Woody Guthrie

Ask a Mexican on Ranchera Music and 1950s Insults

By Gustavo Arellano

Billy Bragg, Crescent Ballroom, 3/26/13

Billy Bragg @ Crescent Ballroom|3/26/13For his first-ever Phoenix show, Billy Bragg gave his all, of all of his sides -- the young punk firebrand, the activist, the lover, the Woody Guthrie acolyte, the folk malcontent, and the Bard of Barking hawking his new album. Though the new record, Tooth & ... More >>

Top Five Must-See Shows in Phoenix This Week

It's become a tradition around here. Every week, on Monday -- the worst of all days -- we bring you our Top Five Must-See Shows in Phoenix this week. You know, to help make it all bearable. Dig in, kiddos.

Billy Bragg @ Crescent Ballroom

Billy Bragg

Billy Bragg: With Tooth & Nail The British Folk Singer Continues to Evoke Woody Guthrie

Once again, it's a sort of apprenticeship with Woody Guthrie that's drawn Billy Bragg into a new realm. Thirty years since his debut, the seven-song Life's a Riot with Spy Vs Spy, Bragg is back with a new album, Tooth & Nail, which came out Tuesday, March 18, on Cooking Vinyl. Bragg calls the albu ... More >>

Happy Independence Day (We'll Be Back Tomorrow)

Happy Independence Day, Up on the Sun readers. Check out our review of last night's '90s nostalgia-festival Summerland (featuring Gin Blossoms, Lit, Sugar Ray, Marcy's Playground, and Everclear), then hit the pool, drink some cold American beers (or one of these), eat whatever the hell you want to ... More >>

SXSW: Bruce Springsteen & The E Street Band Rock ACL Live

Editor's note: We're happy to bring you a special guest post by Houston Press/Rocks Off blogger Craig Hlavaty, who's hanging tough at SXSW. Bruce Springsteen's Thursday started with a keynote speech in one of the big ballrooms at the Austin Convention Center, and ended with a mythic three-hour set ... More >>

Robrt Pela on Local Theater Troupes' Tough Times in 2011

Decker: Love, God, and Sex in Sedona

decker.​The music of Brandon Decker, who records as decker. has proven to be a pleasant surprise. Primarily based in Sedona, an area known more for snoozy New Age, smooth jazz, and coffeehouse folk, Decker's third record, Broken Belts, Broken Bones doesn't sound unlike something you might hear ove ... More >>

Tom "Soda" Gardocki on Spike Jonze, 12-String Banjo, Jackass, and Weezer

​Tom "Soda" Gardocki spent years playing guitar in SoCal rockers Wax (go rewatch the credits of Mallrats; the band plays right after its pals Weezer) but more recently he's devoted himself to more rustic purposes. Either performing with his Large Band, his "Million Piece Band," or solo with ... More >>

Ten Protest Songs for the Occupy Phoenix and Occupy Wall Street Protesters

Johnny Paycheck​The most common accusation of the Occupy protests has been that those gathered don't have one main voice; a streamlined, focused goal. It's a fair criticism, but it's a little difficult when you've been screwed over from every direction to pin down exactly what you want change.&nbs ... More >>

Top Ten Songs About Dust

July 5, 2011: The day everyone's cars were rendered absolutely filthyI was going to say that unless you were living under a rock the past few days, you probably heard about Tuesday night's massive dust storm -- known as a haboob in some parts of the world (parts that aren't home to Republican presid ... More >>

Woody Guthrie's American Song Was Made for You and Me

Woody? You Betcha.

Mr. Guthrie comes to town

GBH at The Clubhouse

GBH.​British hardcore punk rockers GBH name stands for "grievous bodily harm". While attendance at any punk show poses some threat of injury, what with mosh pits, angry teens, spiked belts, and extreme mohawks, the risk at last night's GBH show was a little higher.Locals Casket Life and Glass Hero ... More >>

Styx Isn’t the Only Band Capable of a Concept Album

Final Folk Festival at Modified

​Sunday afternoon, Modified filled to capacity for River Jones Music Label's Final Folk Fest. Seventeen bands and solo artists played to eager audiences, mainly sitting pretzel-legged on the rickety floorboards, hot beverage in hand, while wintery winds sauntered through the old house. This ain't ... More >>

Revival Tour

Nonsense and Nonsensibility

Experimentalist may be a goofball, but he’s a freakin’ great one

Lucero Live: Why Country Music Needs Some Punk Blood

I love discussing music with our new Music Editor, Martin. More often than not we basically agree on most things. But I could not disagree more with his review of the Lucero show last night at the Rhythm Room. The first of my complaints is when talking about how the crowd was reacting (or the fact t ... More >>

Willie Nelson’s Forgotten Projects

Concert Review: The Revival Tour at The Clubhouse on Nov. 5

Castanets

City of Refuge
(Asthmatic Kitty)

One of Us Must Know

The elusive Dylan, masterfully considered

Mekons

Natural
(Quarterstick)

'06 Pandemic Poll - Tyler King installment

I See Hawks in L.A.

California Country
(Western Seeds)

Good Thinking

Old-time, longtime

Tom Russell

Hot Walker
(Hightone)

Various Artists

White Riot: A Tribute to the Clash (Uncut Magazine)

Battle Hymns

Iraq and roll don't go together well when rockers protest

Gerry Mulligan and the Concert Jazz Band

Live at the Village Vanguard (Verve)

Various Artists

When the Sun Goes Down: The Secret History of Rock & Roll (RCA Victor)

MC Paul Barman

Paullelujah! (Coup d'État)

Birth of the Cool: Beat, BeBop and the American Avant-Garde

By Lewis MacAdams (Simon & Schuster Free Press)

Hey, Joe!

Gumbo lines up the most wanted in jazz, blues and heritage

On the Road Again

The Ballad of Ramblin' Jack proves that great artists don't always make good fathers

Good Wood

Various Artists 'Til We Outnumber 'Em: The Songs of Woody Guthrie (Righteous Babe) and Woody Guthrie Dust Bowl Ballads (Buddha/Original Masters Series)

Folk Implosion

Billy Bragg and Wilco continue to decipher the mystery and misunderstood legend of Woody Guthrie with the second installment of Mermaid Avenue

Fallen Idyll

Butterfly lyrically mines the old-man-and-boy theme that symbolizes the tragedy awaiting Spain in 1936

Molten Wax

Molten Wax

Tupelo Honey

Wilco's Jeff Tweedy sinks his Summer Teeth into the sugary pop he was always meant to play

Critical Mass

A recap of the releases that made it worthwhile to own a CD player in 1998

Classics Illustrated, Poorly

Artist DeLoss McGraw's stick figures don't measure up to the literary subjects

Recordings

Recordings

Sixty-One Things to Know About Bob Dylan

THE WORTHY DISCIPLENANCI GRIFFITH LEADS A FOLK RENAISSANCE BY HARKENING TO THE MASTER