Maybe It’s in the Water: Jonathan Newell and the Strand Theatre
Jonathan Newell clearly remembers the day he first walked into the town clerk’s office in Hudson Falls.
“I happened to go in and say to the town clerk, ‘I hear there…
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Sweet Cancels, but Garcia Soars
Troy Sunday Record February 24, 1980
“She was only booed off the stage in the first concert,” noted Evan Gold with futile optimism. Evan is State University’s concert…
Super 400: Getting Personal with Lori Friday (Part 2)
Editor's note: This is the second part of a two-part interview. You can find the first part here: Super 400: Lori Friday Reminisces about a Quarter Century with Troy's Most…
Super 400: Lori Friday Reminisces about a Quarter Century with Troy’s Most Iconic Rock Band (Part 1)
The band Super 400 is named after the iconic Gibson guitar played by John Prine and Elvis Presley’s guitarist Scotty Moore. The Trojan trio was given the keys to the city by…
Vinnie Birbiglia Recalls the Halcyon Days of J. B. Scott’s
Vinnie Birbiglia booked John Mellencamp into J.B. Scott’s on Central Ave. in Albany when he was called Johnny Cougar and nobody showed up. The first time U2 played there,…
Chris Shaw and Bridget Ball’s Christmas Five Years Later
Five years after the last Mountain Snow and Mistletoe Christmas show, Chris Shaw is waxing nostalgic as he prepares for his son Tink’s wedding. “You’re not in touch with the…
Looking back at Mountain Snow & Mistletoe, 12/15/2015
Editor's Note: Mountain Snow and Mistletoe was a yearly concert that Chris Shaw and Bridget Ball did to celebrate the holidays here in the Capital Region. Nearly every year…
Looking back at Mountain Snow & Mistletoe, 12/09/2015
Editor's Note: Mountain Snow and Mistletoe was a yearly concert that Chris Shaw and Bridget Ball did to celebrate the holidays here in the Capital Region. Nearly every year…
Looking back at Mountain Snow & Mistletoe, 12/20/2012
Editor's Note: Mountain Snow and Mistletoe was a yearly concert that Chris Shaw and Bridget Ball did to celebrate the holidays here in the Capital Region. Nearly every year…
Looking back at Mountain Snow & Mistletoe, 12/09/2010
Editor's Note: Mountain Snow and Mistletoe was a yearly concert that Chris Shaw and Bridget Ball did to celebrate the holidays here in the Capital Region. Nearly every year…
Looking back at Mountain Snow & Mistletoe, 12/10/2009
Editor's Note: Mountain Snow and Mistletoe was a yearly concert that Chris Shaw and Bridget Ball did to celebrate the holidays here in the Capital Region. Nearly every year…
Looking back at Mountain Snow & Mistletoe, 12/18/2008
Editor's Note: Mountain Snow and Mistletoe was a yearly concert that Chris Shaw and Bridget Ball did to celebrate the holidays here in the Capital Region. Nearly every year…
Looking back at Mountain Snow & Mistletoe, 12/13/2007
Editor's Note: Mountain Snow and Mistletoe was a yearly concert that Chris Shaw and Bridget Ball did to celebrate the holidays here in the Capital Region. Nearly every year…
Flashback: Rock Star Jim Dandy – Macho Imagery and Down-home Religion
Editor's Note: This article was written by Don Wilcock and originally appeared in the Troy Record on October 19, 1975.
Four guitars flash and clash in a cacophony…
Rearview Mirror: Victor Wooten Takes A Hard Look at himself
Originally ran in the The Troy Record on December, 2000.
To most of his fans, Victor Wooten is the bass player in Bela Fleck and The Flecktones, the band that took the…
Thanksgiving’s Theme Song: Arlo Guthrie’s “Alice’s Restaurant…
Folk singer-songwriter and storyteller, Arlo Guthrie, who changed the paradigm of late ’60s folk music with his song “Alice’s Restaurant Massacree,” returns to Carnegie…
Billy Joe Shaver Will “Live Forever” in Our Hearts
Elvis Presley, Waylon Jennings, Kris Kristofferson, and Willie Nelson have each built a reputation in part as a result of covering his songs. Billy Joe Shaver may never have…
LIVE: Soul Serenade @ Powers Park, Troy, 8/8/2020
Break on through to the other side with every breath we take
Five months and three days!
