Punk rock taught us tons of things. It taught us how to draw logos on leather jackets, how to put Elmer’s Glue into hair and make it stand, it taught us about independent music, and it taught us stupid stuff like the ZOMG ANARCHY DUDE~! aspect of the sound- all of these are important (yes, in a way, even the last one). But the most important thing that punk showed us was that we are all fans of music, and that the enthusiasm that a music fan feels for a …

Holy shit, The Hold Steady, you sure know how to work a guy over.  Last Wednesday night Jessie and I made the drive from Sylva to Athens to catch your show at the 40 Watt Club and I was completely blown away by the show.
I knew what to expect walking into the concert- I own all of the band’s albums and had seen the band two times previously. But this show might have been better than the first time I saw them in 2006 at the Grey Eagle.  Guitars played …

I just finished Careless Love: The Unmaking of Elvis Presley by Peter Guralnick and I am utterly and completely heartbroken and destroyed by the life, the death, the spirit, the soul and the utter and complete hopelessness that was Elvis Aron Presley.  I can’t put into words how heartbreaking the final years of this man’s life were. He was troubled by addiction, grief over the passing of his mother nearly 20 years earlier, and his self confidence and swagger destroyed by his divorce.  I really just want to sit here …

I sit here befuddled, flummoxed, tongue-tied and confused about what to write about quite possibly one of the best nights of music in my life. My fingers are having a hard time replicating the sheer sense of joy, lunacy and reckless abandon that I had on Wednesday night as I danced my ass off to Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings. I remember listing superlatives in my head and stringing together hyperboles about what I was witnessing, but they don’t seem to be back on instant recall like a lot of …

Last night I watched you perform alongside the Steep Canyon Rangers at Merlefest 2010. You were engaging, talented, vibrant, and hilarious. You also played your banjo quite well and had me mesmerized with your songwriting and stage presence. In fact, I could spend a few paragraphs and pamper you with wonderfully flowery prose about all of the things that I liked about your show last night, but I’m not going to- mainly because I know that you’ll never read this.
But if you are ever drunk on red wine (for the …

I just had this Christmas-morning feeling come over me when I realized that in a little over two weeks’ time I will be going to see Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings at the Orange Peel in lovely Asheville, NC.  I can’t wait to go shake my butt and dance like a fool to the band’s awesome music, but part of me feels like I should hate this band.
Ever since I first became aware and conscious of the music that I listened to, I really hated bands that aped the …

The second show of head Drive-by Trucker Patterson Hood’s three-Wednesday-in-a-row residency at Athens, GA’s Caledonia Lounge was a jaw dropper of a show. The concert, which carried the title “Bullets or Brains (Weirdo Country Songs)”, featured the requisite Opry-inspired cadre of tunes, but also featured Hood’s storytelling and a more intimate feeling performance than the sold out, wall of sound, Gibson guitar-fueled affairs that happen in his day job.
Instead, we saw Hood showing his tender side, speaking about his grandparents and his newborn son, and telling stories of a youth …

For nearly 25 years, a rumbling has come from the seedy heavy-metal underground. Covered in foam-rubber masks, claiming to be born on another planet and found while hibernating in Antarctica, GWAR has gone from a curious oddity of Richmond, Va.‘s metal scene to a metal institution.
But when asked about the band’s status to some as a heavy-metal “Weird Al” Yankovic, GWAR’s leader Dave Brockie, better known as Oderus Urungus, says it ain’t so. According to Brockie, GWAR’s roots may be in parody, but over time it became an entity unto …

Earlier this week this live report was dispatched from Fuzztone’s Athens offices:

He’s been called a folkie, a Jackson Browne for the indie set, and even someone milking nostalgia from people for a time when they weren’t even alive, but on a sticky Athens Georgia night, M. Ward was just about as big of a rock and roller and you’ll find.
But M. Ward isn’t just a rock and roller, instead his live performances are best divided up as a tale of two artists.
Walking out on the stage armed with just …

Be sure to check out Pierce Edens and the Dirty Work Friday night at Jack of the Wood.