If he could find a white man who could sing like a black man, he could make a million dollars. That’s what Sam Phillips would say over and over again from his Memphis Recording Service on Union Avenue. Then one day in 1953 Elvis Presley walked in, and the desire became a reality. Elvis, and […]
By Michael Corcoran Pogues fans on this side of the Pond are often unaware that the Celtic roots/punk band was from England, not Ireland. But when Dubliner Frank Murray became their manager and got them signed to Stiff Records in 1984, they were held in the embrace of Irish music royalty. Murray worked with traditional […]
From All Over the Map: True Heroes of Texas Music (2017 UNT Press) She had done whatever it took to raise three sons alone after their father died in an automobile accident in 1961. She demonstrated organs for Hammond, taught at J.R. Reed Music on Congress Avenue in Austin and at night played elegant solo […]
His young daughter, Katie Belle, came running in and said, “Daddy’s having a fight with his heart.” It wasn’t the first time, but this one was physical and cost Townes Van Zandt his life. The singer-songwriter, whose dark and illuminating lyrics walked with a self-destructive limp, died of a heart attack Jan. 1, 1997, at […]
New York Review of Books calls Manzarene Dreams “the authoritative new edition of Phillips’s music.” Creative Loafing (Atlanta): This was the cover story by Chad Radford.“When Phillips died, a secret history of pre-war gospel blues was born; a mystery shrouded in speculation and mistaken identity. But through the legwork and dedication of semi-retired Texas music […]
By Michael Corcoran Published on 2/1/04, the 15th anniversary of Foley’s killing. The years since his 1989 passing have been kind to Blaze Foley. While he was alive, the singer-songwriter had released only a single and an LP that was never distributed aside from a box full of vinyl albums he would barter for […]
August 2016 By Michael Corcoran The Tragically Hip shows I saw in Canada on August 8 and 10 were more than I could’ve hoped for. The band played magnificently and singer Gord Downie went from Canadian rock star to national folk hero with courageous performances just seven months after two brain surgeries and first round […]
WIMBERLEY — Nobody ends up here by mistake. This quaint Hill Country town 40 miles southwest of Austin is not on the way to anywhere else, but a destination. And home to about 3,900. The unlikeliest of those residents is Rupert Neve, the British recording icon who first came to Wimberley in 1980 to visit […]
By Michael Corcoran, AAS 2004 His eyes were darting, terrified, like an animal not yet used to a new cage. Ricky Broussard looked spooked as he waited to take the stage at the Hole In the Wall — a territory he once utterly owned — on June 7, 2002. He stiffly nodded and smiled at […]
To be a high school beatnik in 1960 in Port Arthur, Tex. is to set yourself up for a rough time. But Janis Joplin had made up her mind that she was going to live life her way, damn the small-minded. She discovered the blues at a time when blacks and whites couldn’t eat at […]
