B-Sides

When rock pioneer Tom Petty died on October 2, the music world mourned a soulful troubadour, a fiercely original and melodic songwriter, and a quietly affecting frontman. A committed writer, performer, and musician to the core, Hall of Famer Petty’s was a legendary career that married consistency with invention. His loss is huge – for […]

Brent Mydland always saw himself as the new guy on keyboards for the Grateful Dead. He held that keyboard position longer than anyone before or since, but could never rid himself of the feeling of not completely belonging in the group.  He cut his teeth in the LA-based band Silver and then with Bob Weir’s “Midnites.” […]

Portland, Oregon rockers LiquidLight recently dropped their sophomore studio album Wicked Radio. It showcases an experimentation with a new sound that pushes the songwriting and vocal performances to the fore, while still acknowledging that they are a band capable of demonstrating instrumental prowess. The new record both pushes their boundaries and sees them returning to […]

Cinematographer Roger Deakins is one of the best, and one of the unluckiest, men working in Hollywood today,

Following a week that saw the passing of one of rock music’s top songwriters in Tom Petty, it brings to mind how important words are to the songs we love. Not just a beat or a hummable melody, a good song becomes a great song when the words are powerful, touching a nerve or a […]

Tom Petty’s sudden passing is, in a word, a shock, one that deals another blow to everyone who appreciated this sturdy heartland rocker and bearer of the flame passed down from Dylan and the Byrds to the Americana contingent that followed later on. When Petty and the Heartbreakers first made their bow, I was a […]

Tom Petty should go down in rock history as the music’s greatest individual role model. If that sounds like an audacious claim, just take a cursory look at how this native Floridian navigated his way through the forty year career he just celebrated with a national tour with the Heartbreakers, culminating in multiple sold-out shows […]

The setlist for this mid-December (12/14/75 to be exact) performance by the Who at the Springfield Civic Center in Massachusetts may look like a bountiful roster of hits, but it didn’t exactly come off that way, laser light show aside. From the very start of “I Can’t Explain,” Pete Townshend looked like the last thing […]

Plenty of people go to see bands when they come through their town, but most people don’t think about everything that it takes to get those bands to their favorite club. Being on tour for a musician is both enlightening and daunting, as physically and mentally draining as it is stimulating. And no matter what, […]

Randy Newman might be the most misunderstood American songwriter of the 20th century. This is no exaggeration. For nearly half a century, Newman has been unfairly pigeonholed as either a novelty singer or a merciless parodist – or just the curly-haired dork who plays the piano. His throwaway takedown of prejudice in 1977, “Short People,” […]

Pearls Before Swine are placed in the liner notes somewhere between the Incredible String Band, Mimi & Richard Farina, Tim Buckley…and Love. Some have likened one of these albums to alt-country but that’s only a fraction: for most the biblically-named Pearls Before Swine are really the vehicle for Tom Rapp and the first dawning of […]

Matt Siffert was raised in New York City by a psychologist mother, and as a result he spent much of his teenage years devouring books about the subject. But around the same time this was going on Siffert fell in love with music and found himself increasingly drawn to the vast and vibrant NYC music scene. Jazz, […]

It goes without saying that Paul McCartney is one of — if not the — greatest songwriter of our time. That’s not to negate the efforts of those that clearly come close — Bob Dylan, Chuck Berry, Irving Berlin, Lerner and Lowe, Rogers and Hammerstein, or, for that matter, the late John Lennon. But given […]

Plenty of people go to see bands when they come through their town, but most people don’t think about everything that it takes to get those bands to their favorite club. Being on tour for a musician is both enlightening and daunting, as physically and mentally draining as it is stimulating. And no matter what, […]

Plenty of people go to see bands when they come through their town, but most people don’t think about everything that it takes to get those bands to their favorite club. Being on tour for a musician is both enlightening and daunting, as physically and mentally draining as it is stimulating. And no matter what, […]

After rumors spread last month that Led Zeppelin (Plant, Page, Jones and Jason Bonham) were regrouping to make an appearance at Desert Trip 2017, fans and followers were given the news that the massive event won’t happen after all this year. Still, that doesn’t mean there isn’t hope it won’t happen in the future. Indeed, […]

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 […]

Plenty of people go to see bands when they come through their town, but most people don’t think about everything that it takes to get those bands to their favorite club. Being on tour for a musician is both enlightening and daunting, as physically and mentally draining as it is stimulating. And no matter what, […]

As sad is the news of Gregg Allman’s passing, it’s only slightly more sobering than the thoughts of how many years he has seemed to live on borrowed time. Descriptions of his drug use in Scott Freeman’s Brothers bio Midnight Riders may be exaggerated, but there’s no denying Gregg’s own harrowing account in his book […]

Plenty of people go to see bands when they come through their town, but most people don’t think about everything that it takes to get those bands to their favorite club. Being on tour for a musician is both enlightening and daunting, as physically and mentally draining as it is stimulating. And no matter what, […]