30th Birthday Extravaganza – the Greatest Albums of 1991!

Hey, I turn 30 today! In an attempt to ward off the accompanying existential dread, I’ve been spending the last few weeks living in the past and immersing myself in the music of my glorious birth year of 1991. Turns …

Analog rules, and so does American Fiction: An interview with the legendary Eddie Kramer

If you don’t know who Eddie Kramer is, you have clearly never bothered to actually read the liner notes of any of the albums you own. A South Africa native, Eddie got his start working as a sound engineer …

Concert Review: The Hold Steady at The Crofoot Ballroom, Pontiac, MI, 4/23/14

“So that’s what’s been missing from my life the last four years.”

-Me, half-drunkenly, last night

Man, I can’t believe it’s been four years since I’ve seen the Hold Steady! What have I been doing with my life? …

Read my interview with Zachary Cole Smith of DIIV in Time Out New York

I interviewed this dude from this band for Time Out New York’s New Music issue! Check it out HERE.…

Ann Arbor Folk Festival 2014 Night 1 Report!

Tonight I was an usher at the Ann Arbor Folk Festival! Obviously, their standards are very low for who they let be ushers. Actually, I guess it’s a pretty easy so long as you know the alphabet and can count. …

Five Random Top Fives #3

I haven’t done one of these in almost exactly a year! But I’ll be doing them much more regularly from now on. Yes siree, expect a lot more activity around these parts in the coming months! Ya hear? That goes …

Detroit: Still Rockin’ in 2014

As any native New Yorker should be able to tell you, if there’s one sure thing in this world, it’s that Times Square is the last place on earth where you should spend New Year’s Eve. You can’t drink, you …

Concert Review: Son Volt at The Ark, Ann Arbor, MI, 6/9/13

Jay Farrar smiled twice last night. This may not seem like particularly momentous information, but, though I don’t know what the man is like in his private life, based on his public life over the last 23 years, Jay …

My senior thesis on Drive-By Truckers’ ‘The Dirty South’

Hey, everybody! I wrote my senior thesis about Drive-By Truckers! Isn’t that nuts? It was written using a combination of in-depth music theory analysis, traditional music journalism, and a bit of personal essay. This synthesis of writing styles, to my …

An Interview with Rick Steff

Memphis country-soul rockers Lucero have been one of my favorite bands on this or any other planet since right around the time Rick Steff joined the band in 2006 and began gracing them with his exquisite piano and keyboard stylings …