AltWeeklies Wire
Interviewing Dick Smothers, the Favored Sonnew
When CBS canceled top-rated Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour in April of 1969, Tom and Dick Smothers were shocked. Nearly 40 years later, Dick, says that's probably why he and his brother remain famous.
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
09-24-2008 |
Performance
Dolly Parton Rolls Out the Big Gunsnew
What's truly amazing about Backwoods Barbie is that it manages to pander to every element of Dolly Parton's fan base without sounding insincere or compromised.
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
05-01-2008 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Dolly Parton, Backwoods Barbie
More than Bluesnew
Alison Krauss and Robert Plant team up to lead an Americana resurgence.
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
11-05-2007 |
Reviews
Evolution Rocknew
Jeff Tweedy takes Wilco to the next level.
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
05-10-2007 |
Reviews
Tags: Wilco, Sky Blue Sky
Johnny Cash's Final Journeynew
Cash was an expert at finding and composing songs that got into the human spirit, and there are plenty on two new releases from the Cash archives: Personal File and American V: A Hundred Highways.
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
06-28-2006 |
Reviews
Chops and Attitudenew
Like many artists who haven’t previously been associated with protest music, Ben Harper has been polarized by the world's jittery state.
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
04-06-2006 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: Ben Harper, Both Sides of the Gun
Faith Healingnew
The pages of historian Taylor Branch's third volume in his parallel biography of Dr. Martin Luther King and the civil-rights movement turn heavily.
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
02-03-2006 |
Nonfiction
Tags: At Canaan's Edge, Taylor Branch
The Original Guitar Mannew
The Les Paul guitar, like its skinny cousin the Stratocaster, has become an iconic symbol of rock and roll. And Paul himself, who turned 90 on June 9, is an icon among guitarists. A
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
12-23-2005 |
Profiles & Interviews
Strange Bedfellowsnew
Ever since Little Richard sang "awop-bop-a-loo-mop alop bam boom," the greatest rock-and-roll artists have spoken their own language. Add System of a Down to that honor roll.
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
12-12-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Hypnotize, System of a Down
Lost Soul Foundnew
As filmmaker Margaret Brown’s biography attests, Texas music legend Townes Van Zandt wrote so capably about lost souls because he was one himself.
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
12-09-2005 |
Reviews
Chris Whitley 1960 - 2005new
On November 20, lung cancer claimed singer-songwriter Chris Whitley, whose most recent albums seemed like stream-of-consciousness excursions through his brain and heart, albeit cloaked in tales of lost souls.
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
12-08-2005 |
Music
Tags: Chris Whitley
The Kingnew
Some fans moan that B.B. King — the most influential guitarist of the 20th century — has been coasting for years, but as long as he can work a magic that only the greatest musicians possess, that’s nitpicking.
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
11-30-2005 |
Profiles & Interviews
Tags: B.B. King
Salvation Armynew
Depeche Mode's Playing the Angel finds singer Dave Gahan dragging out his troubles.
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
11-07-2005 |
Reviews
Tags: Depeche Mode, Playing the Angel
Alan Lomax Uncovered: Challenging the Delta Historiannew
Alan Lomax has long been a controversial figure among roots-music insiders. Lost Delta Found inflames that controversy with the publication of work by other researchers that Lomax used without proper attribution.
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
10-27-2005 |
Nonfiction
Dark Starnew
Through meticulous research Charles R. Cross, who also wrote the Kurt Cobain biography Heavier Than Heaven, has blown away the hearsay lazily sustained by earlier Jimi Hendrix books.
Boston Phoenix |
Ted Drozdowski |
10-11-2005 |
Nonfiction
