Everybody Wants to Rule the World counts as Ace Atkins’ 31st book. Based in Atlanta during 1985, known as “The Year of...
Dispatches
Jonathan Wilson: 21st Century Troubadour
Wilson’s Gold Star Studio is now located in Topanga Canyon. Wilson’s solo albums include Frankie Ray, Gentle Spirit (2011), Fanfare (2013), Rare Birds (2018), Dixie Blur (2020) and Eat the Worm (2023). In 2017, Wilson signed on as Roger Waters’s bandleader. Wilson is also a talented luthier. He has built over 100 guitars. He’s a guitar picker of the highest order as well as a muscle car aficionado.
Rest in Peace: Master Songwriter & Rhythm King Steve Cropper: The 2008 James Calemine Interview
I just heard Steve Cropper died. This phone interview transpired in 2008, when I worked for Swampland.com. The full...
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.”











