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After Duane Allman died, it could be said that Forrest Richard (Dickey) Betts saved The Allman Brothers Band. He was responsible for four of the seven songs on Brothers and Sisters , their first album without brother Duane who passed away in a motorcycle accident before their previous album, Eat A Peach , was completed. Betts was the man who brought the country music influences to his famous outfit. He wrote and sang lead on "Ramblin' Man," the only Allman's single to ever crack the top 10. The smash hit soared to #2 and was only kept out of the top spot by Cher's "Half Breed." What is probably the band's second most famous song is also on Brothers and Sisters . It's the rollicking, seven-and-a-half-minute instrumental, "Jessica," also written by Betts who was listed at #58 on Rolling Stone 's list of the 100 greatest guitarists of all time. With Betts performing at the top of his game he decided it wa...

There are reports that singer-songwriter Don McLean is worth around $50,000,000 mostly, I'm assuming, from profits he earned off of the iconic "American Pie" (four weeks at #1 on the Hot 100 in 1972). It's also the title of McLean's second album that includes his next most famous song, "Vincent" (#12), that is about the renowned impressionist painter, Vincent Van Gogh. Most people don't know McLean beyond those two songs but he is far more than a two hit wonder who is still in the midst of a long career. His last album was released just two years ago. The singer-songwriter's followup LP to his world famous blockbuster was a self-titled work that contained the single "If We Try." It only received some minor airplay and stopped at #58 but it was the unique "Dreidel" from the same album that gave McLean what would become his highest charting single for many years. It peaked at #21. It wasn't until his cover of Roy Orbison...

Don't let the title of Nashville Sessions fool you. Ukulele virtuoso Jake Shimabukuro, and his sidemen, bassist Nolan Verner and drummer Evan Hutchings, did not record a country album even though its eleven songs were recorded in the city that is home to The Grand Ole Opry. Instead, Shimabukuro entertained us with a prog-rock set that used all kinds of electronic devises to make his ukulele sound like a rock 'n roll guitar. The talented, native Hawaiian of Japanese-American blood is best known for astonishing, solo acoustic, cover versions of Queen's "Bohemian Rhapsody," Judy Garland's "Over the Rainbow, and The Beatles' "While My Guitar Gently Weeps." It was George Harrison's song that made Shimabukuro famous back in 2006 when, unknown to him, a video of his performance of it was posted on YouTube. It was among the earliest of the enormous website's videos to go viral. (Harrison, by the way, loved the ukulele, and even played ...

Amanda Shires was not happy as she toured the country in support of her latest album back in 2016. She noticed the obvious lack of women artists being played on country radio nationwide and decided to do something about it. The result was this eponymous debut album by The Highwomen , the supergroup she organized hoping to give the women of country music a higher profile. Accepting Shires invitations to join her were Natalie Hemby , Maren Morris , and Brandi Carlile , all established country stars with their own careers. The ladies took their name, The Highwomen, from the similarly named all guy supergroup who got together in 1985 as the Highwaymen, famous for its lineup of Johnny Cash, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson. It's hard to put together a band with more star power than one involving those four legends but that doesn't mean you shouldn't listen to this excellent set of songs. This highly collaborative album includes a lot of social commen...

Unfortunately, COVID-19 has taken another life. This time it belonged to outstanding singer-songwriter John Prine . He was seventy-three. Not only is this another unnecessary loss of life it's a sad day for the music world because he was a rare and significant talent. Prine's wife and manager, Fiona, also contracted Coronavirus but she has since recovered. I started listening to Prine's music way too late in life. I wasn't deliberately ignoring him. It was just that his work never seemed to cross my path. I was quite familiar with "Angel From Montgomery," "Hello In There," "Paradise," and "Sam Stone," all from his brilliant 1971 debut LP, along with a handful of other tunes such as "That's The Way The World Goes Round," but not much else. I finally purchased Prine's eponymous debut a couple of years ago. After just one listen I couldn't get the album out of my car's CD player for weeks. It quickly...

Here is some sad news. Rocker Adam Schlesinger passed away today at 52, another disturbing victim of Coronavirus. Schlesinger was not a household name but he had a very nice career. Among his credits was an Oscar nomination for composing "That Thing You Do," the title track from the 1997 Tom Hanks movie. He was also the leader of Fountains of Wayne (FOW), the New Jersey power-pop outfit named after a lawn ornament store (I am not kidding). He also wrote music for television and theater. "Stacy's Mom," FOW's biggest hit, is a twenty-first century, musical version of the 1967 movie, The Graduate . It was written by Schlesinger and lead singer Chris Collingwood. According to Rolling Stone Magazine , in 2003 Schlesinger told MTV his inspiration for the song. "One of my best friends, when we were maybe 11 or 12, came to me and announced that he thought my grandmother was hot," he recalled. "And I said, 'Hey, you're stepping over the lin...