An all-girl, all-teen string band in rural North Carolina was making a powerful feminist statement when they formed amid the male-dominated bluegrass scene of the early 1970s. Contemporary outfits like Della Mae can thank them for paving the way.
Gregg Allman: The Road Stops Here
At the end of a road that was supposed to go on forever, Gregg Allman sat down with Acoustic Guitar magazine in 2014 to talk about The Allman Brothers Band’s rocky journey.
David Crosby: A Life Acoustic
In late 2016, I was invited out to David Crosby’s home in Santa Ynez Valley, California. I was an editor at Acoustic Guitar magazine at the time, and Crosby wanted to show me his guitar collection.
Ed Sheeran: The X Factor
What Ed Sheeran’s huge success showed was the endurance of the acoustic guitar in popular music—not just in the singer-songwriter or country-bluegrass realms, but also in the pure, unadulterated, teen-loving pop world. In this 2014 multimedia package, I talked to him and others about his music and guitars, and he performed an unplugged version of his hit “Thinking Out Loud.”
Ani DiFranco: Return of the Righteous Babe
Early on in what’s come to be slandered by the right as “cancel culture,” Ani DiFranco angered fans by planning an artist retreat at a former plantation. The irony was that DiFranco had spent her entire career as a stanch political ally, not just of Black Americans, but of all people of color, all gender identifications, the poor — basically, all people marginalized by the dominant culture. She survived the controversy with her fanbase intact.
The One That Got Away: Billy Joe Shaver (1939-2020)
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.