Sound Emporium - Nashville, Tennessee (1999)
It’s a mystical studio, and there are a hundred stories about strange—but wonderful—things happening during sessions... read more
Abbey Road Studios - London, England (1969)
Probably the most famous set of recording studios in the world, Abbey Road is now 73-years-old. Best known as the place The Beatles and Sir George Martin created some of the finest pop music ever... read more
Castle Studios - Nashville, Tennessee (1948)
If only because it was the first recording studio in what would become Music City, USA, Castle Studios influenced music history as fundamentally as any other studio in the world... read more
Motown Studios - Detroit, Michigan (1971)
During its golden era (1959-1971), Motown’s recording studio produced not only a jaw-dropping string of hits... read more
St. Catherine's Court - Bath, England (1996)
Was there a ghost in the machine when Radiohead recorded its groundbreaking album, OK Computer, in 1996? Working on the follow-up to its critically acclaimed sophomore effort, The Bends... read more
Listening To Old Voices
I didn’t discover Joni Mitchell until her 1971 album Blue. I was holed up on a Christmas morning in a Chicago suburb, 16 years old—not wise enough to make it on my own and not foolish enough to pretend my helliday home was normal... read more
4 To Watch For: Charlie Mars
You can almost hear the pounding hooves. Throughout the eponymous V2 debut from Oxford, Miss., artist Charlie Mars, a spooky Southern Gothic aura gallops like some spectral pale stallion... read more
4 To Watch For: Jamie Cullum
It was already far from your standard jazz-trio set when Jamie Cullum climbed under the glass-topped grand piano in the lounge of Austin’s posh, 120-year-old Driskill Hotel... read more
4 To Watch For: Rich Price
You’ve got to hand it to former San Francisco resident Rich Price—as singer/songwriters go, he’s definitely his own idiosyncratic man... read more
4 To Watch For: Eszter Balint
A simple, descending blues figure played on a banjo, an alluring, slightly weary voice, then a manic, stringed kr-thunk.... read more
The Artist's Life
Since returning home from Mule Train MMIV— the tour I embarked upon with my band, The Commonwealth, in early 2004 aboard the Amtrak Crescent—trains both here and abroad have taken a serious beating... read more
Summer Festival Preview
With diverse lineups at events from Rhode Island to New Mexico, there’s literally something for every music lover. So grab a beer and dust off that camping gear. Here are the summer 2004 music-festival highlights... read more
Lyric
I can’t remember which philosopher observed that life is a series of back and forth movements, from positions of risk to positions of relative safety. This is true not only on an hour-to-hour level—driving a car, then sleeping in a cozy bed—but in a larger sense... read more
The Central Valley (Un)scene
The Central Valley movement isn't as talked about as Omaha's emo-rock or New York City's garage scenes but artists like Grandaddy and Earlimart—hailing from California's backyard—are well known in critical circles... read more
The Sublime Comedy of Patty Griffin
It’s been said that true comedy begins with a funeral and end with a wedding. Given that, most of Patty Griffin’s recording career has been a series of comedies... read more
Chuck D Talks Soul, Hip-Hop & Politics
Chuck D is a legend in his own right. As leader and co-founder of Public Enemy, he pioneered an intelligent, thoughtful brand of hip-hop that pulled no punches... read more
Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers
Bob Dylan used to prattle about three chords and the truth, back when it seemed possible to go that route and get your music heard. But that was a few short decades before the music industry he helped support became a shambolic demon interested only in consuming itself... read more
M. Ward
M. Ward is an old soul. Old souls listen intently. They demonstrate patience for their own thoughts. And they have a gift for speaking about complex matters in an easily digestible, hypnotic, oratory style... read more
Beatles '64
The future seemed limitless. The day The Beatles first appeared on The Ed Sullivan Show was also my parents’ 10th wedding anniversary, and all was right with the world. I was eight-and-a- half-years-old and newly alive to the power of music, having just acquired my aqua transistor radio for Christmas... read more
The High Llamas
One week prior to the release of The High Llama’s new record, Beet, Maize & Corn, head Llama Sean O’Hagan has done the “not-so-eloquent British press” (his words) a favor: written their review for them... read more
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