I just heard Steve Cropper died. This phone interview transpired in 2008, when I worked for Swampland.com. The full...
Rest in Peace: Master Songwriter & Rhythm King Steve Cropper: The 2008 James Calemine Interview
read more
Dispatches
The Black Crowes: Amorica (2025 Deluxe Edition)
Chris Robinson sings what he knows about:
“To my lowdown downtown money waster
Your saving grace was that I liked to taste ya
But your flower is spoiled
Too easy to make ya
You got a .38 and your book of revelation
I got a .44 and a load of temptation.”
Escape Velocity: A Charles Portis Miscellany
In desperate need of comedy this morning, I pulled a Charles Portis book off the shelf. I turned to a story in Escape Velocity about Portis trying to stop smoking. I craved a brief respite from grim news, looming deadlines, and eerie realities. Portis provided—as always–a much needed laugh.
Queen of the Okefenokee
“Everything is okey-doke in the Okefenokee.” --Jerry Reed Lydia Smith did not scare easy. She stood 6’6 feet tall...
The Dead Towns of Georgia
The Dead Towns of Georgia certifies a brutal life in wild country…
Herman Hitson: Let The Gods Sing
"Music soothes the savage beast. It has no color. That's where I saw God." --Herman Hitson Herman Hitson, born in...
Buick Roadmaster
Essence of old America right here when the cars weren't run on computers. You had to turn the radio dial yourself to...
Lowside of the Road: A Life of Tom Waits by Barney Hoskyns
Lowside of The Road: A Life of Tom Waits by Barney Hoskyns In 2009, I interviewed Barney Hoskyns after his book...
Once Upon a Time in Atlanta by Raymond Andrews
Once Upon a Time in Atlanta preserves a vivid portrait of a bygone era.
George Plimpton’s Hank Aaron: One for the Record (The Inside Story of Baseball’s Greatest Home Run)
When Plimpton died in 2003, at 76, Hunter S. Thompson wrote: “You didn’t want to let him down, and George had extremely high standards. Every moment of being in his company was part of my Education.”
Benmont Tench: The Melancholy Season
The Melancholy Season sounds like a sad farewell as you look through old photographs of a long lost friend.
Hank Crawford’s Indigo Blue
Hank Crawford’s Indigo Blue was recorded at JAC Studio in New York City on August 22-23, 1983. Crawford arranged the sessions. The supergroup of musicians on this vintage album include Crawford (alto sax, piano), Dr. John (piano, organ), Melvin Sparks (guitar), Wilbur Bascomb (bass), Bernard Purdie (drums) and a horn section featuring Martin Banks, Danny Moore, David “Fathead” Newman and Howard Johnson. This entire laid-back recording clocks in at thirty-five minutes.