Charlize Theron and AnnaSophia Robb star in “Sleepwalking.” Charlize Theron and AnnaSophia Robb Sleepwalking Through Real Life by Jay S....

Daniel Day Lewis and Paul Michael Anderson at the NY press day for “There Will Be Blood.” Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Thomas Anderson, Paul...

Dale Watson Dale Watson Lone Star State of Mind by Ronald Sklar How’s this for irony: Dale Watson – who embodies both the past and the...

Tyrone Wells at World Cafe Live, Philadelphia, in 2007. Photo © 2007 Jay S. Jacobs. All rights reserved. Tyrone Wells What He’s Fighting...

Joshua Radin He is Here by Abraham Kuranga Joshua Radin – a native of Shaker Heights, Ohio – was the born under a lucky star. He is an...

Sandra Bullock and Toby Jones star in “Infamous.” Toby Jones, Sandra Bullock, Sigourney Weaver & Douglas McGrath Living in Infamy by Jay...

Little Big Town Little Big Town Four Distinct Voices in Perfect Harmony By Mark Mussari As a vocal group Little Big Town exists on a rarified plane. The country-rock quartet – whose album The Road to Here has already sold over 500,000 copies and spawned a mega-hit in the stomping Southern anthem “Boondocks” – consists of two women and two men. That would be singular enough in the country field, but all four members of this powerhouse group, who also write much of their own mu

Donald Sutherland, Rachel Hurd-Wood, James D’Arcy and Courtney Solomon A Haunting Tale by Jay S. Jacobs An American Haunting is a new...

Margo Timmons of Cowboy Junkies Cowboy Junkies Music to Grow Old and Die to by Jay S. Jacobs It's almost unbelievable that Cowboy Junkies are on a twentieth anniversary tour. That whole time the band has had a core made up of three siblings – Margo Timmins (lead vocals), Michael Timmins (guitarist and songwriter), Peter Timmins (drums) – and their long-time friend Alan Anton (bassist). It certainly doesn't seem like eighteen years since their breakthrough second album, T

An American Haunting AN AMERICAN HAUNTING (2006) Starring Donald Sutherland, Sissy Spacek, Rachel Hurd-Wood, James D’Arcy, Matthew Marsh,...

Rosanne Cash – Black Cadillac Rosanne Cash – Black Cadillac (Capitol) The past few years, since the release of Rosanne Cash's last album Rules of Travel, have been hard ones for the singer. Not only did she lose her legendary father (Johnny Cash died in September 2003), but she also lost her mother (Vivian Liberto Cash Distin), her beloved step-mother (June Carter Cash) as well as a troubled step-sister (Rosie Nix Adams). So it was a particularly dark period for one of the mo

George Clooney in Good Night, and Good Luck George Clooney, David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson and Grant Heslov Patriotic Acts by Jay S....

Cowboy Junkies – One Soul Now Cowboy Junkies – One Soul Now (Zoë/Latent) It's hard to believe that it has been sixteen years since Cowboy Junkies' second album, the sparse and lovely The Trinity Sessions , became a surprise success and helped to pave the road for alt-country and triple-A radio. That album was recorded live in one night at an abandoned church and mixed blues, country and rock sensibilities with a hazy, languid, ethereal sound and lead singer Margo Timmins' g

Five for FIGHTING It's not EASY by Jay S. JACOBS Remember when popular music could actually say something? A tune was a mirror that we held up to our world. The lyrics were humorous or tragic or whimsical or heartbreakingly sincere. Songs spoke of love, war, relationships, politics, lust, and death. They would climb the heights or plunge the depths. John Ondrasik, the lead singer and songwriter of Five for Fighting, remembers. In his own small way, he’s trying to contin

Rosanne Cash Rosanne Cash The Rules of Returning by Jay S. Jacobs It's sometimes funny the changes life puts you through. In 1990, Rosanne Cash was on top of the world. Her album, Interiors, was a crowning achievement in a career that had been on the fast track for over a decade. Cash had to overcome the blessing and the curse of being the daughter of Johnny Cash, an iconic figure in country music. She became a country music star with her 1981 album Seven Year Ache and its

Bet Williams – Live at the Point Bet Williams – Live at the Point (Epiphany) It's always strange to hear a recording of a concert when you had been in the audience. I have been lucky enough to experience several shows that have been changed into live albums or videos, and they are almost always a bit of a let-down, not capturing the magic of the moment. Bet Williams' Live at the Point is the exception to that rule. Now it's only ethical for me to acknowledge right o

Ian Hunter You’re Never Alone With… Ian Hunter by Ken Sharp After a long hiatus from recording, ex-Mott The Hoople frontman Ian Hunter is...

Sixpence None the Richer Sixpence None the Richer There She Goes by Jay S. Jacobs Sixpence None the Richer are just one of a long,...