That’s how long it’s been since I last heard music live. It’s been that long…
Rearview Mirror: The Story of Mary Wilson of the Supremes
Nowhere in half a century of interviewing musicians has the stupidity of racism been brought into sharper focus than in the story of The Supremes’ experience on tour at a…
Charlie Daniels Passes at 83
Editor’s note: Don Wilcock is currently writing his memoirs, looking back at 51 years starting with Sounds from The World, a column he wrote for “grunts” in the rice patties…
Rearview Mirror: Artist Patience in Impatient Times
Editor’s Note: Don Wilcock is currently writing his memoirs, looking back at 51 years starting with Sounds from The World, a column he wrote for “grunts” in the rice…
Rearview Mirror: Dion Honors Sam Cooke and Creates an Anthem for Today
Editor's Note: Don Wilcock is currently writing his memoirs, looking back at 51 years starting with Sounds from The World, a column he wrote for “grunts” in the rice patties…
Rearview Mirror: Jerry Garcia was in it just for the music
Editor's Note: Don Wilcock is currently writing his memoirs, looking back at 51 years starting with Sounds from The World, a column he wrote for “grunts” in the rice patties…
Rearview Mirror: The Two Sides of Buddy Guy
Don Wilcock wrote Buddy Guy’s 1993 authorized biography Damn Right I’ve Got The Blues that helped set the stage for his crossover from Chicago bluesman to pop music icon. …
Rearview Mirror: Grace Slick – Feminist of Another Era
Grace Slick may have been on the frontlines of feminism in 1965 when her band Jefferson Airplane topped the charts with “Somebody to Love” and “White Rabbit,” songs that…
Rearview Mirror: Like A Moth to A Flame, Danger and Blues
Danger has always been part of what draws me to the flame. Right now, I’m getting daily calls from Bubba Sullivan, the Godfather of the King Biscuit Blues Festival. He’s…
Rearview Mirror: Buddy Guy Against All Odds
Editor’s note: Don Wilcock currently is writing his memoirs. One of the chapters will be on Buddy Guy.
Buddy Guy will be 84 on July 30th. When the pandemic hit, he had…
Jorma Kaukonen to Connect with Fans on Two Streams This Weekend
Grammy-winning legacy artist Jorma Kaukonen is all over the internet. On Saturday night at 8 p.m. EDT, Jorma and Relix Magazine team up for an online performance, the 6th…
The 2020 Blues Music Awards (BMAs) Promises on a Wing and a Prayer
The stark reality of just how much the coronaviral virus has decimated the music industry came across loud and clear in the Blues Foundation’s 40th annual Blues Music…
Interview: Larkin Poe Reflects on the Pandemic
Between now and June 6th alone the self-proclaimed roots rock and roll sister act Larkin Poe was scheduled to perform in Birmingham, United Kingdom: Dublin, Ireland; Glasgow,…
Rearview Mirror: Roger McGuinn of The Byrds
Editor’s note: Don Wilcock is writing his memoirs. This is one of several looks back at artists he’s interviewed in over 50 years as a music journalist.
“I was always in…
Dion’s New Star-studded CD Sets a New Blues-rock Bar Height
“We’re all in this together” has become the clarion call of the coronavirus. Dion’s Blues with Friends to be released June 5th is a jaw dropping example of this worldwide…
Rearview Mirror: Good Golly Miss Molly – It’s Little Richard
Editor’s note: Don Wilcock is writing his memoirs. This is one of several looks back at artists he’s interviewed in 51 years as a music journalist.
From the Author: I get…
Looking Back: Gene Pitney Walked and Sang Among Geniuses
Editor's note: Don Wilcock is writing his memoirs. This is the first of several looks back at artists he's interviewed in 51 years as a music journalist.
Gene Pitney…
A Vietnam Vet’s Memory of Woodstock Brings Him Solace
Music is medicine. Sometimes it’s a lifeline.
It was just past dawn on Monday morning, August 18th, 1969 and Jimi Hendrix was closing out the original Woodstock Music…
Looking Back: Interview with Ray Benson of Asleep at the Wheel
Note from the Editor: This interview took place on March 05, 2015, by Nippertown author, Don Wilcock. This comes from Don’s extensive archive of interviews.
…
Gregg Allman alone and very personal
When Gregg Allman graduated from high school in 1965, he told his late brother Duane he’d give him two years playing rock and roll. Then he was going to dental school. “I…
What Would James Brown Have Said about the Coronavirus?
