Posts by Neil Ferguson

The first time I ingested a certain party-enhancing substance in a live music setting happened to be at a Lotus show. It was a late night festival set and at that moment the band’s deep instrumental grooves sounded sweeter than anything I’d ever heard. Like many first time experiences, it felt transformative. That was almost […]

James McMurtry is a man of few words, but you wouldn’t know it from his music. The Texas singer-songwriter has spent his career writing lyrics filled with complex stories and characters. His best-known song, “Choctaw Bingo,” the closing track on his 2002 album Saint Mary of the Woods, stretches for eight minutes and thirty-three seconds […]

Forget about the sports bars, born-again Christians, golf and Arizona, Alice Cooper is still a tried and true rock and roller. In Austin on Thursday Cooper exorcised his demons through a 90-minute set that encapsulated why he is one of the most influential performers to ever hit the stage. Sure, the set was a romp […]

Led by the husband-and-wife team of David Pelta-Tiller (mandolin, tenor guitar, vocals) and Enion Pelta-Tiller (five-string violin, vocals), Colorado’s Taarka specialize in weaving intricate folksy tales with technical acoustic musicianship not unlike groups like the Punch Brothers or fellow Coloradans Elephant Revival. It helps that this duo also features guitarist Ross Martin and bass powerhouse Sam […]

When the Mavericks called it quits in 2004 there was a collective feeling amongst fans that this band was too important and too good to be over and done with. Ever since founding in Miami in 1989 they had been winning over fans that found their catchy melting pot of country, rockabilly and Latin music […]

What happens when you put together a folk-oriented singer-songwriter with a jazz drummer? You get music that is infectiously listenable and like nothing you’ve heard before. Such is the case with Catherine Feeny and Chris Johnedis, the unlikely Portland, OR-based duo who have used their natural musical chemistry to create something special. Feeny has been making music […]

(Photo: Greg Aiello) Anyone who follows the jam, funk, and jazz scenes could probably rail off a list of musicians who would play in their dream collaboration. For music nerds this is like building your fantasy football team. Featuring three titans of the scene in Skerik (saxophones), John Medeski (keyboards), and Adam Deitch (drums), DRKWAV […]

(Photo Credit: Alissa Anderson) Last year Ethan Miller found himself in a dark place. For the last 14 years he had been working non-stop as a career musician, fronting Bay Area noise rock band Comets on Fire before shifting his primary focus to more of a classic rock sound with his Howlin’ Rain project. Between both […]

Hailing from the “Live Music Capital of the World”, T Bird & the Breaks have been delivering their trademark brand of funky soul music since 2007. Honing their chops in the many venues spread across Austin, the group has developed one of the best live shows around. It would be easy to just call T […]

Photo credit: Michael Traister “I’m so thrilled to get to see 6 String Drag again. They’re as great as ever. Like reconnecting with a long lost friend.” – Patterson Hood (Drive-By Truckers) Sure, it’s been 18 years since North Carolina alt. country heroes 6 String Drag last released an album, but there’s no time like the […]

Los Straightjackets came out of the gates ripping and roaring when they hit the stage in front of a sold out crowd at Austin’s legendary Continental Club on Thursday night. They would be joined by one-of-a-kind rocker Deke Dickerson later in the set, but to get things going the lucha libre-masked quartet cranked out a […]

Paul Kelly may not be a household name here in America, but over the course of more than forty years the Australian singer-songwriter and musician has been nothing short of prolific. Numerous awards and a genre-crossing body of work has earned Paul Kelly the status of living legend, which is exactly why his upcoming release […]

In Vinyl Lives we spotlight and profile record stores around the country who offer music lovers an experience that goes beyond an iTunes purchase or a Spotify playlist. Vinyl has found a new resurgence and the good folks behind independent record stores are on the front line, directly responsible for curating a unique collection of […]

Photo Credit: Tyler Zoller The self-proclaimed “Southern Indiana Country Blues Heroes” are back this year with their fifth full-length album of original material, So Delicious. The album hits the streets and the interwebs on February 17, and is also their debut on Yazoo Records, “the legendary pre-war blues re-issue label” that’s part of Shanachie Entertainment.” So Delicious captures The Reverend Peyton’s Big Damn Band […]

Photo Credit: Robert Matheu For half a century Jerry Williams Jr. has been forging his own path through the music industry. His early R&B recordings as Little Jerry Williams and his work producing and writing songs for other artists is impressive in and of itself, but Williams is perhaps best known for his work under the […]

Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers once described Centro-matic as “his favorite band that is still vital and intact.” This quote resonates with a bittersweet feeling now; on the one hand hearing such a respected songwriter call the Denton group his “favorite” and “vital” is the upmost compliment, but on the other hand, by the […]

Old 97’s have been kicking ass for over twenty years, and what better way to celebrate than to play the album that put them on the map in its entirety live. Normally the full album live concept can be hit or miss to say the least, but when a band is celebrating their accomplishments with […]

Any music critic worth his salt fears the year-end list where it’s time to go back and sift through that bottomless collection of promos to produce a list of the year’s “best” albums. For one that obsesses over music and listens to just about everything, this is no easy task. This year saw more than […]

Aaron Behrens is a strong believer in the idea that if you’re an artist and you embark on a side project there is no point in making it exactly like your main project. As one half of the electro, laser-loving dance duo Ghostland Observatory, Behrens is stepping away from the untz and moving into the […]

Back in 2009 we launched a column here at Glide Magazine called Vinyl Lives. The column was dedicated to a deep love of record collecting and the tendency of that love to turn into an obsession. It was also focused on the resurgence of vinyl as the most optimal platform for ingesting music in the […]