The setlists on Tom Jones’ current tour are short on hits and long on gospel and blues, but that mix felt right at the storied Ryman Auditorium in Nashville last night. At a time when Robert Plant is viewed as an Americana artist, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Jones could so successfully embrace songs of faith and passion.…
Celebrating protest music
I’m pretty sure the first “protest song” I ever bought was the Hedgehoppers Anonymous single “Good News Week,” a 1965 project by Jonathan King that sold surprisingly well in the Chicago area and not so well elsewhere. Of course, it wasn’t really a protest song. It was just a calculated effort to make a buck when topicality was in vogue.…
“I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive”
Steve Earle tells USA Today’s Jerry Shriver that the songs on his new album, “I’ll Never Get Out of This World Alive” focus on mortality: “They’re about mortality in the sense that, this is the one thing we all have to do. You know what they say about death and taxes. But you have the option to not pay taxes.…
Triumphant “Tomorrow:” Foster and Lloyd Reunite
I first saw Bill Lloyd on stage at a club in downtown Nashville in 1997. I was impressed with his power pop-flavored set and cover of the Kinks’ “This is Where I Belong.” I figured he was an up-and-comer with impeccable taste in covers. It wasn’t until later that I learned that he was the Lloyd of Foster and Lloyd,…