Bettye Lavette: Late Bloomer Gets Her Mojo On
After Atlantic Records shelved what singer Bettye LaVette had hoped would be her breakthrough album in 1972—an album recorded in soul-music hotbed Muscle Shoals, Ala.—the Detroit native spent more than three decades exiled on the farthest fringes of the music biz, singing for her supper in dives and lounges... read more
Calexico's Favorite Musical Thrift-Store Finds
Every Calexico album is full of unusual instruments and Garden Ruin is no exception. read more
Production Notes: Calexico
Calexico co-leaders Joey Burns and John Convertino are sipping espresso at an upscale Italian restaurant... read more
Production Notes: Ethan Johns/Ryan Adams
Ryan Adams ended 2005 by releasing a dramatic reminder of his gift... read more
Production Notes: Devendra Banhart
More than any of his contemporaries in what has become... read more
Production Notes: Brian Setzer
In a sense, Brian Setzer’s 23-song Rockabilly Riot: Vol. 1: A Tribute to Sun Records was a piece of cake... read more
Production Notes: Soundtrack of Our Lives
Svenska Grammaphon Studion—the room where The Soundtrack of Our Lives recorded its new Origin Vol. 1... read more
Production Notes: Brad Wood
Ben Lee has impeccable timing. A few months ago, the Australian artist called his producer friend Brad Wood with some news. “He told me he had a bunch of new songs... read more
Production Notes: Matthew Sweet
Throughout the first half of the ’90s, Matthew Sweet was perhaps the preeminent purveyor of left-of-center pop... read more
Production Notes: John Fields
Fields motions to the gleaming Mac G5 that awaits his next command. “I have a lot of ways to fix stuff now, enabling the first-take performance to be the final performance... read more
Production Notes: T Bone Burnett
Filmmaker Anthony Minghella (The English Patient) had good reason to call on T Bone Burnett to produce the music for Cold Mountain, his cinematic adaptation of Charles Frazier’s acclaimed Civil War novel... read more
Ethan Johns: The Analog and the Ecstasy
Tucked into the intimate confines of Studio 3 inside Hollywood’s hallowed Sunset Sound, Ethan Johns sits at a drum kit facing Ray LaMontagne, a newcomer whose publishing company, Chrysalis Music, is footing the bill for an album it hopes to eventually place with a label... read more
