When Americana pioneers Uncle Tupelo released their major-label debut, Anodyne, on October 5th, 1993, it should have been the beginning of something big. In a way, it was. Led by Jay Farrar and Jeff Tweedy from tiny Belleville, Illinois, the alt-country movement’s promising breakout band was packing clubs in major cities across America and Europe, not just the college towns where they spent … Continue reading Uncle Tupelo’s ‘Anodyne’ at 25: An Oral History

Anderson East emerges from side stage just in time to grab the microphone and give it a windmill twirl before singing the opening lines of “Sorry You’re Sick,” the energetic, Ted Hawkins-penned clap-along from his new album, Encore. With his hard-charging band laying down the driving beat and joyous horns blowing the melody, he reaches … Continue reading Anderson East on the Redemption of Performing Live, New Album ‘Encore’

If the slide guitar hook that binds “24 Frames,” the jangly first single from Jason Isbell’s fifth album, Something More Than Free [Southeastern Records], sounds a little tricky, that’s exactly what its architect wanted. “The main riff on that song has a pull-off I do with my pinkie in front of the slide,” says Isbell. … Continue reading Jason Isbell’s Slide Magic

Malaco Studios has survived industry upheaval, streaming and plenty of pop-music trends to thrive as an independent soul, blues and R&B mecca after 50 years. But the home of hits like “Mr. Big Stuff,” “Groove Me” and “Ring My Bell” almost didn’t survive after a tornado blew away much of its Jackson, Miss., headquarters. Chief … Continue reading Malaco, the ‘Last Soul Company,’ Thrives at 50

Seated in the front lounge of a sleek black motor coach, Blackberry Smoke’s Charlie Starr is looking out the window into the fresh spring greenery just beyond his reach, ignoring the muted television in the corner as the engine idles. Starr has a reserved ease about him, but the meaning behind his band’s new album, … Continue reading Blackberry Smoke Talk New Album ‘Find a Light’

Old Crow Medicine Show’s new album, Volunteer, out April 20th, marks two decades that have taken the string-band sextet from busking on street corners to Grammy success and membership in the Grand Ole Opry. But despite their achievements, founding member Ketch Secor still feels like an outsider to country music 20 years in – a … Continue reading Old Crow Medicine Show on ‘Wrecking Ball’ Approach to Nashville

Samantha Fish climbs the steps of her 19th-century New Orleans home, shouldering her Arctic White Gibson SG as she retreats from the midday summer sun into a wide parlor. The air is thick with bayou humidity, but as a Kansas City native who spent her first 20-something years weathering winter blizzards, Fish doesn’t seem to … Continue reading Samantha Fish: Blues Traveler

Years before Dan Auerbach formed the Black Keys with drummer Patrick Carney, he was hypnotized by the grimy trance country blues of Mississippi guitarists T-Model Ford, Junior Kimbrough and R.L. Burnside. “I totally loved T-Model and had gone down to Greenville [Mississippi] to meet him,” Auerbach says. “I hung out with him and spent the … Continue reading Dan Auerbach on How He Regrouped The Black Keys for ‘Let’s Rock’

Travis McCready of Bishop Gunn hasn’t walked 50 yards from the stage when the first fan stops him. It won’t be the last, either. The two-block walk to the shotgun cottage where he’s staying, in view of the Mississippi River, takes as long as a Southern goodbye. The Nashville-by-way-of-Natchez, Mississippi, rock and soul band just … Continue reading How Bishop Gunn Quietly Became Southern Rock’s Must-See New Band

Jimbo Mathus says he never planned to make money playing music. That’s a good thing, because by the time the first lineup of his band Squirrel Nut Zippers folded, it was all gone. The Zippers’ unlikely 1996 hit, “Hell,” a wildly horn-driven, Dixieland jazz romp, earned them a Platinum record for their album Hot. But to … Continue reading Squirrel Nut Zippers’ Jimbo Mathus Enlists Lilly Hiatt, Andrew Bird for New ‘Incinerator’

Ever since William Faulkner brought fame and occasionally shock to the community, Oxford, Miss., has attracted a free-spirited bunch. That community of writers, musicians and artists is alive even after the passing of lynchpins like Barry Hannah. Widespread Panic’s JoJo Hermann is one of the more recent artists to find a new start in this Mississippi college … Continue reading JoJo Hermann: Stuck in Oxford with the Mississippi Blues

It’s all there—the booth where Mick Jagger cut vocals, the toilet where Keith Richards finished writing “Wild Horses,” the original insulation tiles that heard a generation’s worth of landmark music. Now, Muscle Shoals Sound is coming back to life at its original location, 3614 Jackson Highway in Sheffield, Ala., thanks to a grant from Beats … Continue reading The Original Muscle Shoals Sound

At mid-morning, Underground 119, Jarekus Singleton’s favorite hometown haunt, is still full of shadows. Above, at ground level, the rest of the world hustles past on President Street. Down here, it may as well be midnight. It’s not hard to imagine this place as general manager Matt Briggs describes it when Jarekus takes the stage, … Continue reading Jarekus Singleton: Beyond the Rim