Tag: music

This week, our editors recommend stories by Bushra Seddique, Simon van Zuylen-Wood, Laura Mauldin, Kathryn Miles, and Lucas Mann.

Soul and gospel singer Candi Staton let no hardship stand in the way of her voice, one that helped define the music of her generation.

This week, our editors recommend notable features and essays by Jackie Flynn Mogensen, Justin Heckert, Gloria Liu, Sharon Levy, and Mychal Denzel Smith.

Bands like L7 and Heavens to Betsy were instrumental to the birth of the grunge scene, but for decades were treated like novelties and sex objects. Thirty years later, it’s time to reassess their legacy.

Let’s go away for awhile and reflect on the genius of Brian Wilson and the Beach Boys’ 1966 album “Pet Sounds.” Wouldn’t it be nice?

The soundtrack of my life goes back a long way. Here are six longreads about music, for the love of it.

“And thus another Hollywood tradition was born: film choruses belting out perfectly nonsensical prose with utter conviction.”

“In a few years’ time, however, she became a different kind of working woman: a musician by trade and one of the hardest working women in country music.”

Earl King’s “discs were among the rare ones where the words were as important as the music, where blues guitar was balanced with second-line piano, and where the B-sides were as strong as the A-sides.”

On Yoko Ono’s 1974 album “A Story,” and stepping out from behind the ever-present shadow of John Lennon.

Happy birthday, Dolly Parton! Here are seven longreads about the American singer-songwriter.

Music has been a salve this year, helping us cope with the myriad challenges that 2020 brought. Here are some favorite pieces of music writing we picked in 2020.

“She wielded her guitar like a weapon and distorted the sound: a guitar technique that was completely original at the time and would be copied by legions of rock guitarists in the decades after.”

Generations of musicians got their start busking the streets of the Deep Ellum neighborhood of Dallas, Texas. After a decade of ‘hobo-ing’ around cities like New Orleans, Paris, and New York, Charley Crockett discovered it was his turn.

“First, you exclude black people from the festivals. Then write them out by not recording them. And pretty soon, ‘you have this manufactured image of country music being white and being poor.'”

It seems like everyone in the world loves “Fetch the Bolt Cutters.” So why don’t I? On the isolation of disconnection.

“With a drink in my hand and earplugs responsibly in place, I’m very aware that I’ve spent more than half my life essentially standing in the same spot: off to one side of the stage (close but not too close), eyes forward, shifting weight from foot to foot.”

“She can be shy and insecure. And yet she didn’t hesitate to stare down the cameras on American television to call out one of the most powerful men in the world.”

For years, singer-songwriter Paul Curreri was a shouter of singular beauty. Then he went quiet — slowly, at first, then all of a sudden.

“Before he died a few years later, my father told me there were almost no tocaoras — female flamenco guitarists — in the world. If I kept practicing, he said, I could be one of the first.”

Jessica Lynne remembers a long distance love affair that began in Miami and the Billie Holiday song that kept her company through the relationship’s transitions.

“No it’s not about me. It’s about the music, it’s about this moment.”

“We had nothing to lose,” Cary Ann said. “Fuck it. Band. Family. Let’s give it a shot. . . . Handshake, spit on it. If it gets too nasty we’ll cut and run.”

What happens when ordinary people play God to strangers? Leora Smith explores the history of one of the oldest art installations at Burning Man and the conversations that unfold there.

As a teen, Laura Bond went all out to meet Depeche Mode — and to hang onto her best friend.

Struggling with fluctuating hormones, Wendy Gan is inspired by the musician Mino to stop muting herself and return to writing.

While away at summer camp, Melissa Febos discovers the power of her generation’s rage and feminism.

After being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, Anna Gazmarian grapples with her evangelical upbringing, and finds solace in screamo music.

The classic rock star wanted to stick it to The Man, and did so bender by selfish bender. The new rock star knows you can’t do it alone.

Either Martin Mull or Frank Zappa or Elvis Costello once said writing about music is as pointless as dancing about architecture. Which doesn’t account for how I’ve danced to all these books.