Currently browsing: Music
Just think of all the music that’s distinctly American. Jazz. Rock and roll. Motown. The blues. Zydeco. (And if we didn’t invent it here, we found a way to make it better.) We tap our toes, we dance, we thrill to the music of America.
Album: "Pet Sounds"
If you only need to know one thing about this, the 11th studio album released by the Beach Boys (Great American Things, May 16,...
Read MoreSong: "I Walk the Line"
Seems like you can almost hear a train in the rhythm of many of Johnny Cash’s songs. That distinctive sound is one of the...
Read MoreSinger: B.B. King
What would the blues be without Riley King? He got his nickname from his time playing on Beale Street in Memphis , where he was...
Read MoreAlbum: "Thriller"
Remember music videos? Okay, music videos are still being made, so let me put it another way: Remember when music videos mattered?...
Read MoreSong: "The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face"
This is a testament to what inclusion in a movie can do for a song. “The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face” was written...
Read MoreAlbum: Tapestry
Carole King isn’t one of the great singers of our times. Nor is she one of the great entertainers. But she is one of the great...
Read MoreAmericana: South by Southwest
First, there was a music industry trade show in Austin. (It’s grown from about 700 to near 12,000 registrants.) Then, a bunch...
Read MoreSingers: The Four Seasons
Frankie Valli (or Frankie Tyler, Frankie Nolan, Frankie Valley, Frankie Valle as he was known before The Four Seasons) knew he...
Read MoreSong: "El Paso"
American music used to include a genre called “Country and Western.” Maybe you’ve heard of it. Somewhere in the...
Read MoreSingers: The Supremes
Okay, this fact shocked me: The Supremes are America’s most successful vocal group. Not the Beach Boys. Not the Temptations. This...
Read More