I know what I like, but you won’t find me setting any rules. This is as close to a “philosophy of music” as you’re going to get out of me. That idea has been the driving force behind most of the stuff I write about, especially when there’s “musical evangelism”Read More

by Derrick Lord Old sayings get to be old sayings for a reason: There is usually a good bit of truth in them. I gave Sheryl Crow’s album C’mon, C’mon a spin based on the single “Steve McQueen” and I thought: “Yup, the apple didn’t fall too far from theRead More

by Tom Johnson Following her fantastic 2000 release Red Dirt Girl, this found the angelic-voiced Emmylou Harris continuing down the path she started with Daniel Lanois on the equally fantastic but slightly more stunning 1995 album Wrecking Ball, and that’s just fine with me. Once a country-goddess, Harris has incorporatedRead More

This week, Boston’s Berklee College of Music hosted the Rethink Music Convention. The official conference subtitle was “Creativity, Commerce, and Policy in the 21st Century.” An NPR segment on the conference featured a terrific quote You May Also Like: Tracy Chapman Smartly Updated Her Approach on ‘Our Bright Future’ FutureRead More