Funny that most people finish their thoughts on outlaw country with Willie and Waylon. Because if you’re talking outlaw — real outlaw; as in your basic leather-wearing, bad-attitude-having, stringy-hair-hanging, tat-sporting, law-breaking (did I mention, bad-attitude-having?), six-gun-waving, hog-riding, too-country-for-country-radio singing outlaw — David Allan Coe is your prototype. He’s the kindRead More

NICK DERISO: Man, this is something else. Adamantly not Nashville, for one. (Which is still saying a lot.) Adamantly retro. (Not as unique, but still just fine.) And completely Gary P. Nunn — one of a series of former Jerry Jeff Walker sidemen to step out into their own spotlight.Read More

by Nick DeRiso Freddie “Steady” Krc’s work as leader of the Shakin’ Apostles is as crunchy and cool as his old boss Jerry Jeff Walker’s contemporary stuff is serene and settled. The group had gone through several lineup changes since its inception in 1993, but by 2000 settled into aRead More

NICK DERISO: Even four solo records later, you keep expecting Billy Bob Thornton to do something wacky on his new release “Beautiful Door,” to be issued by Universal on July 24. See, in the movies, he’s Bad Santa. The Astronaut Farmer. That murderous dude in his Oscar-winning plot for “SlingRead More

James McMurtry, we know now, had only just begun making steel-toe tapping records that take a while to sink in.

NICK DERISO: This anthology — perfectly subtitled, “How the Time Does Fly” — was a great place to sit for spell and ruminate on the distant twangy past. Flying Fish included 18 tracks culled from nine of Hartford’s brilliant, throwback banjo records. His brand of riverboat bluegrass stayed interesting —Read More

Turns out, chaff from Umphrey’s McGee still makes for a tasty loaf of bread.

by Pico In My Hallowed Opinion, it doesn’t matter much what kind of music it is, if it’s created and executed well, it’s worth listening to. That’s why you don’t have to like crooners to appreciate Sinatra. Or get into reggae to respect Bob Marley. That’s why even though IRead More

It’s hard to put a label on Aaron Neville’s music. Even, as we saw in this interview, for Aaron Neville himself.