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[What's On My Playlist?] Somethin' To Ride To
I may be a picky music lover, but I have a playlist to fi t any situation or mood. Sometimes the music has to resonate with the time of day and my surroundings.
Come On, Get Happy
New Orleans-based The Happy Talk Band sings about all sorts of things, but mostly they sing happy love songs.
Rockin' Halloween
I am so ready for Halloween this year. You may have had a hard time keeping up with all the ghoulish good times lined up for this weekend, so I've compiled all the haunting Halloween concerts and shows we have going on here in the Capital City for you.
Ring in the New Year
It's been a blast attending great parties and concerts, but I'm ready for the holiday hustle and bustle to be done and to get back to the normality of life. Between your own holiday parties and writing those New Year's resolutions, make plans to hear awesome music in the capital city.
Wilco, ‘The Whole Love'
It should be evident to those of you who read my column that I am not a rock 'n' roll aficionado. I do not dislike the genre; I just need very little to sustain myself. I get all the rock I need from about a dozen bands taken in small doses.
Hometown Country
Country music songwriter and singer Jeff Maddox has a single getting airplay across the United States and overseas, but so far he hasn't heard his song on radio stations at home. Maddox, 42, grew up in Pearl and lives there still, writing music and recording albums.
Dreams Come True
"You can dream a little dream, or you can live a little dream, I'd rather live it, cause dreamers always chase, but never get it." —Aesop Rock, "No Regrets"
Wooden Finger Releases New CD
The members of Wooden Finger all have different ideas of how certain songs are going to sound when they come together to make music. They begin playing, and the creative process evolves the songs into something better than any of them had imagined.
A Soulful Messiah
Legendary producer Quincy Jones took the classic Handel's "Messiah" and added some soul. Jackson school choirs and area dancers will add life when they perform the modern classic this holiday season.
‘Kiss Me, Bess'
Mississippi Symphony Orchestra presents its first pops concert of the season, "Another Opening, Another Show," featuring Cole Porter tunes from "Kiss Me Kate" and "Porgy and Bess." Vocalists Sherri Seiden and Daniel Narducci sing at the Nov. 19 concert in the Jackson Convention Complex (105 E. Pascagoula St.).
‘The Black Codes'
I know, I know. It was just a few months ago that I wrote about Herbert Brown. So why am I doing it again? If you remember, Herbert Brown, 32, goes by many names and wears many hats. Previously, I focused on his life as a poet and the revival of the Jackson spoken-word/live poetry scene. This time around, the focus is on Brown's life as rapper James Crow.
Blowing the Roof Off
Baby Jan Smith and Chalmers Davis joined forces in the spring after meeting and working with each other in the choir loft at Wells United Methodist Church. The two hit it off, and have been performing all over Jackson since mid-summer.
Esperanza Extravaganza
On Dec. 17, Jacksonians home for the holidays will have a chance to hear what they have been missing on the Jackson music scene, and newcomers can get a taste of Mississippi sounds. The 9th Annual Esperanza Plantation Holiday Showcase includes a diverse lineup of artists from the label and will also feature many bands with ties to Mississippi and the Jackson area.
Glasgow: Classic(al) Rock
Sitting with a guitar in lap and notepad on the ground awaiting inspiration is a luxury foreign to Sam Craft. Instead, an idea will hit him while driving down the freeway or when he's in a complicated social setting. When he is finally able to rush home, Craft struggles to remember the elusive idea.
Finding a Musical Home
John Paul Keith is not what you'd expect in a Memphis musician. Originally from east Tennessee, the Memphis-based guitarist and singer's music brings together a bunch of roots music styles, including '50s rave-up and honky-tonk. It's a twangier sound more often associated with Nashville.
Blues Cowboy
Grady Champion approaches the microphone like a gun fighter ready to take you out. His belt, laden with harmonicas in various keys, one for each of the keys he sings in, sits at his waist.
The Full Circle
He was a tall, kind of goofy-bumbling-professor type who was nice to me, even though I was there to whisk his daughter away. We did not get much time to talk and get to know each other on this first meeting, as is to be expected given the circumstances. I learned a lot about Charles that day, however, when Catherine took me to the den saying, "You've got to check this out."
Microcosm of an Industry
The Be-Bop sign still hangs prominently in Maywood Mart, but the shelves inside are empty. Be-Bop Record Shop was once the largest record store chain in Mississippi, but the last Be-Bop location, in Maywood Mart, closed in April.
Sit Down and Do It
From the moment the modern composer pulled up in his little red truck wearing jeans and tennis shoes, to the final moments of conversation in Cups Espresso Café in Clinton, James Sclater exuded approachable, down-to-earth warmth.
Tales of a First-Grade Rocker
As my siblings and I were growing up, my daddy turned us on to The Statler Brothers, Oak Ridge Boys, Kenny Rogers and for balance, the gospel group The Happy Goodman Family. I knew the words to "Elvira" long before learning "Jesus Loves Me," but we enjoyed all types of music.