The prospect of sitting down with Billy Joe Shaver and talking about his music had been exciting for me. After all, so many of his songs had been an important part of my teen years.
The Pixies: Democracy, Cuban-style
Thirty years ago this August, The Pixies released their third album, Bossanova. That year, I sat down with Black Francis over rice and beans at a Cuban restaurant in Manhattan.
The Voice of an Angel: Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan (1948-1997)
In 1991 I had the great honor of getting to meet and interview Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan, the world’s greatest singer of qawwali, a devotional vocal style associated with the mystical Islamic practice of Sufism. Sadly, in 1997, I was tasked with penning his obituary.
My Bloody Valentine: Beauty in the Beast
It’s a Friday night in 1992, and the members of My Bloody Valentine are squashed together in a rental van and barreling down one of the many endless, flat streets of Houston, Texas. I was in that van.
Tom Waits: Weird Science
If you ever find yourself interviewing Tom Watis, don’t expect straight answers. Don’t even expect bent answers. He doesn’t really answer questions. He questions questions. […]
Why We Need Phil Ochs Now More Than Ever
“Phil Ochs was like Lenny Bruce – he just totally uncensored himself. He wrote the songs nobody else would.” — Butch Hancock
All the Young Dudes: Bowie at 50
In 1997, I was invited to a small birthday party for David Bowie at the English restaurant Tea & Sympathy in downtown Manhattan. At the […]
‘Leaving Eden’: A Story of Music, Race, and Old Endings in an Old Southern Mill Town
Leaving Eden tells the story of countless small towns across the South since the days of slavery.
Yoko Ono: She Who Laughs Last
It’s been said that falling in love with John Lennon was the worst career move that Yoko Ono could have made.
Adrienne Nixon Basco Knows Why the Free Bird Sings
“It was difficult to get them to believe in me … I mean, Southern rock is by nature a very white, very male-dominated genre.”