I’ve got RCR’s IT department working on a redesign of our site to address a nagging problem – if you’re reading our blog on an iPad and sample a song, it takes you away from our site. And good luck trying to get back. Not what I’d call a seamless reading/listening experience. We’ve got apps [...]
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Another Random Video Roundup
The Country Soul of Arthur Alexander
American Idol’s Randy Jackson would probably describe him as “pitchy,” and I don’t think he’d make it on anyone’s team on The Voice. But Arthur Alexander is one of the great heroes of early southern soul – covered by The Beatles and The Stones and often credited with kick-starting the legendary Muscle Shoals Sound. Yes, [...]
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Speed Demons of the West
Another rough week, another re-post… Sue me. (Hey, our last post rang up almost 200 Likes – maybe it’s time to send some of our readers back to Drunken Vegan!) Here’s one of our first posts, from November ’09. RCR got off to a bit of a shaky start, but when this one came together, I [...]
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The Lost Quine Interview
We’ve covered guitarist Robert Quine pretty well in this blog, especially here and here. But I had to throw this post together after my sister came across a long-lost article in the bottom of a box at her house in Akron, just a block from where Rob grew up. I think she got it from [...]
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Monk and the Butterfly
Several things happened since I first posted this piece almost two years ago: 1) Based on my google stats, it’s still drawing a lot of readers; 2) A new bio about long-time Thelonious Monk patron Pannonica de Koenigswarter – written by her great-niece Hannah Rothschild, who also directed The Jazz Baroness – is now available on Kindle (you [...]
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More New Stuff (OK, Relatively New)
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Artist:
“Tim, you’ve just spent another post exhuming a dead blues guy. Are you listening to any music recorded since, say, 1964?” Another nasty missive in the RCR mailbox (family members can be such pains in the ass!). But it reminded me I should step out of the comfort zone of my own collection now and [...]
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Sonny Boy II: The Chess Years
America’s greatest musical export? That’s easy – Chess blues and rock ‘n roll. New Orleans R&B might be a close second, and you can’t deny the lasting, global impact of jazz greats like Miles Davis, John Coltrane, Thelonious Monk and Sonny Rollins. But think of that strange cultural looping effect that took place in the [...]
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Dan Auerbach on Dr. John: Locked Down
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Artist:
Let me start by saying Dr. John’s new album, “Locked Down,” is one of the most satisfying listens I’ve come across in the last few years. But I’ll also admit I can’t be very objective about the project, given my familial connection with the album’s producer, Dan Auerbach. So rather than review it and raise [...]
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Take Me to the River
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Artist:
So I’m pondering my next post and it dawns on me, some of my favorite songs are about rivers. Or, as Mr. Springsteen would put it, The River. That murky, mythological force that keeps drawing us down for purposes both sanctified (such as baptism) and sinful (e.g. killing your baby). Here’s one that falls under [...]
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NYC. TBK. MSG.
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Artist:
Saturday Noon: Arrive at LaGuardia with wife, daughter and friend to spend a few days in NYC with other family members. Agenda includes The Black Keys’ sold-out show at Madison Square Garden. Guest list has grown to include 20+ Quines, Auerbachs and friends. Earn spot on road manager’s permanent shitlist. 12:30: Fight off limo drivers [...]
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The World’s Greatest Advertising Jingle
Season 5 of Mad Men kicks off on March 25. Seems like a good excuse to revisit a post that asks the important questions: Would Don Draper approve of the Big-O jingle? And, can one company bring happiness and harmony to our community? Those of us who live in Northeast Ohio often use simple catch-phrases [...]
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10 by Link Wray
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Artist:
I haven’t had much contact with my famous nephew since The Black Keys conquered the world. Just the occasional text about someone I should check out, like Michael Kiwanuka or Bombino. So, like anyone who takes a few minutes out of the day to live vicariously through someone else, I’ll do the occasional google search [...]
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RCR Focus Groups: The Results Are In
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Artist:
Over the past year, I pulled all my music gear out of cold storage and started playing in bars again. Which wasn’t as difficult as it could’ve been, since I only took a two-year hiatus. But my chops were real creaky in those first few gigs – and I’m still not back to that level [...]
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Random Playlist #52: Gospel
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Artist:
Back in this post, we featured a carefully selected playlist of songs best suited for Sunday mornings, when godless ingrates like me are busy reading the Times and sipping artisinal coffee. Now there’s the word of the moment: artisinal. Want to charge an extra $5 for a loaf of bread? Call it “artisinal.” In fact, [...]
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10 by Miles Davis
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Artist:
I’m a bit of a “completist,” but only with a few select artists. For example, I don’t need all 1,000 songs that Lightnin’ Hopkins recorded throughout his career. Just give me a little bit of this (the Herald Sessions), some of that (3-4 releases on Prestige and Bluesville), a couple of those (Aladdin, Gold Star, [...]
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Bombino’s Saharan Blues
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Artist:
Alright, just one word for you this week: Bombino! Alright, I lied… just a few more words. Special thanks to nephew Dan and our good friend Rick Saunders for turning me on to Omara “Bombino” Moctar (sorry I missed a few of your posts, Rick… won’t let that happen again!). Deep Saharan blues with lots [...]
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Moon Mullican, Hillbilly Piano
They called him the King of the Hillbilly Piano Players. I like to think of Moon Mullican as one of the lost heroes of rock ‘n roll – a vital link between R&B piano pounders like Amos Milburn and early rockers like Bill Haley and Jerry Lee Lewis who owed a huge debt to the [...]
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The Sound of the Swamp
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Artist:
In the last issue of Rolling Stone magazine, I was described as the “blues snob uncle” of The Black Keys’ Dan Auerbach. At first, I took great umbrage to this (how’s that for a snobby-ass word?). But then I went back and re-read this piece from two years ago and I thought, guilty as charged. [...]
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1950s Radio in Color
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Artist:
(Listen to Eddie Cochran while you read.) Start with a good mystery. Then throw in some intimate and revealing images from the early years of rock ‘n roll. Therein lies the beauty of “1950s Radio in Color: The Lost Photographs of Cleveland Deejay Tommy Edwards” – a spellbinding book by songwriter, musician and music historian Christopher [...]
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Locating MOG account...