The course of John Mellencamp has been fairly well established for the past 20 years or so. It consists of tales of lessons learned (or not) along the hard road of life, set largely to acoustic music with one foot firmly in Americana and the other on stage with…

One could ask whether the world needs another cover of “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu,” “See See Rider”  (part of Mitch Ryder medley “Jenny Take a Ride”) or “Let the Good Times Roll.” You could ask that about any number of Chuck Berry songs, too, but you…

SAN FRANCISCO — Two veteran American bands had two-day stands in San Francisco this past weekend, both with loyal fan bases and generous back catalogs from which to draw. But only one of those groups had new material to offer. Unlike The Eagles, who leaned almost entirely on songs from…

The Eagles, courtesy Ron Koch. SAN FRANCISCO — For a band that put out only seven studio albums—six of those during the 1970s—The Eagles have retained a huge measure of popularity and fan love. Those who ventured to San Francisco Saturday night for the second performance of a two-night stand at…

It seems that with many duet albums that bring disparate popular music talents together, there’s a sort of sliding scale of how much influence the “host” is willing to give up. Sometimes the host artist lets guests take command. In other instances, the guests function as little more than…

The music of bluesman Jimmy Reed was one of the notable influences on the nascent Rolling Stones in the early 1960s. And even if Ronnie Wood didn’t become a Stone until the late 1970s, it’s clear from his new album, Mr. Luck – A Tribute To Jimmy Reed: Live…

After what nearly amounted to a Fleetwood Mac reunion album with 2017’s Lindsey Buckingham/Christine McVie, the first solo album from Lindsey Buckingham in a decade sounds as if it could have been the second disc of the fine 2011 solo release Seeds We Sow. Lindsey Buckingham Lindsey Buckingham Reprise,…

Charlie Watts of The Rolling Stones with performs with his other band, The ABC & D of Boogie Woogie, at the Casino in Herisau, Switzerland on Jan. 13, 2010. Photo: Poiseon Bild & TextWikicommons. Much has been said about the magic that was Charlie Watts’ drumming—his combination of a…

  View this post on Instagram   A post shared by Restinoise (@restinoise) CONCORD, Calif. — Although King Crimson has released new material on some of the several live albums since its most recent studio album in 2003, it’s still the older songs that carry the day in concert.…

The new album by Jackson Browne is heartening for several reasons, not the least of which is that almost 50 years after touchstone works like For Everyman and Late for the Sky helped a generation of young romantics cope with life’s disappointments, Browne is still the master of crafting…