There are a few songs in the canon of classic rock music that are ubiquitously known: Journey’s “Don’t Stop Believin’,” Lynyrd Skynyrd’s “Sweet Home Alabama” and Bruce Springsteen’s “Born to Run.” One could argue that Foreigner — led by the songwriting talents of English guitarist and band co-founder Mick Jones (not to be confused with […]
Bruce Springsteen
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John Moreland continues his masterful songwriting on Big Bad Luv
The Oklahoma-based songwriter’s new album puts a focus on real-world pain.
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Legendary guitarist Nils Lofgren springs into OKC with Bruce Springsteen’s E Street Band
Lofren’s hall-of-fame career has included work with Danny Whitten, Neil Young and Bruce Springsteen.
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Thinkin’ about Woody
Photo: Robin Carson / Woody Guthrie Archives No one disputes that Woody Guthrie is the most significant Anglo-American folksinger, period. He merged the British ballad musical and storytelling tradition with African-American blues; added the incisive and humorous sociopolitical commentary of Will Rogers; and became the emblematic folk-music spokesperson for the downtrodden, beat-up, misused and abused […]
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River rage
Punk rock’s Riverboat Gamblers are something to behold. Singer Mike Wiebe is a feral animal stalking the stage, jumping into the crowd and climbing any available rafters, exposed piping or speaker cabinets while his bandmates rip through high-energy, melodically charged garage sound. They’ve built a reputation for furious performances, but their LPs have inconsistently captured […]
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’Pike psyched
Turnpike Troubadours front man Evan Felker may be young, but he ain’t new. His songs traffic in the kind of everyday moments and perpetual longings traced by artists like Bruce Springsteen and Steve Earle. The Oklahoma quintet has been around for roughly three years, but it seems like a longer time. That’s the feeling of […]
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Jonny Burke — Distance and Fortune
From Austin, Texas, where they know a thing or two about both genres, Jonny Burke excels at folk tunes, but is off on his rock tunes, on “Distance and Fortune.” It’s not the instrumental execution that’s off; Burke blasts out of the gate with “Broke Again,” which sounds somewhere between Springsteen and The Hold […]
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Jon Hardy and the Public — A Hard Year
I acquired their recent EP, “A Hard Year,” on the strength of this first impression, and it does not disappoint. The four tunes sound like Wilco, The Jayhawks and Bruce Springsteen got thrown in a blender, then went and jammed with the Old 97’s. It’s loud, twang-less country or it’s pensive, evocative rock, depending on […]