Sly Stone appeared in the late 1960s just as he was needed – in a time when the music itself seemed to be a reflection of the emotional divide between blacks and whites.

There’s a specificity to this song, by Austin, Texas-based roots rocker Eric Hisaw, that pulls you all the way into the story.

by Fred Phillips When Bruce Dickinson’s first solo album, Tattooed Millionaire, arrived in 1990, it left me — and I’m sure many other Iron Maiden fans — just a little confused.

By day, Mike Prigodich works at a software company, though as a kid he dreamt of becoming a professional jazz musician. It might have ended right there, but for a bout with cancer that began in November 2008. Inspired by the post-diagnosis successes of Lance Armstrong, with whom he shared an oncologist, Prigodich began a second life in music. He [...]