Pophistory: music, movies, history, and life.
When I bought Marty Brown’s fourth album Here’s to the Honky Tonks when it was released in 1996, little did I know I would have to wait more than twenty years for a new official release from a record company. Since I lamented his disappearance from the national music scene on Chimesfreedom in a 2011 … Continue reading “Worth the Wait: Marty Brown’s “American Highway” (CD Review)”
One of the most beautiful songs ever written about someone’s death is Emmylou Harris’s tribute to Gram Parsons, “Boulder to Birmingham.”
The changing attitudes toward marijuana, with states legalizing medical marijuana or legalizing it outright, reminded me of a 45 rpm record I had as a kid. I had never seen or smelled pot at that time, but I just liked a funny song called “Wildwood Weed.” Jim Stafford recorded the song, which is really more … Continue reading “Jim Stafford and the “Wildwood Weed””
On September 22, 1985, the first “Farm Aid” was held in Champaign, Illinois. Willie Nelson, Neil Young, and John Mellencamp organized the benefit concert for struggling American farmers. Performers at that concert included a broad range of performers, including Bob Dylan, B.B. King, Hoyt Axton, Don Henley, Johnny Cash, Tom Petty, Merle Haggard, Emmylou Harris, … Continue reading “The First Farm Aid”
Peter Paul & Mary signed their first recording contract on January 29, 1962. Thus began a recording career with Warner Brothers that would help bring folk music and Bod Dylan’s music to a broad audience. That broader audience included me when I was a kid. We did not have Bob Dylan albums in my house … Continue reading “Peter Paul & Mary’s First Contract . . . and Puff”