We were beyond saddened to hear of the death of blues legend Etta James this week. We grew up with her indomitable voice and blues standards, and her passing is certainly a tragedy for American music. To celebrate her legacy, we’ve put together an essential blues playlist for the uninitiated, interested, or even any of you experts out there who might need some reminding. Click through to check out our picks, or stream the whole playlist here. And of course, since there are far more than fifteen blues songs you should listen to (a possibly infinite number, in fact), make sure to chime in with your own favorite standard if we’ve neglected it here.
Read More »
The age of the juke joint — those beloved ramshackle Southern hole-in-the-walls where folks gather to sip cheap beer and listen to boogie-woogie and blues music — is long over. The old, humming Wurlitzers have been replaced by slick touch-screen jukeboxes, and the proprietors of the old joints are gettin’ up there in years. Of course, that is partly because brutal segregation laws that forced rural blacks into these informal spots are also gone (obviously a cause for celebration), but it’s sad to see that the juke joint as cultural landmark is fading fast as well. Although you can find tourist versions on Bourbon Street in New Orleans and Beale Street in Memphis, the real ones — where the decor is layers of grime and ancient Christmas lights and the beer list is limited to 40-ounce bottles of Old English — are getting hard to find. After the jump, a guided tour of the best operational juke joints in the South.
Read More »
Terry Teachout’s Pops: A Life of Louis Armstrong sheds new light on the great Satchmo’s already well-documented life.
Taking a critical look at Armstrong’s dual roles as both artist and entertainer, Teachout, an arts critic for the Wall Street Journal, parses out the variously competing and complementary sides of the music icon’s legacy.
Along the way, he addresses the issues of race and identity that affected Armstrong’s persona, from his early days in New Orleans to his later years in the public eye. The result is a stunning new portrait of one of America’s most familiar yet enigmatic figures.
Read More »
