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Caroline Herring: Lantana
Indies 1, Nashville 0In the nightmare version of Caroline Herring’s story, she moves to Nashville, signs a big publishing deal and is stuck dumbing down her razor-sharp songwriting for Music Row pod people like Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood. Fortunately, Nashville hasn’t yet sunk its claws into Herring’s immensely empathetic charm. Exhibit A: “Paper Gown” (about convicted child-murderer Susan Smith) has to be the best example of a songwriter getting inside the head of an unsympathetic real-life protagonist since Steve Earle’s “John Walker’s Blues.” And rather than an immaculately auto-tuned robo-singer, Herring effortlessly plumbs the emotional depths of her songs... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsLewis Shiner
This is the first novel in nine years from Shiner, who has penned two of... read more
Found in: Books, ReviewsEthan Canin
"How did this person’s life turn out the way it did?" This is the question... read more
Found in: Books, ReviewsAlejandro Escovedo: Real Animal
Alejandro Escovedo isn’t just a musician’s musician, a label that typically... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsPeter Markus
Peter Markus is obsessed with a few words: brother, river, mud, lighthouse, fish, moon and star... read more
Found in: Books, ReviewsSilver Jews: Lookout Mountain, Lookout Sea
Though chief semite David Berman... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsMartha Wainwright: I Know You're Married But I've Got Feelings Too
Daughter of Loudon Wainwright III and Kate McGarrigle and sister to Rufus... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsMy Morning Jacket: Evil Urges
According to the lore, My Morning Jacket... read more
Found in: Music, ReviewsFrom Airport Hell: A High Flying Novel
No one ever had more carry-on baggage than Bennie Ford, the narrator of Jonathan Miles’ sparkling debut novel, Dear American Airlines. Enough, it turns out, to fill a book. Immured in Chicago’s O’Hare airport en route to his long-estranged daughter’s wedding... read more
Found in: Books, FeaturesCombat Rock
A metal band in Iraq? The notion was so incomprehensible that, in characteristic bemused fashion, Vice magazine co-founder Suroosh Alvi and Eddy Moretti, executive producer of Vice’s VBS.tv, journeyed to Baghdad in 2006 to meet the members of Acrassicauda, who bill themselves as the only metal band in Iraq. read more
Found in: Movies, Features
The 25 Best Movie Performances of the…
The 50 Best Movies of the Decade…
Catching Up With... Sam Rockwell
The 17 Best Romantic Comedies This Decade
Blind Pilot - The Story I Heard
Frightened Rabbit - Good Arms Vs. Bad…
B.O.B. - Put Me On
Punch Brothers - Punch Brothers at CMJ
Anya Marina - Whatever You Like
