Check out Andrew Blackstein’s photos of ALO, American Babies and the Ryan Montbleau Band’s recent gig at Highline Ballroom
Hands On A Hardbody racked up nine nominations for the Drama Desk Awards
Watch Mickey “Dean Ween” Melchiondo guest with Les Claypool’s Duo De Twang
Download a fantastic first set from the Grateful Dead’s Spring Tour ’81
Watch the Iron & Wine big band perform Grace For Saints And Ramblers on Fallon
The two surviving members of the Beastie Boys are putting together a book on their history and more
Old Crow Medicine Show on Conan, Iggy Pop & The Stooges on Colbert, Phoenix on Letterman and more music on TV this week
Dennis Dunaway was there at the beginning and co-wrote some of Alice Cooper's most notable songs, including "I'm Eighteen" and "School's Out". He ran track with pre-Alice Vince Furnier in high school and prodded him to start a band after seeing the great guitar slinger Duane Eddy. And it is Dunaway who is the keeper of the memories, a title that makes him laugh when I call him this during our interview earlier this year. But his stories of days-gone-by belie his denial as they are vividly clear, told with surprising detail and in such a way that the listener is kept spellbound as if the event happened yesterday, as if you were actually there with bass player Dunaway, drummer Neal Smith, guitarists Michael Bruce and Glen Buxton (who passed away in 1997) and ringleader Cooper.
While four-letter words like “road” and “town” have never strayed far from Steve Earle’s songbook, his latest trip veers from the familiar to the expected. On The Low Highway, Earle sounds strained, even gruffer than usual, on predictable travel themes that otherwise serve up welcome surprises from his wife Allison Moorer and longtime live band, The Dukes.
One of the beacons of heart-warming, soul-searching and downright beautiful musicianship continues to be Tift Merritt, whose writing has never shied away from approaching difficult subjects with honesty and willingness to engage, but never has she been so vulnerable and calm than on her new record Traveling Alone.
