Merle Haggard’s Hurt Found a New Voice on Thirteen: Emmylou Harris’s Grammy-Nominated Today I Started Loving You Again
On Thirteen, Emmylou Harris did not try to outdo Merle Haggard; she let his country...
Alone With Every Instrument, John Fogerty’s “Flying Away” Carried the Weight of a 1975 Rebirth
On Flying Away, John Fogerty turned a solo recording into something more exposed: one man...
A Front-Porch Detour: Creedence Clearwater Revival’s Poorboy Shuffle Inside Willy and the Poor Boys
On Poorboy Shuffle, Creedence Clearwater Revival paused the roar of 1969 and let a small...
A Breakup Song Became a Reckoning: David Cassidy’s Ken Gold Co-Write “It’s Over” from Didn’t You Used to Be…
In It’s Over, David Cassidy sounded less like a former idol than an artist measuring...
David Cassidy Turned the Finale Loose: The Six-Minute Rock Medley That Reframed Cassidy Live!
At the end of Cassidy Live!, David Cassidy sounded less like a manufactured dream and...
The Restless Ache Linda Ronstadt Left Inside “Trouble Again” on Cry Like a Rainstorm
On “Trouble Again”, Linda Ronstadt turns an album deep cut into a small storm of...
A Sharp Edge Inside Simple Dreams: Linda Ronstadt’s Maybe I’m Right Refused to Play Sweet
On Simple Dreams, Linda Ronstadt made even a deep album cut feel like a private...
Before Neil Diamond Went Grand, Someday Baby Put 1966 Bang-Era Nerve Into The Feel of Neil Diamond
Before the grand choruses and spotlight rituals, Neil Diamond sounded lean, urgent, and still close...
Before Disco Found Them, Bee Gees’ Throw a Penny on Mr. Natural Revealed the Groove Arif Mardin Was Drawing Out
Before the Bee Gees became shorthand for a new dance-floor age, Throw a Penny caught...
Josh Turner Wrote Himself Into “Way Down South” on 2006’s Double-Platinum Your Man
Before the album’s biggest choruses took over country radio, Josh Turner used Way Down South...
That Tremor in Linda Ronstadt’s Voice Made Hank Williams’ I Can’t Help It Her Grammy Moment
On Heart Like a Wheel, Linda Ronstadt did not simply cover Hank Williams; she made...
A Name Emmylou Harris Refused to Soften: My Name Is Emmett Till on Hard Bargain
On My Name Is Emmett Till, Emmylou Harris turns a late-career folk song into an...
A Quiet Wound on Bluebird: Emmylou Harris and the Self-Penned Grace of A River for Him
On A River for Him, Emmylou Harris did not need volume to sound devastated; she...
A Buried Guitar Spark: John Fogerty’s “Just Pickin’” and the Freddie King Thread in Blue Moon Swamp
Before it became a remaster bonus, John Fogerty’s “Just Pickin’” caught him speaking fluently in...
When David Cassidy’s Voice Was Recast: The Partridge Family’s “Bandala” and a 1970 Pop Illusion
On “Bandala”, The Partridge Family turned a young singer’s voice into part of the show’s...
Not Borrowed, But Lived In: Linda Ronstadt’s “Quiéreme Mucho” on Frenesí
On Frenesí, Linda Ronstadt did not treat “Quiéreme Mucho” as an antique; she let an...
A Rooftop Becomes a Homecoming: Neil Diamond’s 1993 Up on the Roof Revisits The Drifters and the Brill Building
In Neil Diamond’s 1993 reading of Up on the Roof, a city escape first made...
Beyond the Hit, Neil Diamond’s “Star Flight” Reveals the 1982 Heartlight Album’s Restless Glow
On Star Flight, Neil Diamond carried the bright polish of his 1982 Heartlight era into...
A UK Top 20 Whisper: Bee Gees’ I Could Not Love You More Carried Still Waters in 1997
When the Bee Gees reached the UK Top 20 in 1997, “I Could Not Love...
Robin Gibb Cuts Through the Brass on Bee Gees’ Indian Gin and Whisky Dry from 1968’s Idea
On Indian Gin and Whisky Dry, Bee Gees trade solemn grandeur for motion, brass bite,...
Heartache Became His Reset: Randy Travis’s Out of My Bones and the You and You Alone Turn
In Out of My Bones, Randy Travis turned an ache of memory into the doorway...
When Goodbye Finally Hit No. 1: Randy Travis’s “Too Gone Too Long” and the Always & Forever Run
Before “Too Gone Too Long” became another No. 1 for Randy Travis, it proved that...
The Risk Was in the Restraint: Linda Ronstadt’s Someone to Watch Over Me with Nelson Riddle on What’s New
On Someone to Watch Over Me, Linda Ronstadt stepped away from pop force and found...
Linda Ronstadt Finds the Sharp Edge in Waddy Wachtel’s Maybe I’m Right on Simple Dreams
On Maybe I’m Right, Linda Ronstadt doesn’t plead for certainty—she sings as if the argument...
The Moon Swung Into Country: Emmylou Harris Recast How High the Moon on 1981’s Evangeline
When Emmylou Harris brought How High the Moon onto Evangeline, a sleek jazz-pop standard found...
The Quiet Ache Emmylou Harris Found in Jean Ritchie’s Sorrow in the Wind on 1979’s Blue Kentucky Girl
On Blue Kentucky Girl, Emmylou Harris turned Jean Ritchie’s mountain sorrow into something suspended in...
When the Dance Turns Guilty: Emmylou Harris’s The Last Cheater’s Waltz on Cimarron
On Cimarron, Emmylou Harris turns The Last Cheater’s Waltz into a slow dance where guilt,...
When the Race Felt Worn: Emmylou Harris’s Last Date Version of Bruce Springsteen’s Racing in the Street
On Last Date, Emmylou Harris carried Bruce Springsteen’s road-weary tale into country music’s quieter territory,...
Before the Bayou Myth, Creedence Clearwater Revival’s 1968 Wilson Pickett Cover “Ninety-Nine and a Half (Won’t Do)” Revealed Fogerty’s R&B Fire
Before the swamp-rock image hardened around Creedence Clearwater Revival, this fierce 1968 Wilson Pickett cover...
A Ghost Story Got Louder: John Fogerty’s 2009 Haunted House Cover on The Blue Ridge Rangers Rides Again
In John Fogerty’s hands, Haunted House stops being just a spooky rock-and-roll joke and becomes...