Untitled Document It seems unimaginable that Joni Mitchell, one of the most influential singer/songwriters of the latter part of the previous century, hasn’t received the tribute-album treatment until now, but it’s true. A victim of label consolidation and executive turnover, the unimaginatively titled A Tribute to Joni Mitchell languished in limbo for nearly a decade, […]
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Rock’s romantic
Untitled Document At 67, perennial cult hero Ian Hunter isn’t likely to snag the mainstream fame that has eluded him for 40 years. The former Mott the Hoople frontman has always been something of a late bloomer — he was already in his thirties when he sang his first and biggest hit, a cover of […]
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One down, plenty to go
Untitled Document Michael Davis was bitten by the music bug in middle school, but he was nearing his college graduation before he actually put his music out for the world to hear. The Petersburg native self-produced a CD of original songs, then sent it to music-business types around the country. A call came in from […]
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Surrender, monkeys
Untitled Document The French, to paraphrase F. Scott Fitzgerald, are different from you and me. They take their dogs to cafés and leave their kids at home with filles au pair. Their television shows pingpong from jiggling bare breasts to jousting philosophes. Is it any wonder that no one seemed the least bit scandalized 23 […]
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What’s in a name?
Untitled Document Would a tree still be a tree if we called it a rock? Would a kiss still be a kiss if we said it was a burp? Would jellybeans be jellybeans if we named them road apples? I’m sure you get the point: Everything is what it is, no matter what we call […]
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Doing it, the old fashioned way
Untitled Document The backlash has landed: Wilco, the little indie band that could, isn’t getting a free pass from the press anymore. Sky Blue Sky, the Chicago outfit’s sixth album, isn’t being panned, exactly, but the response has been lukewarm. Where once the critics cited Kraftwerk, Neu!, and Radiohead, now they invoke Jackson Browne, the […]
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A memorable Memorial Day weekend
Untitled Document Forget that summer-solstice business. Memorial Day weekend marks the real start of summer, and the best part of summer is all the wonderful outdoor live music. Here’s a lineup of three best bets: • The Shambolee Golf Club, in Petersburg (217-632-2140) hosts Melvin Taylor, a fantastic and renowned blues guitarist, 8 p.m.-midnight Friday, […]
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Delayed rite, done right
Untitled Document Whether it’s to allay the anxiety of influence, honor important forebears, or simply work through a case of writer’s block, most musicians consider the covers album a necessary rite of passage. Even such songwriting heavies as Bob Dylan and David Bowie have succumbed to the temptation; Bryan Ferry, bless his little Dylan-stalking heart, […]
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Another coat of Enamel
Untitled Document In 2002, Springfield-based rock group Enamel released debut CD Cleaner than Ever with high hopes and great expectations. The band spent the next few years working in support of the disk, but by the summer of 2005 everything had disintegrated, leaving Kevin Wasmer — guitarist, vocalist, and main songwriter — as the only original […]
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Get ready for Nobody
Untitled Document Brian Granse is not just anybody; in fact, he’s not even somebody. He’s a nobody — an American Nobody, to be precise. “In this world I’m just a speck on the music scene,” says the Illinois-reared singer/songwriter. “That’s where the idea of American Nobody came from.” After recording his first couple of records […]
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Cover-up
Untitled Document To call the Detroit Cobras a cover band is not inaccurate, but it misses the point. Although it’s true that the Cobras’ repertoire consists almost entirely of other people’s songs — their fourth and latest full-length, Tied & True, contains not one original track — the Motor City outfit hardly fits the cover-band […]
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Weird sisters
Untitled Document Are Bianca and Sierra Casady the geniuses that their admirers (John Darnielle, David Byrne, countless blognerds) say they are, or are they simply the newest naked emperors to hypnotize the hipster elite? Artless prodigies or practiced flimflammers? Idiots savants or plain old idiots? These questions are not rhetorical. I honestly can’t decide whether […]
