He is single-handedly responsible for the extraordinary increase in acoustic flatpicking and fingerpicking guitar performance. His flatpicking style has no precedent in earlier country music history.” —Ralph Rinzler, the folklorist who “discovered” Doc Watson in 1960, in the New York Times Doc Watson, the trailblazing and beloved flatpicker from North Carolina, died yesterday at the […]
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Today would’ve been Levon Helm‘s 72nd birthday. Such a weird, humbling sentence to write. Following his death on April 19, my original plan was to survey his entire career, which in retrospect was absurdly ambitious. I still may do some smaller version of that, but the survey vacuum was quickly filled by the internet, with […]
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“Saturday, the 12th of May, the policeman turns the valve And the first drunk of the weekend dribbles out Collect all your effects and take a cab straight to the bar You’re wondering what the whisperings all about.” Today is International Slobberbone Day, an unofficial holiday that probably doesn’t exist, but didn’t stop my […]
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In the wake of Levon Helm‘s death, not to mention the suicide of Junior Seau, who was 6 months my senior and a fellow southern California boy, Adam Yauch‘s sudden death at 47 hit me way harder than I could’ve possibly imagined. MCA was always the coolest Beastie (“cool as a cucumber in a […]
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http://youtu.be/OrsgxBq7HEs Austin City Limits Recorded October 14, 1975 First broadcast 1976 (6th episode ever) “Is Anybody Goin’ To San Antone” was a country hit for Charley Pride in early 1970. Doug Sahm recorded it for his great Doug Sahm And Band album, released in January 1973. Doug’s version is legendary for having Bob Dylan on acoustic […]
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