The B-Side Held Its Breath: Bee Gees’ Kilburn Towers Behind I Started a Joke
On the quieter side of a famous 1968 single, Bee Gees let Kilburn Towers become...
Melody Era
Before Trio Had a Name: Linda Ronstadt’s My Blue Tears on Get Closer with Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris
Before their celebrated Trio album, three country-rooted voices gathered around one Dolly Parton song and...
When Linda Ronstadt Held Back: What’s New and the Nelson Riddle Gamble
On What’s New, Linda Ronstadt found drama not by overpowering Nelson Riddle’s orchestra, but by...
That Quick Bluegrass Smile: Emmylou Harris Brings Flatt & Scruggs’ I’ll Go Stepping Too to Roses in the Snow
On Roses in the Snow, Emmylou Harris made bluegrass feel quick, bright, and fully alive,...
The Quiet Last Word: Emmylou Harris Ends Bluebird with Butch Hancock’s If You Were a Bluebird
With If You Were a Bluebird, Emmylou Harris closes Bluebird not with a grand farewell,...
The Cajun Pulse Inside Emmylou Harris’s Self-Penned J’ai Fait Tout on Red Dirt Girl
In J’ai Fait Tout, Emmylou Harris lets a Cajun-leaning rhythm carry the restless honesty at...
The Smile That Wouldn’t Hold on Luxury Liner: Emmylou Harris Finds the Ache in Rodney Crowell’s You’re Supposed to Be Feeling Good
On Luxury Liner, Emmylou Harris turned a Rodney Crowell song of forced reassurance into a...
Letting Go Had Company: John Fogerty Covers Rick Nelson’s Garden Party With Don Henley and Timothy B. Schmit
In John Fogerty’s 2009 version of Garden Party, Rick Nelson’s lesson about expectation becomes a...
Alone After Creedence, John Fogerty Rebuilt Bobby Edwards’ “You’re the Reason” on His 1973 Solo Debut
On You’re the Reason, John Fogerty turned a country favorite into a quiet test of...
Buried on Shopping Bag, The Partridge Family’s Every Little Bit O’ You Still Has a Quiet Pull
On Shopping Bag, a modest album cut lets The Partridge Family sound less like a...
David Cassidy’s 2003 “A Song for You” Turned a Leon Russell Classic Into an Adult Confession
In David Cassidy’s 2003 reading of “A Song for You”, the familiar Leon Russell ballad...
Desire Sounds Different in Spanish: Linda Ronstadt Sings Bobby Capó’s Piel Canela on Frenesí
On Frenesí, Linda Ronstadt turned Bobby Capó’s Piel Canela into something both elegant and intimate:...
Three Voices, One Mountain Shadow: Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris Find Grace in “High Sierra” from Trio II
On “High Sierra”, three of American music’s most beloved voices do not compete for the...
The City Got Louder When Neil Diamond’s Beautiful Noise Met Robbie Robertson in 1976
In Beautiful Noise, Neil Diamond heard the city not as interruption, but as rhythm, memory,...
Before Disco, Bee Gees’ To Love Somebody Put Otis Redding’s Shadow Inside Their 1967 Breakthrough
Before the white suits and falsetto fame, Bee Gees found an early breakthrough by writing...
The Smile Hiding in Josh Turner’s “Find Me a Baby” on Punching Bag
On a 2012 album shaped by grit and resilience, Josh Turner tucked in a bright,...
A No. 1 Built on Restraint: Linda Ronstadt’s “You’re No Good” Defined Heart Like a Wheel
Linda Ronstadt’s version of You’re No Good turned a borrowed song into a cool flash...
Grief Held Steady in Emmylou Harris’s Strong Hand, Her 2003 Stumble Into Grace Tribute to June Carter Cash
In Strong Hand, Emmylou Harris turns her farewell to June Carter Cash into a prayer...
A Weary Grace in Emmylou Harris’s Old Five and Dimers Like Me, Her 2008 Nod to Billy Joe Shaver
On All I Intended to Be, Emmylou Harris hears Billy Joe Shaver not as myth,...
John Fogerty’s Harmonica Turned Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Poorboy Shuffle Into Willy and the Poor Boys’ Back-Porch Secret
On Willy and the Poor Boys, “Poorboy Shuffle” is the brief back-porch detour where John...
David Cassidy Had More to Prove: Intergalactic Circus of Wonders on the 1997 EFX Cast Album
On the 1997 EFX Las Vegas cast album, David Cassidy turned spectacle into a quieter...
A Rock Voice Walked Into Candlelight: Linda Ronstadt’s I Don’t Stand a Ghost of a Chance with You on What’s New
On What’s New, Linda Ronstadt did not simply borrow the old standards songbook; she stepped...
Before Neil Diamond Became Monumental, Kentucky Woman Brought Bang Records Grit to the Billboard Top 25
In the lean Bang Records years, Neil Diamond’s Kentucky Woman carried motion, desire, and a...
Neil Diamond’s Man of God Stripped Away the Spotlight and Found a Late-Career Confession
On Man of God, Neil Diamond let the grandeur fall away and turned faith into...
A Bright Beat With Bite: Bee Gees’ “Idea” Shows Barry and Robin Driving the 1968 Title Track
On the 1968 album that carried its name, Bee Gees’ “Idea” moves with a bright,...
A Quiet Goodbye Revealed the Bee Gees’ New Voice in Baby As You Turn Away on Main Course
On Main Course, Baby As You Turn Away sounds like a farewell and a threshold:...
When Josh Turner Joined Will the Circle Be Unbroken at Randy Travis’s 2017 Heroes & Friends Tribute
When Josh Turner joined Will the Circle Be Unbroken for Randy Travis, a familiar country...
Linda Ronstadt’s ‘Crazy He Calls Me’ on What’s New Turned Nelson Riddle’s Grandeur Into Confession
On Crazy He Calls Me, Linda Ronstadt did not try to outshine a classic standard;...
A Restless Voice Takes Shape: Linda Ronstadt Reimagines Woody Guthrie’s “Ramblin’ ’Round” in 1972
On her 1972 self-titled album, Linda Ronstadt turned Woody Guthrie’s wandering song into an early...
Beneath 1977’s Luxury Liner Shine, Emmylou Harris Let Rodney Crowell’s You’re Supposed to Be Feeling Good Hurt
On Luxury Liner, Emmylou Harris turned a young Rodney Crowell song into a country-rock lesson...