When I was a kid, this is what I assumed punk-rock shows looked like: dudes in leather jackets, tough-looking ladies with homemade haircuts. Check out the dude sitting up by the speaker cabs, dancing like his ear’s attached to one of the cones. Other people stand around, passersbys look bemused or confused. Someone hands out [...]

Try to think of someone cooler than Bob Wills. You cain’t. That’s not him singing–that’s him shouting over the verses like a real jazz cat and dancing with his fiddle like it’s a sack of money. Then he tosses in a solo just because he wants you to know that he can. Charlie Daniels’ Johnny beat [...]

Early on in this clip from The Old Grey Whistle Test, Kevin Coyne admits that he “knicked” his version of “I Want My Crown” off the song’s originator, Big Joe Williams.  Coyne’s interpretation is more spritely, melodic, and memorable than the bluesman’s—it’s the work of an art-school lifer caught in a moment of mainstream success. [...]

Dan “Bee” Spears was all of nineteen years old when he joined Willie Nelson’s Family Band as a bassist, a post he would hold until his death in December 2011. Marshall Grant’s tubthumping time in the Tennessee Two notwithstanding, country music bassists tend not to draw attention to themselves. Given Willie Nelson’s fast and loose [...]

Here’s a favorite piece of choice vintage footage: legendary Ethiopian singer Alemayehu Eshete decked out in his trademark butterfly collars, sporting a sly grin and sultry shoulder shimmy, gesticulating along with the lyrics. Ticking octaves are picked out on blippy guitars, and the majestic melody comes via a pair of saxophones–a classic Ethiopian arrangement. The [...]

Doubt this will be available long, but you can now view everyone’s favorite ‘revenge flick’ and Grindhouse cinema classic, Rolling Thunder, in its entirety via YouTube. “Let’s clean ‘em up!” Watch the film after the jump…

First families of American music? While a number come immediately to mind, none more so than the Carter Family and Staples Singers. Truly lasting pillars did they build. I spent part of Sunday night in an ocean of Staples related videos and performances, but it’s this one, the group doing “Wade In The Water” live [...]

An audacious choice as a single based on running time alone, the title track from Pulp’s 1998 album made an equally brazen choice for video. This is Hardcore, the album, is more than worthy of a post on its own – a dark, seedy exploration of the very things documented and partly celebrated on their [...]