Archive: 2009

For a music fan, sitting down for a cup of coffee in the East Village with Buddy Cage beats anything a trip to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame or reading a Robert Greenfield book could possibly offer to them.

Not to take anything away from either of those experiences, but as a self-proclaimed “lifelong freelancer” who for years served as Jerry Garcia’s hand-picked fill-in on his original pedal steel side-project, the New Riders of the Purple Sage, and has long been known as a first-call steel player, performing on albums with a diverse range of artists such as Bob Dylan, Ryan Montbleau, and even Anne Murray, Buddy Cage has more stories in his years than a sequoia and loves nothing more than to share them with a curious listener. And by “share” them, that means you get the unadulterated, R-rated version complete with gory details.

On the New Riders and the new album, Where I Come From

The New Riders of the Purple Sage are quite an amazing story in longevity, a band that has spanned around 40 years and 24 different members. In fact, amazingly enough, the predecessor lineup from 1982 to 1997 actually shares no common members with the current reformation.

For Buddy Cage, after originally joining the New Riders in 1972, both he and keystone member David Nelson decided to hang it up in 1982. “We were shot: physically, mentally, shot. There was no new material coming in and we were becoming our own damn knock off band, playing smaller and smaller venues.”

READ ON for more of Ryan’s interview with Buddy Cage of the NRPS…

With the plethora of contemporary acts descending upon the various tents and stages throughout the festival grounds this weekend at Bonnaroo 2009, it may be easy to overlook the fact that there is some genuine music royalty on the bill too – including Allen Toussaint, Merle Haggard and King Sunny Ade. Among these  legends, the […]

You Are My Face – Wilco

As part of Fuse’s support programming counting down to the Bonnaroo ’09 highlights show, they will be airing Phish: Live from the Clifford Ball on Saturday at 2PM and then again on Monday, June 15th at 7PM. Friday, June 12 [all times Eastern]: Weezer: Live In Japan [Palladia 6PM] Queen: Live at Wembley [VH1 Classic […]

Photos of Taylor Swift opening for Keith Urban at the Palace Of Auburn Hills in Michigan, on June 6th, 2009.

Even those who love prog rock often understand that its shortcoming stems from putting the head before the heart. While no genre in rock can compete with prog's technical prowess, it's still often dismissed as self-indulgent and light where the true spirit of rock n roll is the exception, not the rule. That leaves any band that takes the prog road with quite an uphill haul.

“There’s something about life that’s worth living,” sings Sarah Siskind on “Worth Fighting For,” one of many standout tracks on her newest album, Say it Louder. Over 13 tracks, Siskind delivers messages on love, regret, and ultimately, hope for the future through vocals that possess seemingly endless range.

With the release of Love Is a War, The Corduroy Road are out to showcase Carman and Solise’s incredible songwriting skills and smooth vocal harmonies.  With a toe tapping melody and mixes of some great work on banjo, guitar, and organ, the title track is reminiscent of Avett Brothers.

Shout! Factory is proud to announce today that it has signed the legendary Mexican-American five-piece ensemble Los Lobos to a recording contract. Having assembled a body of work diverse enough to cripple most bands and to captivate press and fans worldwide since its inception in 1973, the genre-smashing Los Lobos make a perfect fit with […]

On August 25, legendary singer Willie Nelson will be releasing American Classic, his first album of standards since his landmark 1978 masterpiece Stardust, and his solo debut for Blue Note Records. Produced by Tommy LiPuma, American Classic features special guest appearances by Norah Jones and Diana Krall, string arrangements by Johnny Mandel, and a top […]

Widespread Panic has been announced as a headliner for this year’s Voodoo Experience festival in New Orleans, merging a pair of Crescent City Halloween traditions. The Voodoo Experience, taking place Oct. 30-Nov. 1 this year in City Park, is entering its 11th year, showcasing New Orleans music, culture, arts and cuisine. Widespread Panic, meanwhile, has […]

The newly reformed The Jesus Lizard  will set out on the road for a limited number of comeback dates this year, including appearances at a pair of major rock festivals. The Chicago-based band, which originally broke up in 1999, has already made a few reunion appearances overseas, and will play its first US show July […]

El Paso band At The Drive-In have been in talks to reform, according to their former singer Cedric Bixler-Zavala. The band split in 2001, with Bixler-Zavala subsequently forming prog-rock band The Mars Volta with fellow At The Drive-In guitarist Omar Rodríguez-López. Now the singer has said that he has been in discussions with the band’s […]

Our friends at HeadCount will debut a new music and political trivia gameshow at Bonnaroo called Reality Check with the help of Relix and Jambands. Held at the HeadCount booth in the Planet Roo village, Reality Check is a head-to-head trivia competition that tests knowledge and speed with a buzzer. Anyone who wins three times […]

Last Week’s Sauce is a recurring column featuring recordings of shows that took place the previous week. Thanks to phanophish for this week’s photo.

