Now Spinning: Maria Muldaur

Though not quite the household name she deserves to be, few if anyone can rival Maria Muldaur’s career in music – from her earliest days on the Greenwich Village folk scene with the Jim Kweskin Jug Band to a string of albums in the late sixties and early seventies that serve as some of the […]

Now Reading: Lightnin’ Hopkins His Life and Blues

I just wrapped up Alan Govenar’s biography on one of my favorite bluesmen, the mysterious Lightnin’ Sam Hopkins. Despite a personal songwriting style – Lightnin’ songs sometimes simply described his day, though with a blurred line between fact and fiction, meaning confirming the facts can be a challenge. And while Govenar concedes the fact that […]

Now Spinning: Bukka White

One of those summer nights…. thunderstorms have cooled the day’s suffocating humidity down to a near-balmy 80 degrees and I trot out to my backyard for some gardening work, a favorite hobby to pass the time, with the sounds of Bukka White echoing from my turntable inside. It’s a Friday night and the world is […]

Now Spinning: The Other Side Of Sun

Opinions tend to vary among collectors when it comes to Record Store Day. And sure, while there’s plenty of silly novelty – from unnecessary rereleases (with originals available for a fraction of the cost just a few bins down) to a hectic shopping experience – I refuse to see something that draws so much additional […]

Now Spinning: Koerner, Ray & Glover

One of my fondest college memories involves a solo trek through a classic November Minnesota snowstorm into Minneapolis to see ‘Spider’ John Koerner and Tony Glover at the 400 Bar in 2008. As a 19 year old kid, I knew next to nothing about their work, but I had noted their inclusion in Bob Dylan’s […]

Now Spinning: Woody Guthrie

“I hate a song that makes you think that you’re not any good. I hate a song that makes you think that you are just born to lose. Bound to lose. No good to nobody. No good for nothing. Because you are either too old or too young or too fat or too slim or […]