This is the grave of Kate Smith. Born in 1907 in Greenville, Virginia, Smith grew up pretty well off. Her father was a newspaper and magazine distributor in the DC area. The family was very big into s
This is the grave of Billy Paul. Born either in 1934 or 1935 (sources vary), Paul Williams grew up in Philadelphia in a musical family. I don’t see a lot of evidence that his family played a lot
The big news this week is sad. The great bluegrass guitarist and, at one time, vocalist, Tony Rice died at the age of 69. Seems to have been sudden and at home, so probably a heart attack. I saw Rice
Since tis’ the season, I thought I’d write a little bit about Christmas albums. I really, really, really do not get this subgenre, based on the principle of who the hell would want to list
Been way too long since I’ve finished one of these posts. That me not finishing things coincided with the start of classes is not a coincidence.. One thing I’ve noticed over the years, and
Paul discussed the death of Toots Hibbert, so I will focus a bit on the other major musical death of the last couple of weeks, which is the great jazz bassist Gary Peacock. The rare jazzman from Idaho
I haven’t seen any shows in five months, which is terrible. But I have read a lot and that has included a few books about music. Might as well discuss them. First, I read Stephen Foehr’s W
One of the benefits of the folk revival of the 60s was a lot of people went out and shot documentaries of the aging musicians of the South, at times when a lot of rural musical traditions were nearing