Category Features
TAILGATE BIRTHDAY SONGS: Wheat’s Raised Ranch Revolution Returns
“And suddenly after all this time, of waiting and wondering when and if they would return with their soft sparkle and gentle glamour intact, Wheat are back among us.” It is with much fuzzy-hearted happiness, optimism and okay, maybe even a dash of nostalgia, that I can report the following about one of my all-time favorite […]
REMEMBERING RONNIE LANE: A Small Face’s Large Legacy
Thinking of the late, great Ronnie Lane today on what would have been his 68th birthday. Lane, of course, was a singer-songwriter-bassist for both the Small Faces and later, when pint-sized frontman Steve Marriott left to start Humble Pie with Peter Frampton, the Faces. (When singer Rod Stewart and guitarist Ron Wood joined, the “small” designation in […]
LIFE AFTER DEATH (THEN & NOW): The Sad and Beautiful World of Sparklehorse
To mark the supremely sad occasion this week four years ago (March 6, 2010 to be exact) when we lost Sparklehorse’s Mark Linkous to suicide — he had battled depression and other serious health problems over the years leading up to his death — here’s the full-length “Director’s Cut” of a feature profile I wrote on […]
SWEETHEART OF THE RADIO: Sarah Borges, Northern Gal With The Southern Sound
Hello weekend warriors: As promised, here’s the second installment of this weekend’s edition of “RPM,” which showcases, and takes a look back at, two of Boston’s finest musical exports of the past decade, Sarah Borges and Girls Guns and Glory (see my previous post for the first feature on this superb band I wrote for […]
GIRLS GUNS AND GLORY: A Little Bit Country, A Little Bit Rock ‘N’ Roll (And Probably Not What Donny & Marie Intended)
When you think about country and roughed-up roots music, New England doesn’t exactly leap to mind. Of course, country music, like just about any other genre or type of music, can be found almost anywhere. For decades now (and certainly for the two that I’ve been living and writing in and around Boston), the country and roots music […]
WHOLE LOTTA LED: All-Female Lez Zeppelin Bring All Their Love … And Some Serious Chops Too
As a way to mark legendary Led Zeppelin guitarist Jimmy Page’s 70th birthday today, and offer testimony (as if that’s even needed) to Zep’s towering impact and enduring influence on generations of bands, guitarists, singers, and state-of-the-art rock theater, here’s a piece I wrote for The Boston Globe back in August 2007 on one of the […]
REVOLUTION AND STREET FIGHTING MEN: The Beatles, Stones, and The (Myth) Making Of Rock’s Greatest Rivalry
Happy accidents of timing and circumstance can produce exquisite results. Just like a sleep walking Keith Richards waking up one night in 1965, picking up his guitar, and tape recording a half-dreamt nocturnal idea – a little riff that would turn into “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction” – my plan to interview John McMillian, historian and author of […]
The Faces From Mod To Rod To Nod: As Good As A Wink To A Blind-Drunk Horse
It’s hard to believe that four decades — 42 years ago this weekend to be exact — have passed since the boozy British blooze-rock band The Faces released what many (including me) consider to be the finest album of their relatively brief (1969-1975) career. “A Nod Is As Good As A Wink … To A Blind […]
LONG MAY YOU RUN: A Happy Birthday To Neil Young (And a Record Review)
“Neil Young, who has been making music for five decades now, is a timeless but always timely marvel; a man for all seasons, styles, genres, and moods …”
KING SIZE TALENT: Charlie Chesterman, Scruffy Sweetheart of The Rodeo
Besides his exuberant rock & roll music — and he made a lot of it, thankfully for us, over the years — his easy laugh is what I most identified with Charlie Chesterman. The Iowa transplant who moved to Boston and made his mark as one of the city’s most beloved singer-songwriters, first with the essential local ’80s outfit Scruffy […]
RPM: Jonathan Perry's Life in Analog 