How the Music of 1971 Changed Things
Picking an epochal year in music can be tricky. While 1954 or 1977 may be easy choices for turning points in rock, I was always partial to 1966. Ronald Brownstein’s…
Remembering Charley Pride, 1934-2020
It was just last month that country music pioneer Charley Pride was honored at the CMA Awards. Saturday, at 86, he was one of the more than 298,000 Americans who…
Virtual Icons at Virtual Rock Hall Induction
They canceled the Olympics and Coachella, so this year might have also been a good year to cancel The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame 2020 Inductions (HBO, 8 p.m.).…
Remembering Mac Davis, 1942-2020
Lost in the news this week is the death of Mac Davis Tuesday at 78. A songwriter (“I Believe in Music” who was hitmaker in his own right (“Baby Don’t…
Clubs Eye Pandemic Reopenings
As phase two kicks in (even as coronavirus cases spike), clubs are tip-toeing toward reopening, but not without as many regulations as an airplane ride - or perhaps more so.…
Remembering Little Richard, 1932-2020
There was no doubting that excitable voice on the phone 25 years ago. He was coming around for a club gig in in New Haven, but it was much more…
Virus Takes Adam Schlesinger, 52
It’s clear COVID-19 will mow us all down, spiritually if not literally, decimating every aspect of life. The music world is already being cut down from every genre. I just…
Remembering Kenny Rogers, 1938-2020
I feel kind of bad now that I pressed Kenny Rogers a few years back on whether a tour he was calling “The Gambler’s Last Deal: Final World Tour” would…
The Touring ‘Simon & Garfunkel Story’
There is certainly a dramatic story to be told behind the highly successful 60s duo Simon & Garfunkel from a brief high school success that got them on “American Bandstand”…
A New Year’s Eve Tribute to Aretha Franklin
Some of Aretha Franklin’s greatest performances happened at the Kennedy Center — chief of which may have been a 2015 performance of “(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman”…