Give me your music, your art, your huddled masses of words and rhythms yearning to breathe free.
Sometimes I think it’s a sin, when I feel like I’m winning, when I’m losing again. Those words from Canadian singer-songwriter Gordon Lightfoot have run up and down the staircase of my mind many times. Just when I think I’ve got it, it turns out I don’t. His win/lose lyric has several cousins: Springsteen’s one … Read more
“It was the third of June, another sleepy, dusty Delta day…” I sing in the car. This is about as far as I get before my friends groan, “Okay, THAT’S enough.” They know what’s coming next: the entire five verses of Bobbie Gentry’s Southern gothic hit, “Ode to Billie Joe.” Yep, I’ve known the lyrics … Read more
Okay, rock fans of the ’60s and ’70s, it’s time to get brutally honest and swallow your hipster pride. Can you please admit you’ve heard of country singer Tammy Wynette? And, if you know the name, are you self-assured enough to admit you’ve heard, or even enjoyed, her 1968 chart-topping single, “D.I.V.O.R.C.E.”? C’mon, fess up! … Read more
In 1968, The Band sang about pulling into Nazareth, “feelin’ ’bout half past dead.” Robbie Robertson wrote that lyric for The Band’s most enduring song, “The Weight,” but he wasn’t referring to the Holy Land. Rather, he was paying homage to Nazareth, Pennsylvania, home of guitar maker C.F. Martin & Company. Well, maybe it’s a … Read more
With the publication of Willie Nelson’s new memoir – Roll Me up and Smoke Me When I Die: Musings From the Road, I present some of my favorite past quotes from the great, grizzled 79-year-old singer/songwriter/picker…and tireless marijuana legalization promoter. “We create our own unhappiness. The purpose of suffering is to help us understand we … Read more