Artist & Title: Cornmeal – When the World’s Got You Down
Date & Venue: 2009-06-05 – Wakarusa Music Festival, Ozark AR
Taper & Show Download: Sam Stratton

It’s apparent to me that Summer Music Festival Season is in full bloom based on all the great tapes that keep coming out of recent weekends and quickly making it up onto the Live Music Archive. Leading off this week we’ve got a track from Cornmeal with a little help from friend Tim Carbone of Railroad Earth. Cornmeal will be playing MANY more festivals this summer and they play tonight in Memphis with Outformation.

READ ON for more entries from the likes of Drive By Truckers and Fennario…

The schedule for the AT&T Music Bonnaroo Webcasts has been released and sadly Phish is nowhere to be found, although there are some TBA slots namely 11:30PM on Sunday night. Click here for the complete schedule.

We interupt our disgustingly over-the-top Phish Summer Tour coverage to plug a show featuring our friends The Hue and Wyllys along with Spare Parts and Land of Atlantis at Chicago’s House of Blues on Saturday. The Hue just finished mastering their new album and haven’t played Chicago in almost four months, so they’re chomping at […]

It’s been a little over a year since Cody Dickinson and Chris Chew of the North Mississippi All Stars decided to stretch their musical wings out by forming a new band with a new direction. The result is a high energy, rock and roll blues act called Hill Country Revue. While Chew remains his rock bottom steady self on bass guitar, Dickinson climbs out from behind the drum kit to play lead guitar (along with electric washboard, piano, some drums and vocals as well). They are joined by Daniel Robert Coburn on vocals and harmonica, Kirk Smithhart on guitar, slide guitar and vocals, Edward “Hot” Cleveland on drums and Garry Burnside on electric guitar, bass and vocals.

It’s been a few short weeks since Hill Country Revue’s debut album, Make A Move, hit the streets and the buzz has been stellar – with the album charting on the Billboard Blues chart. While the general feel of the album is gritty rock and roll that is very heavily steeped in the blues, there is a difference that defies such generalizations. You can give it any name you like, gospel, soul, swamp boogie, whatever, it won’t change the fact that Make A Move will make you “shake your ass” as Coburn sings in the self titled second cut on the new disc.

Cody Dickinson checked in from the road recently to catch us up on what’s been going on with the band and their summer tour plans.

A.J. Crandall: I noticed you are playing a lot of festivals this summer. Are you looking forward to any of them in particular?

Cody Dickinson: Oh, yeah. The line up for All Good looks so cool. We’re really excited about that one.

AJ: I’ve really been looking forward to this weekend to Bonnaroo, that’s my big trip of the year.

CD: I’m going to be there, playing guitar with Jerry Hannan . Unfortunately Hill country is not on the bill, maybe next year. But I am playing on Saturday afternoon; you should definitely check it out.

READ ON for more of AJ’s interview with Cody Dickinson…

As you read this I should hopefully be in the process of purchasing dry ice and other last minute essentials preparing for my annual 45 minute trek south to one of the largest, best run music festivals in the country.

I must admit that’s been both a neat and weird experience seeing Bonnaroo grow and develop as it has over the past seven years. My first ‘Roo experience was with my two college roommates, neither of which were fans of the ‘jamband’ scene. Nevertheless, I convinced them to go because they might not get to experience anything like it ever again. In preparation of exposing them to the festival scene, I made them a 3-volume mix CD set aptly titled: “Don’t Pigeonhole Us – We’re More Than Just Jambands!” And yes, I take my CD mixes seriously. I couldn’t tell you what exactly those tracks were now, but the point was I made them because I wanted to share what I knew would be a wonderful experience with others.

I could sit here and tell you about these different experiences: how the Flaming Lips 2003 late night changed my life for the better, when Levon Helm brought me to tears or how I finally learned to like Widespread Panic. But this would all be pointless if I didn’t mention the one thing that’s most important about going to Bonnaroo – being with your friends. That is what it’s supposed to be about. The epic peaks and valleys of the music that you experience serve as the soundtrack to your weekend. Having the time of your life, getting away from everything that’s wrong with the world and sharing that experience is what is important and I think sometimes we can lose sight of that. READ ON for more on Bonnaroo 2009…

Former Blind Faith members Eric Clapton and Steve Winwood kicked off their U.S. tour last night at the Izod Center in East Rutherford. Those hoping the pair would switch up the setlist from last year’s three-show run at Madison Square Garden won’t find too many differences but there were a few. Them Changes and Crossroads […]