That Time Keith Richards Found Muddy Waters Painting the Ceiling at Chess Studios
55 years ago today, the Rolling Stones released their “5×5” EP, the recording session in which they serendipitously met their blues idol, Muddy Waters.
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One Chord to Rule Them All
When Bob Marley toured New Zealand for the first and only time in 1979 (he died in 1981), I’d never heard music like it. His visit was so significant that he was a lead item on the nation’s main TV channel’s prime time news. He left a significant impression on our own musical culture, from […]
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The Unacknowledged Impact Gregg Allman Had on My Life as a Musician
I never listened to the Allman Brothers much, which is probably not what you’d expect to hear from somebody who’s about to write 500 or so words about Gregg Allman. But as I reflected on his passing last week, I realized that Gregg and his brother Duane had a much greater impact on my life as […]
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6 Songs That Prove Otis Spann Sold His Soul to the Devil, Too
Blues legend has it that at the corner of Highway 61 and Highway 49 in Clarksdale, Mississippi, otherwise known as the “Devil’s Crossroads,” a young Robert Johnson sold his soul to the devil in return for the ability to play the bejeezus out of his guitar. Well, I’m here to make the case that there […]
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The Alchemy of the Blues: Turning Guitars into Vocalists
One of the greatest secrets about the blues is that it’s not primarily about the “blue notes,” or the structure, or the instrumentation. Those things are all heavily associated with the blues and appear in most blues songs, but at its core, the blues is all about storytelling. And the guitar is one of the […]
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Elliott Sharp’s Essential Guide to Being Elliott Sharp
By Elliott Sharp Editor’s note: For many years, I’ve been challenged and inspired by the work of Elliott Sharp, who has etched a place as one of America’s most dynamic modern composers. He’s hard to pin down both musically and literally, since he regularly travels the world for performance, recording, commissions, and likely a bit […]
