the majority of 2022 celebrating the 25th anniversary of his hugely successful second album, Trouble Is…, Kenny Wayne Shepherd will continue his celebratory tour in 2023

As far as influential musicians of our most recent past, Talking Heads have certainly made their imprint on the scene, both musically and visually. You can’t not know who they are upon hearing one of their songs and you didn’t walk away from a show without feeling completely mesmerized by their presence on the lighted […]

Changes often have to happen for someone to move forward in their life or their career. They can be scary, stressful, or exciting; usually a combination of all three. So when Tyler Bryant and his band The Shakedown made the decision to leave the safety of a record label to form their own, they took […]

Some artists become legends in a burst of electricity – like Jimi Hendrix and Led Zeppelin – while others ascend to that status steadily, by being consistently good over long periods of time. Pete Sears is among the latter. With his career beginning in 1965, he has built up a stellar reputation on bass and […]

When you think of some of the most well-respected musicians in the business, it’s a good bet that Jeff Baxter, better known as Skunk, ranks very high on that list. Known for his exceptional guitar work with Steely Dan, the Doobie Brothers, and on many notable albums by big-name artists such as Rod Stewart, Dolly […]

Shinedown fans have been waiting a little longer than they expected for the new album to show itself. Planet Zero was originally supposed to be released in late April but because of some production details it was pushed back to the mid-summer, which excitedly, was this past Friday, July 1st. The title track serving as […]

Siblings who pursue the same career are not unusual. It’s been happening since time began. But when they form bands together, sometimes the most iconic songs have been created: “Highway To Hell,” “Barracuda,” “Midnight Rider” and “Unchained,” to name but a few. Okay, so the Bacon Brothers haven’t reached that mountaintop yet but they do […]

With John Doe’s new solo album, Fables In A Foreign Land, released on Friday, May 20, the X singer/bass player finds himself in a pre-industrial state of mind, where living wasn’t easy but people were less cluttered with hyperkinetic flashes of social media, spending their lifetimes focused on pretty much what was right in front […]

After a downpouring of rain the night before, it turned the grounds of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival into a simmering, steaming bowl of roux. Thankfully, the mud was at a minimum and the music was blasting. From hyper harmonica solos to an instrumental “Amazing Grace,” the Fairgrounds helped you sin, sweat, and […]