Category Archives: Music.

Hard Time with Starting: A Conversation with Tanya Montana Coe

A professional music career was never really encouraged in the Coe home, but Tanya Montana Coe eventually followed in the footsteps of her father, infamous country singer-songwriter David Allan Coe, anyway. She hasn’t really had a relationship with her father in two decades, and didn’t learn to play guitar until later in her life, but she’s now begun to realize the artistic vision that she’s always had — and she’s found a way to make it work alongside the successful business career she already had. Continue reading

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After 25 years, Collective Soul are still having fun

Dean and Ed Roland are the brothers behind Collective Soul, a Georgia-based rock band that will be celebrating the 25th anniversary of its debut album, Hints Allegations and Things Left Unsaid, over the course of the next year. That record opened with “Shine,” a track that announced to the world that Ed’s voice was going to lead the way from grunge into post-grunge ‘90s rock. It somehow managed to be what both things were.  Over the course of the next decade, the band managed to slowly evolve, relying on Ed’s unique voice and crunching guitar riffs, and remain a modern rock radio fixture when mid- and late-‘90s peers would come and go. Continue reading

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Caroline Rose breaks down the process behind her “schizodrift” music

Caroline Rose released Loner in February, four years after her last record, I Will Not Be Afraid. The distance between the two sounds may be even greater. She’s reinvented her sound, relying on computers to create much of her music now, and she has turned sad songs into pop songs. Continue reading

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Words and Feelings: A Conversation with Nicole Atkins

Nicole Atkins released her fourth full length record, Goodnight Rhonda Lee, on Florence, Alabama’s Single Lock Records in 2017. It’s been critically adored and for good reason—with the effort she managed to create her own unique version of Soul that is rooted in the Americana to which fans of the North Alabama tastemaking label have grown accustomed. 

Before returning to Birmingham for the first time in five years, she spoke about that unique sound, getting sober, Nashville, her relationship with John Paul White, Single Lock Records and one wild night at The Nick.

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Soccer Mommy comes to Syndicate Lounge with Phoebe Bridgers

Sophie Allison is from Nashville. She spent her youth in the Music City throughout the ‘00s and ‘10s as a scene once known solely for its country music grew into a scene rich in punk and garage rock. She released her first record as Soccer Mommy when she was still a teenager, heading off to school in New York City. Now, she readies her highly anticipated LP Clean as she heads out to open for Phoebe Bridgers. After that tour, she’ll headline her own.

Before the tour stops in Birmingham for a sold out date at Syndicate Lounge, she spoke about writing songs at an early age and growing up within the Nashville rock scene.

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2017 Concerts of the Year

 

I only fudged one spot on this list this year, and surprisingly, it was not Isbell-related. And I saw George Strait in Las Vegas and that didn’t even make the list! That’s how you know you had fun.

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Albums of the Year 2017

This may have been the most difficult year that I have ever tried to rank my ten favorite albums. There wasn’t a record really–other than perhaps my favorite–that was superior to everything else recorded this year, but there were 100 that were great. I could have easily stretched this into something much longer, but I think I’ve kept at this concise list for a decade or so and there’s no reason to deviate now. It was a great year for pop music, and I didn’t even include the shockingly fabulous Harry Styles debut.

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Cindy Wilson of the B-52s brings solo material to Saturn

 

Cindy and her brother Ricky Wilson were among the founding members of Athens, Georgia’s B-52s. The band is currently celebrating its 40 th anniversary, and simultaneously, Cindy is celebrating the release of her first solo record, Change. It’s a dance record that she always wanted to do, and as her legendary band wraps touring, she’s finally found the time to live out that dream with the help of Kill Rock Stars.

She splits her time now between Athens and Atlanta. On her way to Birmingham, she talked about the legacy of the B-52s and how her first solo record was realized.

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Living Colour

Living Colour was part of a huge wave of guitar and bass-driven funk that emerged in the late ‘80s, and they were responsible for recording one of those songs that transcends generations. “Cult of Personality,” which appeared on their 1988 debut Vivid, was the type of song bigger than most any band; it has appeared in television shows, movies, video games, sports arenas—most any place that can use a soundtrack—for nearly 30 years. Continue reading

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Perfume Genius comes to Saturn

Perfume Genius has one of the year’s most critically acclaimed records, No Shape. It’s the brainchild of Mike Hadreas, a 36-year-old Seattle native now living in Tacoma, Washington. For this album, he teamed up with Blake Mills, the coveted producer behind work from the Alabama Shakes, Fiona Apple, John Legend and Conor Oberst. Continue reading

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