[Editor’s note: I’m not sure this will make sense to you by the end. It meanders. But, there are playlists and links galore, so please bear with me.]
When I grow up, I wanna sound like Curtis Mayfield.
Not as a…
Funny, the day I was scheduled to write about Bill Withers’ ‘Justments, Chris Brown got into a fight with Drake over Rihanna. When Brown beat Rihanna, I wrote about his situation with a reference to Withers’ relationship with Denise…
I’m too lazy to go get the iPad, but I once read a book about Van Morrison that described the job of a singer as filling the space between the song and the singer. The best leave no distance…
The other day, a friend of mine -- who shall remain nameless -- took a picture with Bun-B. I saw it and called him, so excited that he got to meet Bun. When I did an interview with him…
Chuck Berry was a great guitar player. I’m sure you heard that once or twice.
Thing is, Chuck was a better songwriter. Both his guitar and his words became staples of rock ‘n roll. The reason John Lennon said you…
I think we can all agree Jimi Hendrix was a weirdo. That’s not an insult, but love songs written by weirdos tend to be a bit of a mixed bag. Especially the sorta weirdo who would try to break…
The amazing thing about Bob Marley was how he always seemed to be right. Granted, he wasn’t spitting complex theses that invited much argument. His thoughts were typically basic, inarguable truisms.
It got no truer than “Them Belly Full (But…