Smoke Break – Spotify Smoke Break – YouTube If only the lyrics were written by Jason Isbell. Who do we blame for turning country into rock and roll? My vote is Robert John “Mutt” Lange, who turned the tiny-talented yet beautiful singer Shania Twain into the biggest star in country music. In one fell swoop […]

Talk about forgotten men. Brad Delp offs himself and years later he’s just a footnote in the history of rock and roll, his crime being a member of the most successful new band of 1976/7, which burst on the scene with an album so perfect, so pristine, so hook-laden, that the cognoscenti could only lambaste […]

I’m a sucker for an acoustic guitar. That’s right, in this electronic world of 0’s and 1’s, something natural, something evidencing humanity, grabs me and has me paying attention. At least once a week, I cruise the Country playlists on Spotify. And it’s astounding how much of it’s formulaic, me-too crap. All about beer and […]

It’s like a roller coaster, really. Not a love roller coaster, like in a Luke Bryan song, but an old wooden amusement park one, back before safety rules were strictly enforced. It’s the organ that sets the mood. You know, when it’s finally your turn and you walk onto the platform and sit down in […]