re: The 11:00 curfew. It is a union thing. Unlike many of the clubs in NYC, the theaters are a union shop. The stage is set up and broken down by guys in the union. If they work past a certain time -- either 12:00 or 12:30 AM -- they get paid overtime. That gets expensive and, most likely, that woul...

I don't own a Foo Fighters album but when they come on the radio I usually crank it up instead of changing the station. I don't think he is "killing" rock and roll. Just that there should be a dozen more current bands that I crank up the volume instead of changing the station.

A few more comments: Yesterday afternoon may have been the most surreal experience I had at a Drive By Truckers show. The Egg is located in the middle of the "campus" (about the best word I can come up) that constitutes the state capitol of New York. These are the new buildings built by Ro...

Wow, this turned out to be one of the top five Truckers shows I've ever seen. The acoustics in the room were crazy great. You could hear every guitar part, every background vocal perfectly. It is so worth making the drive to The Egg in Albany.

I started going to DBT shows and hanging out in the "Trucker World" as Craig referred to it in 2010. I'd been a music fan all my life, started going to shows when I was sixteen, recorded and toured professionally when I was nineteen and was among the "uber" fans on Frank Coleman'...

No Swampers?!?!

Not “getting” certain bands or artists is something I understand. My musical tastes are all over the map but occasionally a highly regarded band emerges whose appeal I cannot quite grasp. Not getting a band is different from not liking a band. I’ve never been a Deadhead but I understand what it is a...

I was in the mood for some live Lou Reed and googled "Lou Reed Robert Quine". A song by this guy, Perry Keyes, came up. I figured I would give it a listen. It turned out to be pretty amazing. I played a few more of his songs. This guy has some great songs. Australian guy. In his forties. C...

Personally, I think this is the most underrated song on "English Oceans".

I have my own theories about Cooley's process and they will likely remain theories because I am under the impression that he doesn't even discuss his songwriting process with other members of the band. He just brings a song to the band when it is finished and they arrange it. My theory is that he co...

Over the weekend I paid $32 for a brand new copy of Kyuss Welcome To Sky Valley. I had the record on cd but not vinyl. However, that is such an important album I had to have it on vinyl.

Cooley did start using Garage Band or a similar program to demo his songs in the past couple of years. I interpreted the "Trying To Be The Boss on a Beaver Brown Budget" song as his message to the obsessive fans during the RNC controversy two summers ago. It wouldn't surprise me if he brow...

About a month ago he and a group of musicians performed the first Whiskeytown album in its entirety in Athens.

Fun time last night. It was a great show last night. At some points it was ramshackle but in a great way. Other times it was transcendent. At the end of "Grand Canyon", after Patterson, Cooley and Jay had left the stage, Matt and Brad locked into this groove. After Matt left the stage Brad...

Just saw that Hanging On was dedicated to RevMatt last night... Yes, it was a humbling experience, believe it or not. After the show a dj from a local radio station told me that it was his first time seeing The Truckers. What struck him was the connection between the band and the audience. He said ...

It is a musician/artist. Could be male or female. At the early stage -- just past high school -- there is little difference between the budding musician and the late adolescent slacker. They live at home. Sometimes mom supports by allowing the band to rehearse, letting him borrow her credit card fo...

On my way to Dewey Beach. Hopefully there will be tickets available when I get there.

It is a musician/artist. Could be male or female. At the early stage -- just past high school -- there is little difference between the budding musician and the late adolescent slacker. They live at home. Sometimes mom supports by allowing the band to rehearse, letting him borrow her credit card for...

I got 40 percent. But I did know that Isbell plays a Dusenberg.

Turning people onto DBT is always a bit dicey because The Truckers are very diverse and every album is unique. The lyrical focus is always the main thing but not everybody focuses on the lyrics. Ten to twelve songs? I'll give it a shot. "Bulldozers and Dirt" "Love Like This" &quo...

It has been a Felice Brothers weekend for me. On Thursday I caught Simone Felice at the Songwriters On The Beach concert series in Belmar, NJ. I chatted with him afterwards and he told me that he was playing with The Felice Brothers the next night at The Dutchess County Fair. Yesterday afternoon I d...

My point with Willie is that he didn't have a hit (of his own) until 1975 at the age of 42. Yes. The one thing that amazes me about Willie's story is the path he followed. Nowadays we take for granted that the path for a great country artist who doesn't quite fit in with the Nashville system is to ...

I'm officially old, because I have heard none of those. You've never heard of Kanye West? I've heard of Kanye West. Maybe I'm not an old dude yet. Not a big Pitchfork guy. I kind of associate bands Pitchfork likes with everything that is wrong with music today. I have heard some great stuff these p...

Good call. Add Guy Clark to the list. So far we have DBT, Leonard Cohen, Willie Nelson, Guy Clark and The Sensational Alex Harvey Band on the "artists who signed their first record deal after the age of 35" list. Willie's first record (at least according to Wiki ) was in 1962 with And The...

It didn't dawn on me until reading this but Guy Clark was around 35 when he released his first album ( Old No. 1 ) in '75. I'm not sure how his success compares to DBT as far as sales but I'm pretty sure he's known around the world for his songwriting. Good call. Add Guy Clark to the list. So far w...

I consider Psychedelic Pill at top ten Neil Young album and on some days a top five. I love that record as much as Ragged Glory, Zuma and Live Rust Neil Young has a strong body of work, post 40.

Though it seems to be a bit of a controversial topic, I have to throw Dylan in there as well especially for Time Out of Mind and Love and Theft . John Prine and Guy Clark are also worth a mention. While their best work may be behind them, a lot of folks their age have long since given up the ghost ...

I thought I'd remembered reading that Willie Nelson didn't have his first hit until the age of 50 with "Blue Eyes Cryin' In the Rain". Turns out, he was actually 42 but still, that's pretty remarkable. It's also worth noting how well his new record has been received. Not bad for an 81 yea...

Name some albums recorded by a band or artist near the age of fifty that are as good or better than English Oceans? It isn't easy to come up with a list. But that's not the standard, or at least I hope it's not. No, that isn't the standard. But at some point age has to be brought into the discussio...

Listened to the vinyl straight through today. It still strikes me as a very strong record. DBT is a very different band than they were ten years ago. That is a combination of new musicians and the three man core of Cooley, Hood and Morgan having grown both as musicians and people. Right now they are...