Posts by Neil Ferguson

If you’ve had the pleasure of indulging in all 16 hours of Ken Burns’s Country Music documentary, then you may have been left with the burning question of who will bear the torch for the rich legacy of country and bluegrass? The answer, my friend, is Billy Strings. Since bursting onto the scene a few […]

In our chaotic, hyperactive times of media overload, there isn’t much opportunity to savor. Art – music in particular – gets released only to be digested quickly before people move onto the next thing. But John Prine’s songs were always meant to be savored, as it’s impossible to grasp his rootsy genius with a quick […]

In this world of digital streaming and media that moves so fast it’s fleeting, it’s hard to imagine any band – let alone a guitar-slinging rock band – rising to the level of an arena act and staying there for over forty years. Iron Maiden are one of the last truly epic arena bands to […]

When Calexico and Iron & Wine aka Sam Beam announced they would reignite their collaboration earlier this year, fans of both acts rejoiced. Their 2005 collaborative EP In The Reins was widely lauded as a high point for both acts. Years To Burn would not only be a rekindling of this magic, but it would […]

If you were lucky enough to be at the Doug Fir Lounge in Portland, Oregon on Wednesday, August 21, then you played witness to a multigenerational showcase of rock and roll greatness. The triple bill stretched back to the 70s with The Blasters, the 80s with Big Sandy and His Fly-Rite Boys, and the 90s […]

Rock and roll has always been about maintaining a high, ideally in both the music and in the career of a band. After more than 15 years as a band, The Hold Steady have seemingly figured out how to do both. The bar band indie rockers have stepped back from heavy touring in recent years […]

James McMurtry has always been a teller of truths, even though most of his songs are fiction. Through the characters that inhabit his music he addresses the issues that face rural America, many of which are the same issues that Donald Trump used to con his supporters into voting for him. But with his own […]

During a time when most music festivals are either homogenous corporate machines with the same lineup all summer long or aimed more at appealing to our desire to post on Instagram than our musical tastes – or some combination of both (Coachella anyone?) – it takes a certain mix of elements to make for a […]

It’s easy to look at the lineups for festivals like Bonnaroo, Coachella, and Austin City Limits only to be disappointed by the sameness, not to mention the corporate presence. Going into its 21st year, Pickathon has long been considered the crème de la crème of indie music festivals. Between a deliberately eclectic lineup and an […]

The world has been losing rock stars at a staggering pace in recent years, reminding us to treasure those who are still around and creating music. Luckily we still have Jeff Lynne, one of the few arena-worthy acts left. In recent years, the mastermind behind Electric Light Orchestra (ELO) the Traveling Wilburys has been playing […]

It’s been a rough couple months for the city of New Orleans. Legendary figures including Dr. John, Leah Chase, Dave Bartholomew, and Paul “Lil’ Buck” Sinegal to name a few, have passed on. But the important part, as evidenced by the celebratory parades and second lines that have followed each passing, is that the legacy […]

Alejandro Escovedo is a man who needs no introduction, yet strangely, he does. For more than four decades the multi-faceted singer-songwriter has been notching up the kind of credibility of a rock and roll legend, playing in punk bands and then having a prolific solo career. Somehow Escovedo has always flown a bit under the […]

Any single member of the Foo Fighters could easily rest on his laurels, content and respected for being in one of the last great rock bands to still draw arena crowds. Yet somehow, after more thantwenty years as a band, the members of the Foo Fighter seem to approach music with boundless enthusiasm. Dave Grohl […]

Since being founded in 2013 by Matt Fiedler, Tyler Barstow, and Cameron Schaefer, Vinyl Me, Please has rode the wave of the vinyl resurgence while also deserving their fair share of credit in playing a role in it. Even as streaming music platforms continue to grow in popularity and CDs go the way of the dinosaurs, […]

Willard Gayheart has dedicated his life to Appalachia. Growing up in the Cumberland Gap region of Kentucky and eventually settling down in the small town of Galax, Virginia nestled in the Blue Ridge Mountains, Gayheart has found artistic ways to keep the rich legacy of this region alive. He’s perhaps best known for his pencil drawings […]

Portland, Oregon may not be as recognized as cities like Austin and Nashville, but the Rose City is a low-key hotspot for Americana, folk, and seemingly every style of country music. Maybe it’s the flannel and the beards, or perhaps it’s the number of intimate venues across town that happily book small country bands who […]

To fans of alt-country rockers the Drive-By Truckers, band’s two principal songwriters have long been known as the Dimmer Twins. The backhanded reference to Mick Jagger and Keith Richards’ “Glimmer Twins” is somehow fitting for Patterson Hood and Mike Cooley, who each bring a completely different style of singing, songwriting, and playing to the music. […]

It may feel like the world is going to hell, but it sure is a good time to be a jazz fan. While talking about the “new generation” of jazz tends to feel like a cliché at this point, it is hard to deny the electrifying excitement generated by young acts like Kamasi Washington and […]

Eclectic Austin rockers White Denim have been chugging along for close to 15 years, and in the process they have been quietly building a prolific body of work. The only constant members of the band – guitarist and singer James Petralli and bassist Steve Terebecki – opened their own recording studio called Radio Milk earlier […]

Reed Turchi may not be a household name, but for close to 10 years the guitarist and songwriter has been quietly leading something of a prolific career. At the core of every project and album he has taken on has been a devotion to the blues. Even though he is from North Carolina, Turchi has […]