The Beatles, Reconsidered

In 2009, EMI issued remastered versions of The Beatles’ entire back catalog. Instead of sending advance copies, though, the company asked writers to come to New York City and listen to the recordings at Electric Lady Studios. Off I went, having been given the extraordinary task of reviewing music that had been reviewed a million times since the band’s heyday.

Charlotte: Hip Hop City

For the cover of the April 20, 2018, issue of Creative Loading in Charlotte, we recreated an iconic Village Voice hip-hop cover. The idea was to prop up the Charlotte hip-hop scene and to acknowledge 420 — the international annual Weed Day celebration. We had a blast doing the cover shoot.

Frampton Comes Unplugged

From today’s vantage point, it’s difficult to get across just how ubiquitous Frampton Comes Alive! was in 1976. Forty years later, Peter Frampton recorded acoustic versions of some of the hits from that album. I wanted to talk to this man whose music had played such an integral part of my high school years.

Mercury Rises

Kevin “Mercury” Carter released a homemade six-song EP that reveals a vocalist of uncommon abilities. Not only does his extraordinary range rival those of Prince, Mariah Carey, and Queen’s Freddie Mercury, but Carter’s nuanced sense of tone and dynamics, the melodic creativity of his arrangements, and his mature lyrical abilities are as remarkable as his voice.

Merle Haggard: Down Every Road

In 1996, Capitol Records released a box set of country singer Merle Haggard’s music. After this review ran in Rolling Stone, a writer for a conservative newspaper, The Washington Times, took me to task for putting a liberal spin to the songs of a conservative artist. But as I wrote in this review — and I stand by it — seeing Haggard simply as a “conservative” doesn’t do him or his full body of work justice.