Beyond the So-Called First Thanksgiving: 5 Children’s Books That Set the Record Straight

Five new books offer young readers a more nuanced, and accurate, account of the so-called First Thanksgiving. While Thanksgiving is a good time to grab people’s attention about Wampanoag-European interactions, it does not ne...
by David McGee
 

 
 

‘The Point Is, You Can Go On A Musical Journey’

Celebrating 10 Years of Publishing: from TheBluegrassSpecial.com archives, the November 2010 cover story interview with RAUL MALO
by David McGee
 

 

 

How to Win Charts and Alienate People

In this two-part excerpt from his memoir, JUST REMEMBER: FIELD NOTES FROM A MUSIC BIZ LIFE, MICHAEL SIGMAN recalls the fallout from Record World's decision to publish sales-based charts, and how The Who changed the magazine's f...
by David McGee
 

 
 

Video Moment of the Week

Traditional bluegrass quartet NU-BLU is celebrating its tenth anniversary this year, with a new album (Ten) and three new videos of songs from that album. The first of those videos is right here, 'Trains I Didn't Take.'
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Deep Roots Elite Half-Hundred of 2017 (Part 2)

Part 2 of the Elite Half-Hundred of 2017 features albums by JUNIOR SISK & THE RAMBLERS, DENNIS JOHNSON, DUDLEY TAFT, MUSICA SECRETA, RAPHAEL PICHON & PYGMALION, MAC WISEMAN and others.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Learning to Savor Thanksgiving:

Learning to savor Thanksgiving: Two Native Americans explain how they have embraced certain aspects of the white man's Thanksgiving rituals.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Ravi Shankar: The Spirit and The Legacy Live On

Sitar master RAVI SHANKAR passed away on December 11 at the age of 92. Herewith a tribute to the life and legacy of the man George Harrison extolled as the 'Godfather of World Music.'
by David McGee
 

 
 

Dancing Bears: la danse de l’ours

Dancing bears have been around since at least the Middle Ages. Sheer Folk blogger SERGIO RIBNKIKOV GUNNARSON has been studying the rather obscure history of these mammalian hoofers and herein reports on his findings.
by David McGee
 

 

 

The Quiet Heroism of ‘Right Living’

Contributing editor MICHAEL SIGMAN reflects on the recent fall of 'self-appointed heroes' and the virtues of 'quietly going about one's business.'
by David McGee
 

 
 

Brooklyn, Blintzes, Baseball and Ballads With Johnny Mercer (Field Notes From a Music Biz Life)

In chapters 6 and 7 of his memoirs, MICHAEL SIGMAN recalls his father CARL SIGMAN's songwriting apprenticeship with JOHNNY MERCER and how the rocky course of his adolescent years seemed to parallel his dad's hit songs.
by David McGee
 

 

 

Pandemic Passover: A Moment of Rupture May Lead to a New Path

RABBI MICHAEL ROTHBAUM, reflecting on Passover's history of being recreated in 'inhospitable worlds of exile,' sees the traditional as having lessons to teach a COVID-19 planet.
by David McGee
 

 
 

Jesse Winchester: Talk Memphis

JESSE WINCHESTER Tribute, Part 2: a Jesse monologue, his most extensive comments on his years in and abiding love for Memphis--'It was the world to me'--from an interview with Crossroads to Freedom.
by David McGee