John Morthland has been writing about music since the days of electronically rechanneled stereo and duophonic sound. His name has darkened the mastheads of Rolling Stone, Creem, Country Music, Texas Monthly and many other magazines and web sites. Born in Chicago, Morthland lives in Austin, Texas, and prefers his music rootsy; his favorite color is purple and his favorite food is bacon cheeseburgers.
Churchwood is a blues-rock quintet hailing from Austin, Texas; Churchwood… more »
Austrian collector Johnny Parth launched Document Records in 1986 in orde… more »
Sacred steel is one of America’s ultimate outsider musics. Most who… more »
Elmore James is often demeaned as a one-trick pony — or, in his cas… more »
The husband-wife team of Derek Trucks (guitar) and Susan Tedeschi (vocals… more »
Because it runs the risk of sounding samey, Taylor’s trance-inducin… more »
Had he never written and recorded anything except “Goin’ Down… more »
Yeah, that Doc Pomus, the one who wrote such ’50s and ’60s ro… more »
As the only true bluesman to successfully cross over into the mainstream,… more »
Born in 1984, Gary Clark Jr. took up guitar when he was 12, and by age 14… more »
Consider Big Bill Broonzy. Here’s a guy who wrote such blues standa… more »
I saw my first diddley bows in 1996, at the rural Delta home outside Lexi… more »
With the recent release of his new-old Ninth Wonder of the World of Music… more »
Bullet Records of Nashville doesn’t turn up often in discussions of… more »
Elemental Journey is the 11th solo album from Sonny Landreth, and by far … more »
At the ripe old age of 23, John Fullbright sounds to many like the most p… more »
[Listen to the playlist that accompanies this feature here] Ric & Ron… more »
Lazy Lester, the last of the Big Four of swamp blues, is enjoying one of … more »
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-… more »
It used to be easier to pretend that an album was its own perfectly self-… more »
Until Berry Gordy founded Motown in 1960, Don Robey’s Duke-Peacock,… more »
Hubert Sumlin, who died of heart failure on Dec. 4, 2011, at age 80, had … more »
“Sing Me Back Home” still ranks among Haggard’s most he… more »
It’s so easy to take an artist like B.B. King for granted, especial… more »
As they age, extreme metal merchants often inject various non-metallic styles into their songs in order to hasten their musical growth. Sometimes, as with Alcest and Jesu, they develop to the point where their original… more »
