The Gentle Hit That Opened a Rift: Bee Gees’ First of May and the 1969 Odessa Single That Sent Lamplight to the Flip Side
Released from Odessa in 1969, Bee Gees’ First of May was a tender hit that...
The Last Rubin Chapter: Neil Diamond’s Wild At Heart Arrives May 8 With Late-Career Weight
Wild At Heart feels like Neil Diamond returning to the quiet center of his art,...
When the World Felt Loud, Josh Turner’s Why Don’t We Just Dance Gave Haywire Its No. 1 Heart
With Why Don’t We Just Dance, Josh Turner gave the Haywire era its emotional center:...
The Softest Song in 1986 Still Reached No. 2: Linda Ronstadt and James Ingram’s Somewhere Out There from An American Tail
A song written for a little immigrant mouse became one of the most moving adult...
Buried in Planes, Trains and Automobiles, Emmylou Harris’ Back in Baby’s Arms Became 1987’s Warmest Soundtrack Moment
In Emmylou Harris‘ 1987 soundtrack cut of Back in Baby’s Arms, a classic country reunion...
The duet many missed: Emmylou Harris’ One Paper Kid with Willie Nelson on Quarter Moon in a Ten Cent Town
On One Paper Kid, Emmylou Harris and Willie Nelson turn a modest 1978 album track...
The Cover That Shouldn’t Have Worked: John Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival’s I Heard It Through the Grapevine Became an 11-Minute Cosmo’s Factory Triumph
On Cosmo’s Factory, John Fogerty and Creedence Clearwater Revival did not simply cover I Heard...
When the Screams Had Faded: David Cassidy’s Run and Hide on Samedi est à vous, March 20, 1976
On French television in March 1976, Run and Hide caught David Cassidy in the middle...
She Didn’t Chase Patsy Cline — Linda Ronstadt’s Crazy on Hasten Down the Wind Became a 1977 Heartache All Her Own
Linda Ronstadt did not treat Crazy like a museum piece; on Hasten Down the Wind,...
The Guest Vocal That Made the Album: Why Josh Turner’s Another Try Became the Soul of Trisha Yearwood’s Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love
Another Try gave Trisha Yearwood and Heaven, Heartache and the Power of Love a deeper...
From the Late-1967 Sessions, Bee Gees’ ‘World’ Became the Quiet Bridge from Horizontal to Idea
World catches the Bee Gees at a delicate turning point, when hitmakers in full motion...
The Quiet No. 1 Triumph: How Neil Diamond’s Hello Again Became The Jazz Singer Ballad That Ruled Adult Contemporary
With Hello Again, Neil Diamond turned a late-night greeting into one of 1980’s most tender...
Before the Big Anthems, Neil Diamond’s You Got to Me Was the 1967 Hit That Let His Guard Down
Before the arena-sized choruses, You Got to Me captured Neil Diamond in the deeply human...
The Song That Softened Josh Turner: “In My Dreams” Was the Overlooked Heart of 2003’s Long Black Train
On Long Black Train, Josh Turner‘s “In My Dreams” quietly proved that the voice which...
The Left Turn Nobody Expected: Linda Ronstadt’s Girls Talk and the Mad Love Jolt of 1980
On Girls Talk, Linda Ronstadt turned gossip into voltage, and on Mad Love she proved...
Behind the TV Smile, The Partridge Family’s Storybook Love Gave David Cassidy His Most Tender Moment on 1971’s Sound Magazine
Storybook Love proves that beneath the bright television polish, David Cassidy could find a quiet,...
Three Voices, One Reckoning: Linda Ronstadt’s 1987 “After the Gold Rush” With Dolly Parton and Emmylou Harris
On the 1987 Trio album, Linda Ronstadt, Dolly Parton, and Emmylou Harris turned After the...
A Voice, a Legacy, a Farewell: Emmylou Harris’s “How She Could Sing the Wildwood Flower” Was Her 2008 Salute to June Carter Cash
In “How She Could Sing the Wildwood Flower,” Emmylou Harris turns remembrance into music, honoring...
Before Gillian Welch Had a Debut, Emmylou Harris Turned Orphan Girl Into the Haunted Heart of 1995’s Wrecking Ball
On Orphan Girl, Emmylou Harris sings abandonment as a spiritual passage, not a complaint. Guided...
The Quiet Crossroads of 1980: How Linda Ronstadt and J.D. Souther’s Hearts Against the Wind Gave Urban Cowboy Its Soul
A tender soundtrack duet, Hearts Against the Wind caught Linda Ronstadt between honky-tonk heartache and...
The Night the Ryman Heard Bill Monroe Again: Emmylou Harris’ Walls of Time on 1992’s At the Ryman With The Nash Ramblers
On At the Ryman, Emmylou Harris turned Walls of Time into a homecoming, carrying Bill...
That old country ache returned: Emmylou Harris’ Making Believe on Luxury Liner carried Kitty Wells into the Hot Band years
On Luxury Liner, Emmylou Harris sang Making Believe as if classic honky-tonk sorrow had stepped...
When Creedence Clearwater Revival Turned Strange: John Fogerty’s Rude Awakening #2 Closed Pendulum in 1970
Rude Awakening #2 is the sound of John Fogerty refusing to let Creedence Clearwater Revival...
Before Creedence Had a Name, John Fogerty and The Golliwogs’ 1967 Brown-Eyed Girl Caught a Band on the Edge of History
Before Creedence Clearwater Revival had a name, Brown-Eyed Girl preserved John Fogerty and The Golliwogs...
Behind the TV Smile, The Partridge Family’s ‘Looking Through the Eyes of Love’ Made Shopping Bag David Cassidy’s Most Tender 1972 Moment
A soft love song wrapped in television sunshine, Looking Through the Eyes of Love quietly...
The 1980 Edge Nobody Expected: Linda Ronstadt’s I Can’t Let Go on Mad Love Recast a Hollies Classic
On Mad Love, Linda Ronstadt took I Can’t Let Go out of its swinging 1960s...
The Comeback Few Expected: Bee Gees’ Alone Opened a New Chapter With Still Waters in 1997
In 1997, “Alone” reminded the world that the Bee Gees were never just a memory....
One Song, Two Heartbeats: Why Bee Gees’ More Than a Woman and Tavares Both Shaped Saturday Night Fever
More Than a Woman became one of Saturday Night Fever’s quiet masterstrokes because the film...
A Roll Call That Still Hurts: Neil Diamond’s Done Too Soon and the Strange Power of 1971’s Stones
Done Too Soon turns a breathless list of famous names into something deeper and more...
It Was More Than a Cover: Josh Turner’s I Saw the Light and the Quiet Power of the 2018 I Serve a Savior Sessions
In Josh Turner’s live 2018 reading of I Saw the Light, a familiar Hank Williams...