ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON FEB. 27, 2013 By Steve Newton In the annals of underappreciated pop-rock singer-songwriters, Marshall Crenshaw is probably at the top of the chart. Some may vaguely recall him hitting the top 40 back in 1982 with the single “Someday, Someway”, but it’s quite likely that even more remember rockabilly crooner Robert Gordon’s … Continue reading Marshall Crenshaw is a songwriter’s songwriter
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON OCT. 26, 2011 By Steve Newton When Judas Priest announced its final world tour last month headbangers far and wide, young and ancient, stained their black-leather pants with a torrent of tears. The British metal icons had been bringing the noise to its followers—off and (mostly) on—since 1969, traversing the globe and … Continue reading Glenn Tipton says Judas Priest was shocked by K.K. Downing’s departure
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON AUG. 24, 2011 By Steve Newton There’s a quote on Carlos Santana’s official website that reads: “When you love what you do, you don’t have to work a day in your life.” If that’s true, then anyone who’s heard Santana effortlessly channel the sound of pure joy through his instrument knows that he hasn’t … Continue reading Carlos Santana says you get the tone with what you’re thinking
photo by rebecca blissett ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, JULY 30, 2011 By Steve Newton Due to its proximity to Seattle, Vancouver has enjoyed a special kinship to the famed grunge bands of the Emerald City. Before making it big the plaid-clad lads in Nirvana, Pearl Jam, and Soundgarden, hungry for gigs, would head north to … Continue reading Soundgarden’s grungey return leaves little to complain about in Vancouver
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 8, 2011 By Steve Newton Being from Alabama certainly has its benefits, one being the fact that you can really put your heart into it when you sing the chorus of Lynyrd Skynyrd’s biggest hit. But for Jason Isbell, one of the joys of growing up in northern Alabama was being … Continue reading Alabama-bred Jason Isbell learned a lot from “The Swampers” at Muscle Shoals Sound
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON MARCH 9, 2011 By Steve Newton Last year the Drive-By Truckers released The Big To-Do, a raucous collection of southern-fried alt-country tunes highlighted by the exuberant single “Birthday Boy”. A totally different vibe typifies the band’s new album, Go-Go Boots, which is surprising since its material was recorded during the same sessions as its … Continue reading The Drive-By Truckers’ country-soul mojo gets invigorated by Eddie Hinton on Go-Go Boots
photo by the Newt ORIGINALLY POSTED ON STRAIGHT.COM, SEPT. 17, 2010 Thursday (September 16) was a big night in Vancouver for legendary guitar acts from the ’70s. Over on the North Shore you had Johnny Winter at the Centennial Theatre, while, downtown, Aerosmith was packing them in at Rogers Arena. I don’t know how the albino blues-rocker … Continue reading Aerosmith shows Vancouver it can still make it through anything
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON JUNE 17, 2009 By Steve Newton In the music business, having the right manager is huge, as Hammond B3 legend Booker T. Jones recently learned. Before recording his latest album, Potato Hole, Jones found a new manager in Dave Bartlett, who hooked him up with the Drive-By Truckers, the raggedy southern-rock outfit that … Continue reading Booker T. Jones hooked up with the Drive-By Truckers after meeting Jason Isbell at SXSW
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 5, 2008 By Steve Newton It’s been 17 years since the grunge revolution blasted full-throttle out of Seattle, but Chris Cornell remembers it well. As the frontman for Soundgarden, Cornell was a chief architect of the genre, which formed as a backlash to the stagnating commercial rock of the day. “At … Continue reading Chris Cornell on the rise of grunge and the job of the rock icon
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 29, 2006 By Steve Newton As the story goes, Jerry Garcia had only been experimenting on pedal-steel guitar for two weeks when he played it on Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young’s 1970 hit “Teach Your Children”. Garcia’s licks resulted in the most widely heard pedal-steel performance ever, but that doesn’t mean … Continue reading Buddy Cage says it was easy filling Jerry Garcia’s shoes on pedal-steel in New Riders of the Purple Sage
“The reason that Shout at the Devil was my Sgt. Pepper’s is because I was in fifth grade, and it was the first record I loved.”
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON AUG. 25, 2005 By Steve Newton Looking back, 1973 was a wicked fuckin’ year for American guitar-rock albums. It saw the release of Alice Cooper‘s Billion Dollar Babies, Blue Oyster Cult‘s Tyranny and Mutation, Johnny Winter‘s Still Alive and Well, and the debuts by Aerosmith, Lynyrd Skynyrd, Montrose, and the New York Dolls. … Continue reading The New York Dolls’ David Johansen says that the Harlots of 42nd Street were his favourite band
ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED ON NOV. 25, 2004 By Steve Newton Unless you’re an avid follower of guitar players–and slide-guitar specialists, in particular–you may not have heard of Sonny Landreth. According to Eric Clapton, he is “probably the most underestimated musician on the planet”. But that didn’t stop Landreth from earning a Grammy nomination for his 2003 … Continue reading Sonny Landreth hoped some of Albert King’s cosmic dust would rub off on him
