Birthright: A Black Roots Music Compendium
This double-CD’s 40 tracks represent a wide swath of black roots music, from zydeco to gospel, from a Mississippi fife-and-drum crew to one-man band...
Paco de Lucía
“He didn’t read music – but I have never met a musician with such an impeccable ear,” says John McLaughlin of the late flamenco...
Check This Action: So Long, Charlie and Top
I was saddened to hear of the passing of ’50s rocker Charlie Gracie on December 16. The 86-year-old rocker sure led a full life....
Nickel Creek
Returning for their first album in nine years, Nickel Creek is back in all its forward-thinking, postmodern-bluegrass glory, led by mandolin virtuoso Chris Thile,...
Sex Pistols: I Wanna Be Me
1977’s Never Mind the Bollocks, Here’s the Sex Pistols LP was an atomic bomb dropped on rock music and culture. To commemorate the explosion,...
Johnny Nicholas
Aubrey “Moon” Mullican (1909-1967) was “King of the Hillbilly Piano Players.” Playing and singing honky-tonk, Western swing, and boogie-woogie in the 1940s and ’50s,...
A Song For Everyone: The Story of Creedence Clearwater Revival
Hailing this 368-page book on the front dust-jacket flap as the “definitive biography” of CCR – but lacking author interviews with John Fogerty –...
Gary Moore
Today, the mashup of fiery, blues-based guitar and techno beats is fairly commonplace, but 24 years ago it was a radical move for Gary...
Dokken
A quintessential L.A. hair band, Dokken’s first four albums have been remastered and boxed. Let’s state the obvious... ’80s metal sounds dated thanks to...
Merle Travis & Deke Dickerson
Deke Dickerson does things right. He doesn’t skimp in his books, recordings, or various other productions, knowing that true “guitar geeks” (as he justly...