Interviews

Her story reads like a PR handbook. A country girl from Seattle grows up singing just like her mother, fed on Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline and eventually finding inspiration in Jeff Buckley and Radiohead.

The release of By a Thread marks John Ellis’ turning point from Charlie Hunter Trio sideman to full-time bandleader. Clinging to his New Orleans roots while embracing a variety of new sounds, Ellis is spinning the wheel of creativity with the sax.

No one was more surprised than Glen Phillips when a song called

The men behind U.K. soul outfit Zero 7 — producers Henry Binns and Sam Hardaker

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Although considered by many as the Godfathers of grunge, Mudhoney never made the headlines of their angst-ridden Seattle peers. However, the Mudhoney sound has been an influential piece in contemporary rock. Seventeen years since their debut, the mud boys have returned with Under a Billion Suns.

With their latest single “Cash Machine” hitting the charts and Stars Of CCTV in stores, Hard-Fi are on their way to grabbing some heat from The Arctic Monkeys, while rekindling the triumphant spirit and sound of The Clash.

Tuesdays have been pretty nice in Burlington, Vermont lately with Brett Hughes quietly refining his Honky Tonk jam sessions. For the past few months he has been joined by a rotating cast that will soon be led down to Bonnaroo by Mike Gordon.

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Ten years as a band, and Centro-matic’s newest album has been heralded as the band’s best yet by peers like Patterson Hood of the Drive-By Truckers. Will Johnson and company show a polish that has burned brighter with each proper release.

Ben Harper had a rather busy year. Between spending most of his time touring around the country, he somehow managed to record an album with the Blind Boy of Alabama, win two Grammys, be a dad, and then cut another album – this one being his best to date.

Jamie Masefield is taking a significant departure from past efforts. On two evenings this April, he’ll orchestrate his first long piece of program music as a composer, and include literature and film to interpret Tolstoy

It’s been nearly four years since dub reggae collective Dubconscious began spreading its bass-tempered sound around Athens, GA. Since then, their socially conscious sound has grown louder, and now they embark on a west coast tour to High Sierra.

With an inaugural invite to Bonnaroo, solidified cast and yet another album under their belt, John Popper and co. have somehow managed to weather the music business storm for close to two decades. To catch up, we sat down for a quick “12 questions with Popper.”

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Baltimore has long been a musical vacuum where many bands exist in its space but few are able to escape the void. The Bridge, a five-piece from the local area seem poised to be the next to free themselves from the city limits.

Lake Trout has grown to become a mature, focused band of rock careerists. The classic rock seeds of their youth and the jazz and hip-hop flavors of young adulthood merged with electronic inspirations, providing the the ability to weave those digital threads into ghostly indie rock.

Coming off a platinum album and two Grammy nominations, Jack Johnson’s next ambitious new project was creating an original soundtrack for the upcoming, Ron Howard produced, Curious George animated film.

There are three clich

David Dodd’s initial work with the annotation of Grateful Dead lyrics first involved name checking certain references in “Ramble On Rose” and posting his findings on the Web. Ten years later, his remarkable scholarship has led to an absolutely essential book of the same name, “The Complete Annotated Grateful Dead Lyrics.”