Hidden Track

Widespread Panic’s 10th studio album and their first with guitar slinger Jimmy Herring in tow – Free Somehow – drops tomorrow. Well if you can’t wait until then to hear the Southern-jam titans latest you’re in luck, as you can stream it now. So head here, crack open some tall boys, and give it a […]

I’m a sucker for any of those multi-part, comprehensive music docs – I can’t tell you how many time I’ve watched The History Of Rock N’ Roll on VH1 Classic. So I was quite excited when I stumbled across the following story about one that is in the works…. PBS announced the development of a […]

We’d like to welcome Some Dude of Hits From The Blog to the Hidden Track editorial team. For the last month Some Dude has been contributing the Better Than Noodling column, but now he’s gonna take a bigger role. We’ve been big fans of his site for years, so we’re honored he’s come on board. […]

This week’s Stormy Monday takes you right into the crucible with a healthy shot of early fusion. I know, I know, the word is loaded with all sorts of connotations that could scare away even the adventurous listener. But fear not, this is prime music from some of the form’s most influential creative forces. The […]

Let me start by thanking Ace for handing me the keys to this incredible site we’ve put our blood, sweat and tears into building. If it wasn’t for the illustrious Mr. Cowboy, I’d probably still be dreaming about being a writer instead of actually doing it. Of course he used to beat me over the head with his old Phish XL-IIs whenever I’d miss a deadline, so I won’t miss that part so much.

Over the next few months we’ll be debuting new writers, columns and innovative ways to bring you content. The changes will take place slowly but surely, so stay tuned.

Now that we’re past the formalities, here’s a batch of links to start the week:

• Amy Winehouse dominated last night’s Grammy Awards
• Now you can stream music torrents on Mininova
• A Malibu woman credits Axl Rose with saving her home
• Beana Bern saw Steve Earle in Amsterdam, and shares her photos and views with Runaway Dinosaur
• Rush’s Geddy Lee will serve as a celebrity judge for a culinary competition in Canada
• Neil Young feels music has lost its power to change the world
• Update: John McCain drops John Mellencamp’s songs from his campaign playlist
• As always Neddy delivers a list of the NYC shows of the week

Finally, we were both amused and freaked out to learn that Traveling Wilburys erotic fan fiction exists. You need to read some of this shit to believe it. Read on for an excerpt…

The picture below has nothing to do with anything. But it’s pretty awesome, and you can file it under Monkey Torture, which is always sweet. I’m kinda brain dead today. And the truth is, nothing nor nobody is cooler. Alright, let’s look back at the week… Bonnaroo lays down the gauntlet — hey, that’s quite […]

Gimme Shelter documents the Rolling Stones’ tumultuous tour of the United States in 1969. Over the course of the film you get a behind-the-scenes look at how the infamous Altamont Festival went so horribly wrong. Directors Albert and David Maysles’ direct cinema techniques give you the feeling that you’re a fly on the wall for […]

We’ve got less than a month to go until Langerado, and I just can’t stop thinking about leaving the cold of NYC for the comfortable warmth of Florida. As if I wasn’t excited enough for my trip to Big Cypress, the schedule for the festival has just been released. We’re sure you’ll be absolutely shocked […]

Serving as this here rag’s editor and director of day-to-day operations couldn’t possibly be a better hobby-gone-wild. For the past 17 months it’s truly been a pleasure to serve as a part of your regular team of Internet sherpas, but man is this shit time-consuming — you people are fucking relentless. So as my real […]

For Back Door Slam, it all started with C-sharp.

Seventh grader and budding guitar prodigy Davy Knowles approached Adam Jones in their Isle of Man schoolyard and asked whether the young bassist could play in that key. Jones snickered and replied, “Of course,” and the rest will one day be history. Drummer Ross Doyle eventually joined his mates behind the kit, and now nearly a decade later, their Back Door Slam blues trio is touring thousands of miles from home to support their brilliant debut album, Roll Away.

BDS’ Davy Knowles at ACL 2007 — photo by Danfun

And even though “Back Door Slam from the Isle of Man” sounds more akin to the name of an XXX movie in San Francisco’s Castro District, they’re nonetheless building a solid name for themselves. The blues stars-to-be seem to constantly be on the road, headlining club gig after club gig and opening for more established [nostalgia] acts like REO Speedwagon, Styx and George Thorogood, earning their stripes the old-fashioned way by organically building an audience, rather than growing exponentially with hollow blog endorsements.

The precocious trio — think early Stevie Ray Vaughan & Double Trouble or Rory Gallagher — wrapped up another tour of the States last week, but they’ll be back here soon. They’re loving their growing slice of Americana so much that they’ll return for their fourth tour of the States later this month, a run that begins in Anaheim in late February and ends at the Beale Street Music Festival in early May.

I sat down with the three members of Back Door Slam before their recent show at New York’s Mercury Lounge, and since I try not to contribute to the delinquency of minors (only one of them is 21 years old, the other two are 20), we shared Cokes and Sprites as they shared tour stories and their impressions of the road to stardom. Read on after the jump for much more on the best young band of blues musicians on the road today…