Category: sounds of the south

That time Alvin Youngblood Hart told me about covering Black Oak Arkansas and playing with the Allman Brothers

By Steve Newton Back in May of 2000 I interviewed American bluesman Alvin Youngblood Hart while he was touring behind his third album, the Jim Dickinson-produced Start With the Soul. That disc saw Hart rocking out more than on his previous releases, one of which, Territory, won a DownBeat magazine award for best blues album … Continue reading That time Alvin Youngblood Hart told me about covering Black Oak Arkansas and playing with the Allman Brothers

That time I asked 30-year-old Brother Cane frontman Damon Johnson if, being from Alabama, he was a Skynyrd fan

DJ & Eddie VH By Steve Newton Brother Cane singer-guitarist Damon Johnson called me up from Chicago back on April 26, 1995, five days after his band had opened for Van Halen at the Nutter Center in Dayton, Ohio. The group would play another 20 or so gigs with Eddie and the boys that year, … Continue reading That time I asked 30-year-old Brother Cane frontman Damon Johnson if, being from Alabama, he was a Skynyrd fan

That time Greg Martin told me how the Kentucky Headhunters came to record their new song “The Ballad of Davy Crockett”

By Steve Newton I interviewed Kentucky Headhunters lead guitarist Greg Martin in April of 1991, shortly after the release of the band's second album, Electric Barnyard. That was the one with their cover of the 1950s radio hit "The Ballad of Davy Crockett". When I was a kid I used to run around with my … Continue reading That time Greg Martin told me how the Kentucky Headhunters came to record their new song “The Ballad of Davy Crockett”

That time Gary Rossington told me that he wasn’t “Workin’ for MCA” anymore

By Steve Newton Way the hell back in 1986 I interviewed Gary Rossington and his wife Dale Krantz-Rossington. The happy couple, with two infant daughters, had just released the debut Rossington album, Returned to the Scene of the Crime, their first recording since the breakup of the Rossington-Collins Band in 1982. Both of Rossington's previous … Continue reading That time Gary Rossington told me that he wasn’t “Workin’ for MCA” anymore

Florida’s Lee Boys take the family approach to Sacred Steel

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JULY 17, 2003 By Steve Newton I’ve wanted to interview Alvin Lee for years. Back in the ’70s, his speedy fret freakouts for Ten Years After were primo air-guitar fodder. On boogie numbers like “I’m Goin’ Home” and “Choo Choo Mama”, the skinny Brit axeman proved one of the sharpest white blues-rockers … Continue reading Florida’s Lee Boys take the family approach to Sacred Steel

Nathan Williams only pretends he’s a millionaire accordion hero

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MAY 8, 2003 By Steve Newton For Louisiana accordionist-vocalist Nathan Williams—leader of Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas—music is a family affair. He grew up admiring his uncle, Harry Hypolite, who played guitar for the godfather of zydeco, Clifton Chenier. Williams was heavily influenced by Chenier, whom he regularly watched perform at … Continue reading Nathan Williams only pretends he’s a millionaire accordion hero

Buckwheat Zydeco says everybody has a different vibration, man

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MAY 23, 2002 By Steve Newton You’ll rarely find Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural, Jr. without his trusty Hohner accordion—or the mile-wide grin that comes whenever he plays it. But the 54-year-old musician wasn’t always so enamoured of the instrument. When he was a youngster in Lafayette, Louisiana, Dural couldn’t stand the accordion, mainly … Continue reading Buckwheat Zydeco says everybody has a different vibration, man

That time some chick called me “a Skynyrd-loving moron” so I hummed a few bars of “Free Bird”

By Steve Newton Back in June of 2000 the Vancouver newspaper I'm still working at (god willing), the Georgia Straight, introduced a new column called Payback Time, where ticked-off readers could write in and vociferously complain about the music critics' opinions, before the scribe under attack was allowed to defend himself with a potentially witty … Continue reading That time some chick called me “a Skynyrd-loving moron” so I hummed a few bars of “Free Bird”

Mark Meaux just wants Bluerunners to be thought of as a butt-rockin’ Louisiana band

ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN THE GEORGIA STRAIGHT, SEPT. 12, 1991 By Steve Newton Zydebilly, cajun metal, garage zydeco—critics have been falling over themselves trying to find words to describe the music of Lafayette, Louisiana’s Bluerunners. But singer/guitarist Mark Meaux has his own idea. “Individually, all those terms—cajun, zydeco, punk—describe really great genres of music. But jumbling … Continue reading Mark Meaux just wants Bluerunners to be thought of as a butt-rockin’ Louisiana band

That time Rickey Medlocke told me that the rebel flag was just a symbol of where Skynyrd came from

By Steve Newton Lynyrd Skynyrd doesn't fly the rebel flag in concert anymore, from what I've heard. But back in 1997 they sure did. So when I interviewed guitarist Rickey Medlocke before a '97 show in Vancouver I asked him if, from his Native American perspective, he found there to an intolerance among southern-rock fans … Continue reading That time Rickey Medlocke told me that the rebel flag was just a symbol of where Skynyrd came from

That time 24-year-old Grace Potter told me that she wasn’t too young to appreciate the Allman Brothers

By Steve Newton The first time I ever saw Grace Potter perform live I was blown away. Her band the Nocturnals opened for Gov't Mule in Vancouver, and she joined the Mule on a killer version of "Honky Tonk Women", displaying a whole lotta soul. A couple months later, in January of 2008, I interviewed … Continue reading That time 24-year-old Grace Potter told me that she wasn’t too young to appreciate the Allman Brothers