These are hard times. These are dangerous times. But the best albums of 2010 offered the old promise that music can be redemptive, vital, and important. So as we move into 2011, Crux of the Biscuit submits its picks for the 11 best albums of 2010.

Now, there were albums I would… Read full post »

^{“I try my best to be just like I am, but everybody wants you to be just like them…” – Bob Dylan}

There’s a telling scene in D.A. Pennebaker’s documentary Dont Look Back, which documented Dylan’s British tour in early ’65. The young singer Donov/… Read full post »

To say that contemporary country music is a primarily white musical genre is unremarkable. It’s also rather obvious to assert that country music is b… Read full post »

 So, uh, it’s probably best to get this out of the way before continuing on with our series on Bob Dylan. Although this will be painful, it’s best if we just come clean with it, right up front. Admit it, and move on.  

Here’s the thing readers: Bob Dylan is… Read full post »

“O where ha you been, Lord Randall, my son?

And where ha you been, my handsome young man?”

“I ha been at the greenwood; mother make my bed soon,

For I’m wearied wi hunting, and fain wad lie down.”

--Lord Randall (English/Scottish ballad, 16^th century)

   &… Read full post »

I remember first getting into Scott-Heron about ten years ago. I had mentioned an affinity for Beat poetry and jazz to a prof one day after class, and suddenly here is Gil Scott-He… Read full post »

Link in the Chain (roots and beginnings) 

American folk music.

Blind Lemon Jefferson, Doc Boggs, Buell Kazee, Mississippi John Hurt, Clarence Ashley, Cannon’s Jug Stompers, the Carter Family—these artists, among many others, didn’t invent folk music, but they are responsible f… Read full post »

The research staff at the Rock and Roll Hall of Shame has spent long and hazardous hours exposed to songs that are considered crimes committed against rock. This includes good bands gone band and bad bands that got...badder. 

To aid our prosecution we enlisted the help of our friend and… Read full post »

 What ever happened to the boogie? If you’ve asked yourself that question when contemplating music of th… Read full post »

Are you still holiday shopping? Do you know any aspiring writers? Here are four gift ideas for the writer in your life, or for anyone who simply loves a great story. 

The New Kings of Nonfiction (ed. Ira Glass)(2007)

               … Read full post »

Well, here it is: the ten worst songs of the decade. We were unable to provide a bigger list as there was a lot of dreck released this decade; our heads are hurting, and I have an/… Read full post »

 Music is like the shorthand of history. Listen to the opening chords of “Johnny B. Goode” and one is able to conjure images of fin-tails, greased hair, and sock-hops. Or take a song like “For What It's Worth” and it is hard not to imagine hippies, protests, and love-ins,… Read full post »

I have a vivid memory of listening to Christmas songs while my Ma would make Christmas cookies. Her two favorite were Elvis Presley’s Elvis’ Christ… Read full post »

I remember I kept stopping at the stop signs.

Driving through New Orleans a week after Hurricane Katrina was like driving through the ruins of civilization. Although there was no tra… Read full post »

The problem with many officially released live rock albums is that they usually suck. Most bands are not particularly improvisational minded and their note for note recreation of album hits can be redundant. Listening at home they sound like strange off-centered simulations of the songs you enjoyed o… Read full post »

There will probably be a lot written over the next few days and weeks about the last 20 years of Jackson’s strange and sad life&mda… Read full post »

Huey,

So, I just received your request for drugs, and um, I have to say, I’m a bit confused. To be blunt Huey: you have got to be the whiniest and creepiest doper in the… Read full post »

So, I made it through my first year teaching (given I can make it through tomorrow).

Now, I’ve had some challenging jobs in my life, but nothing compares to the daily grind of teaching day in and day out.  

In fact, the next clueless mutant I hear… Read full post »

To Meatloaf and Jim Steinman:

Can I call you Meat? I’ll just call you Meat, okay. And you, Mr. Steinman, you don’t mind if we call you The Steinmiester, do you? Good.

 We… Read full post »

I am dismayed and quite frankly confused over the vitriol and hatred directed by liberals toward Rush. Look, I understand that Rush is not everyone’s cup of tea, that many prefer to listen to other stuff, but a little respect for Rush is in order. So, before you judge, before you… Read full post »

Rick,

Dude, I can’t believe you’d punk me like this. There are just some lines that a bro does not cross. It shouldn’t have even been a possibility for you. Yet there you were crying about how MY girlfriend wouldn’t give YOU the time of day.

So… Read full post »

 Dear Tommy,

    Hon, you once told me that we’d make it, you swore it to me. I told you that it didn’t matter if we make it or not. We were going to hold on to our love, because it was all we had. Well sweetie, times change.… Read full post »

     There’s a program on the Discovery channel called “Man Vs. Wild.” Th… Read full post »

     Sometimes I wish I had a war story to tell. Not that I ever wanted to go to war or anything like that, but after ten years in uniform I occasionally felt like a coward, a poseur. When I was about ten or eleven I asked my dad about Vietnam.… Read full post »