Josh Alan Friedman

Jimmie Vaughan is the blues guitarist who reinvented "less is more." On his website bio, younger brother Stevie is quoted as saying, "I play probably 80 [percent] of what I can play. Jimmie plays one percent of what he knows. He can play anything." This may be a terrible question...

I first approached Mose Allison after a 1997 show at Poor David's Pub in Dallas. Some mook from the audience cut ahead, tugged Allison's shirt, and patted him on the back with deadpan sincerity: "Hey, you got an interesting way with lyrics. Very original." I cringed, but Allison cordially nodded...

Insincerity blurs many a postmortem tribute album. What were the performers' true relationships to the featured legend? Were they just hired guns used for marquee value? Why should it be considered a "tribute" to rerecord a lesser version of a hit? Can a "tribute" recording dishonor the original artist? When...