“Virtuosity in playing blues licks is like virtuosity in celebrating the Mass, it is empty, it means nothing. Skill—competence—is a necessity, but a true blues player’s virtue lies in his […]
Tag: Music in American Life
When the clock strikes rock
One of the most important singles in American music history, “Rock Around the Clock” by Bill Haley and His Comets was the B-side of his first Decca single, a post-apocalyptic novelty […]
Throwbacklist Thursday
The University of Illinois Press thinks country and western music hung the moon. Our list of C&W books reads like a who’s who of that musical form’s rhinestone-studded history. You want singers? […]