Musicology

Real time-warp stuff” is how John Renbourn described the twenty performances heard on John Renbourn: The Attic Tapes (Riverboat Records).  Among the treasures exhumed from the attic of guitarist Mac MacLeod: a recording of Davy Graham’s fingerstyle showpiece “Anji” in a tape box dated 1962.  Renbourn would’ve then been only 18, yet his signature style was already stunningly developed. Renbourn’s …

“Music finish!” That was Lady Rembetika’s emphatic answer to my question: “Do you have live music here at night?”  You’ll find her along a waterfront row of cafes and shops on the island of Corfu.  Instead of smiling hopefully at passing tourists, as most Corfu proprietors do, she sits at the back of her empty café glaring, daring you to …

“Intuition.” That’s Kari Nieminen’s one-word answer to a question about what’s behind his uniquely designed, superb sounding Versoul guitars.  Recently Kari was front and center at a love-in at Westwood Music in Los Angeles for Versoul, a one-man company based in Helsinki, Finland.  Kari’s exceptional craftsmanship and sometimes flamboyant designs, rife with gold leaf and laser lights, has made him …

Some guys just can’t stay out of trouble.  In 1998, Texas Governor George W. Bush revoked the 1925 pardon granted Huddie Ledbetter by Governor Pat Neff.  The reason? “It [the pardon] sent the wrong message to school children, criminals, and victims of crime in Texas.” (At the time of his pardon’s revocation, Ledbetter had been dead nearly half a century.) …

YouTube is a portal into worlds you might hesitate to visit, but which are irresistible viewing at a safe virtual distance.  In one, a singer works surrounded by stocky,  thuggish-looking men.  They appear to have been sent by `central casting’ for roles as Eastern European mafiosi.  Nothing separates the lady from her audience.  Do the brutes paw the alluring femme …

He was one of those larger-than-life figures of the 1960s who seemed, even then, to belong to an earlier, bolder era.  Among his admirers were Pablo Picasso and Brigitte Bardot.  Salvador Dali reportedly said, “When Manitas plays, the firemen themselves catch fire.” That fire was extinguished on November 6 with the passing, at age 93, of flamenco guitarist Manitas de …

As God is my witness, I saw this at a flea market some years ago: Two record collectors huddle, one holding a shiny 78-rpm disc with no grooves, no label. He hands it to his pal and, in a conspiratorial tone, says: “It’s a virgin Presto!” The collector who’s taken the precious blank disc in hand holds it up to …

Snarling, gun-wielding psycho.  Repentant sinner, eyescast heavenward.  Pensive uniformed Confederate cavalryman.  Those are roles photographer Leigh Weiner cast Johnny Cash in before he forever became`the man in black.’  Cash was one of many singers whose evolving images came to life at the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles, Country: Portraits of an American Sound, up from May through September.  …

The `nature vs. nurture’ debate rages over all human inclinations, from criminality to artistry.  Are behaviors that lead to gallows or galleries learned or inherited?  Recent recordings by sons and daughters suggest the answer, for musicians anyway, may be `both.’ Larry `Mud’ Morganfield sounds uncannily like his legendary father, Muddy Waters.  Yet he swears he barely knew his Dad, and …