Hey nineteen That’s ‘Retha Franklin She don’t remember the Queen of Soul That was recorded by Steely Dan in 1980, when Aretha already appeared to be in the rearview mirror. But she wasn’t. Forget the forgettable Arista hits, but remember her appearances on the Grammys, at Obama’s inauguration and the Kennedy Center Honors. Aretha Franklin […]

The script has flipped, record companies no longer drive the business, they get all the press, but the question is not how many streams you have, but how many tickets you’re worth, then the industry knows if you have real fans. Better to play to the local promoter than the A&R guy. And if you […]

“The more specific she was, the more relatable it seemed.” (Beth Laird on Taylor Swift) What kind of crazy fucked up world do we live in where pop songs are written by committee, oftentimes excluding the performer, and country songs are written by the artist? One in which country is personal and relatable and pop […]

Keep on-a rock’n me, baby It was not nostalgia, at least not until Miller’s encore, when he reeled off a bunch of hits. The guitar era is in the past. The blues era is in the past. But it came alive last night. What on the surface seemed a return to what once was, set […]