Charlie Daniels arrived in Nashville in the late 1960s with hopes of securing steady work as a session musician. As the leader of the Charlie Daniels Band, he pioneered American sound and helped create a genre. His song “Devil Went Down to Georgia” is a pivotal landmark in modern music. But in 1967, the future…
Are there a lot of popular songs out there that have hidden meanings? We’re talking about genuine hidden meanings here and not the kind in horror movies where a record played backward results in a message from the devil himself. These are songs where the songwriter meant something else or the listener interpreted the words…
She may not have been as prolific a songwriter as Bob Dylan or as commercial as Joni Mitchell, but without Joan Baez, the 21st-century folk scene would be a very, very different place. Without her, Dylan would never have left the coffee bars of Greenwich Village. Mitchell, Judy Collins, Emmylou Harris, and countless other female…
The The is an English band that has been around since the late 1970s. Matt Johnson is the one constant member, meaning he is the most important contributor by a considerable margin. This band is a product of the post-punk movement. As such, it retains its predecessors’ anti-establishment attitude but takes inspiration from a broader…
Hootie & the Blowfish was a band that came out of South Carolina, making their debut in 1986. The four-member rock band formed in the city of Columbia, featuring Darius Rucker, Dean Felber, Mark Bryan, and Jim Sonefeld. They became a sensation and held the course for 20 years, taking a break from their rigorous…
In 1976, Phil Ochs robbed us of his talent when he committed suicide. He had surrendered to the demons that accompanied his bipolar disorder. The folk artist always wanted to be famous and days before his death, he wondered if his songs would be remembered. Well, here we are still ruminating over his songs, and…
Bruce Springsteen is a singer, songwriter, and musician who was born in New Jersey in 1949. He began his career in the music industry in 1964, and he is known as one of the founders of the heartland rock style of music. This style combines a mainstream rock style with songs that talk about working-class…
Pleasure P’s career as a R&B singer-songwriter started in the late 1990s. He was a founding member of Pretty Ricky. Specifically, he was the one who provided the main vocals while the others rapped. By the late 2000s, Pleasure P was ready to embark on a solo career. That has resulted in three studio albums…
Multi-instrumentalist Todd Rundgren was born and raised in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, since 1948, where he taught himself how to play the first of many instruments he’d become versed with, the guitar. Already at a young age, Rundgren’s fascination with music, thanks to the record collection belonging to his parents, would serve as the inspiration behind his…