Michael Elliott's Blog, page 4

30 Years of 'John Hiatt Comes Alive At Budokan'

Photo by Dennis Keeley

To celebrate the 30th anniversary of John Hiatt’s first official live album, Hiatt Comes Alive At Budokan? , below is an expanded excerpt from “Something Wild,” Chapter 14 of Have a Little Faith: The John Hiatt Story . (Click here to purchase your very own copy of the book, or find it wherever you prefer to shop. Available in hardback, paperback, and also as an e-book and audiobook.)

Hiatt Comes Alive … At Budokan?

With Perfectly Good Guitar in the can, a tour was naturally the...

Newvember - New Sounds and Some Housekeeping

Happy November! To celebrate my birth month, here are a few new songs that have caught my ear followed by what to expect from the Mixtape in the next few months.

New Sounds

There have been so many big releases in 2024 that picking a “best of” list, something music writers obsess over the last quarter of the year, seems more difficult than usual. The music that’s flooded the marketplace in the previous month or so doesn’t make it any easier. Here are the ones that have stood out to me the most.

Than...

Talking 'Just Like That...' with Bonnie Raitt

Photo by Shervin Lainez

Bonnie Raitt is having a moment…again. It’s been happening since I spoke with her about her most recent album, Just Like That…, the title song of which won the Grammy for Song of the Year at the 65th annual ceremony in 2023 (where she also picked up Best American Roots song for “Just Like That” and best Americana Performance for “Made Up Mind”). She beat out songs by Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Lizzo, Adele, and Harry Styles.

She will also receive one of this country’s highest ...

The Best of 1959

Eisenhower was President, Castro came to power in Cuba, Barbie was born, Gunsmoke was the number-one show on TV, and Rod Serling's Twilight Zone premiered. 1959 was also a big year musically, not only for this hot new craze called rock'n'roll the kids were somehow still dancing to, but rhythm and blues were slowly but surely making its way across radio dials and into white kids' ears and homes. Country music enjoyed major crossover success with Marty Robbins, while the jazz world would be expose...

The Mixtape: Halloween Edition

Photo by Vino Li on Unsplash

Just in time for your Halloween festivities!

Apple Music users can access this Mixtape here.

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A Second Helping of Southern Rock, Part 2 of 2

If you haven’t read Part One yet, click here first.

The Black Crowes, 1990The New Breed

As the 1980s became the 1990s, the South started doing it again.

From out of Atlanta, in addition to the Georgia Satellites, Drivin n’ Cryin caused a buzz with their signing to Island Records on the strength of their debut, Scarred But Smarter. Mixing a hard rock edge with folk and country tendencies, Drivin n’ Cryin, led by Wisconsin transplant Kevn Kinney, could fit just as easily with the R.E.M. crowd as wit...

A Second Helping of Southern Rock, Part 1 of 2

Lynyrd Skynyrd (l-r: Allen Collins, Leon Wilkeson, Gary Rossington, Artimus Pyle, Ronnie Van Zant, Billy Powell ca. 1975

The rise of Southern Rock in the 1970s was supported by a perfect storm of occurrences that peaked with Georgia-born Jimmy Carter’s election to the Presidency in 1976. Still, the nation seemed fascinated with the South for most of the decade. Movies such as Walking Tall, White Lightning (both 1973), Gator (1976), and Smokey and the Bandit (1977) - many of which starred Burt Rey...

Truth'll Set You Free: Talking With Mother's Finest About 'Another Mother Further'

The “classic” lineup of Mother’s Finest, 1977

“You funny,” Joyce ‘Baby Jean’ Kennedy grins while I’m asking my first long-winded - and, I admit, mostly rhetorical - question: Why wasn’t Mother’s Finest a bigger success, and why was it so hard for a (mostly) Black rock band to get played on album rock radio in the ‘70s?

“You say you don’t know why? Come on, dude,” she laughs. “You know why.”

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The history of r...

Let's Go See About This Mess

The Midnighters, 1955 (l-r: Sonny Woods, Lawson Smith, Cal Green, Henry Booth, Hank Ballard)

Mama always said nothing good ever happens after midnight. That’s when the ne’er-do-wells start their tomfoolery; when the hoodlums run amok; when your best friend sneaks off with your sweetheart. Windows and hearts get broken, shots are fired. Houses, loves, and lives go down in flames. But there’s a thrill up on the hill. So put on your pretty red dress and let’s go see about this mess.

By 1954, the Roya...

R.I.P., Kris Kristofferson

Everybody's gotta have somebody to look down on
Prove they can be better than at any time they please
Someone doin' somethin' dirty, decent folks can frown on
You can't find nobody else, then help yourself to me

- “Jesus Was A Capricorn”

To understand Kris Kristofferson’s character, one need look no further than on the night of October 18, 1992, during Bob Dylan’s 30th anniversary concert celebration. Kristofferson was Master of Ceremonies for the evening, introducing an all-star lineup that included...