I believed that there was no music existing in the world with an unbroken connection to its original context. I was wrong.
music
Posted inArts & Culture, Nonfiction, Story
J.R.’s Jook and the Authenticity Mirage
When a young white musician gets invited to a house-party, the musicians he plays with show him a slice of blues culture many people assumed had died.
Posted inBooks, Nonfiction, Story, Unapologetic Women, Writing
Lyrical Ladies, Writing Women, and the Legend of Lauryn Hill
Joan Morgan’s “She Begat This” looks back at how Lauryn Hill crashed through hip-hop’s glass ceiling, while our critic looks at how the author and a cadre of black women writers did the same for hip-hop music journalism.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Story
The Last of the Live Reviewers: An Interview with Nate Chinen
Nate Chinen may have been the last full-time jazz reviewer at any American newspaper. He says jazz hasn’t been in a better place since the ’60s — but the commercial infrastructure is broken.
Posted inArts & Culture, Essays & Criticism, Story
We Stand on Guard for Bieber
How Canadian is Justin Bieber? His hometown’s “Steps to Stardom” exhibit provides some answers.
Posted inArts & Culture, Nonfiction, Story
Weird in the Daylight
The story of Sadlack’s Heroes, the Raleigh dive bar that helped galvanize the alternative country scene in the 1990s.
Posted inArts & Culture, Editor's Pick, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews
‘Country Music … Was Anything BUT Pure’: An Interview with Bill Malone and Tracey Laird
The co-authors of ‘Country Music USA’ – a revised edition of the genre’s definitive history – talk about the music’s African-American tributaries, its unpredictable politics, country radio’s woman problem, and working on Ken Burns’ forthcoming doc.
Posted inArts & Culture, Nonfiction, Profiles & Interviews, Story
‘Country Music … Was Anything BUT Pure’: An Interview with Bill Malone and Tracey Laird
The co-authors of ‘Country Music USA’ – a revised edition of the genre’s definitive history – talk about the music’s African-American tributaries, its unpredictable politics, country radio’s woman problem, and working on Ken Burns’ forthcoming doc.
Posted inArts & Culture, Highlight, Profiles & Interviews, Quotes, Unapologetic Women
She’s Not Just a Girl in the World
She’s a rock star, and a mom, and a tomboy, and a wife, and a study in contradictions.
Posted inArts & Culture, Books, Nonfiction, Story
The Blue Ridge Country King
No one would have thought that Highland Ridge, Virginia was the center of anything. Then Jim McCoy’s honky-tonk came along.