The coronavirus pandemic is the third time I’ve felt like I was playing Russian roulette with my life. James Brown took one of the bullets out of my chamber at another moment…
Keep B.B. King’s Grave Clean
I wonder what B. B. King would think about the situation we’re in right now? In 2008 he said to me, “I used to hear when I was a boy that people shouldn’t cry and sob so when…
Looking Back: Interview with Larry Campbell & David Bromberg
Note from the Editor: This interview took place five years ago.
Author's note: I wrote about John Prine's being deathly ill, and he's still around. This may seem silly,…
Bill “Lean on Me” Withers Passes
“Somebody is always going through something, but they need somebody else to lean on. People’s grandmothers pass away every day, and they’re significant in their life. So,…
Looking Back: Interview with Ellis Marsalis and Sons (2003)
Note from the Editor: This interview took place on February 20, 2003, by Nippertown author, Don Wilcock. This comes from Don’s extensive archive of interviews.
Ellis…
Looking Back: Interview with John Prine
Note from the Editor: This article originally ran in the Troy Record on September 21, 1995, by current Nippertown author, Don Wilcock. This comes from Don's extensive archive…
Sitting Down with Bluesman Doug MacLeod, “We Still Have A Chance”
Let’s call it mental muscle: exercising your mind to cope with tragedy. Blues music has been doing that since the days of the field hollers when slaves communicated truth to…
Blowin’ In The Wind
It’s like quicksand. You can’t see how deep it is, and it looks so normal, you have trouble believing there’s any danger at all. But once you’ve stepped in it, the more you…
Kenny Rogers Knew When to Hold ’Em and When to Fold ’Em
He called me on a cell phone in the parking lot of a McDonald’s somewhere in Louisiana. It was 2011, and Kenny Rogers was advancing his Christmas show at Proctor’s Theatre in…
Seasoned R&B Master Bettye LaVette to Play Caffe Lena Saturday, March 14th
Bettye LaVette performing at Caffe Lena Saturday night is one of a kind. She had her first R&B hit at16. Now 74, she’s covered everything from Dylan to the songs of the…
T-Birds Founder Kim Wilson to Play The Linda
Ever since The Fabulous Thunderbirds hit it big with “Tuff Enuff,” band leader/singer/harmonica player Kim Wilson has played both sides of the fence, blues-rock with The…
Peter and Jeremy’s Show at the Strand Brings The British Invasion in Focus
Imagine that you have two legendary uncles you haven’t seen in decades. Suddenly they arrive at your doorstep, and you stay up all night as they regale you with jaw dropping…
The Eddies To Shine A Light on A Quiet Legend Earl Thorpe
Earl Thorpe has been singing publicly for 64 years. In The Fidelitys, a group he formed in 1956, he shared the stage with artists as iconic as Fats Domino, Jackie Wilson, and…
LIVE: Rosanne Cash Wows A Thrilled Crowd at UPH Grand Opening, 2/29/20
Proctor’s Collaborative CEO Philip Morris wore a tie with his jeans and loafers, and I don’t think I’d ever seen that many people with perfect hair as giddy as the full house…
Rosanne Cash Headlining UPH Formal Opening Is a Living Legacy
“It’s not that I had never been on stage with him before, but that was a really special night,” says Rosanne Cash, the eldest daughter of Johnny Cash about a performance in…
Peter and Jeremy To Recall The British Invasion’s Impact on America in Two Area Shows
The two duos Peter and Gordon and Chad and Jeremy were so often confused with one another during the British Invasion in 1964 that Chad and Jeremy’s label mistakenly put a…
Rainbow Full of Sound Covered The Dead February 20 at Putnam Place
Puppies, Babies and Drugs Not Included
I don’t cover cover bands. My wife calls me an elitist. I say simply I’m spoiled. The closest I usually come is to see some storied…
Rainbow Full of Sound Have The Dead Covered at Putnam Place
“You never know when the muse is going to show up,” says Waynard Scheller of Rainbow Full of Sound, a Grateful Dead cover band appearing at Putnam Place for the first of four…
LIVE: Livingston Taylor Becomes One with His Audience at Caffe Lena, 1/31/2020
Boy, was I wrong!
For half a century I’ve assumed Livingston Taylor was James Taylor Light. (James is his more famous brother.) I’ve interviewed him four times because he…
Eastbound Jesus to Debut Charismatic New LP at Cohoes Music Hall Saturday, February 1st
When I went back to check on the last time I’d written about Eastbound Jesus, I was shocked that it had been six and a half years ago. I was cocksure at the time that this…
A Few Minutes with… Livingston Taylor, playing Caffe Lena Jan 31st & Feb 1st
“I only get to be one of the Gods because mortals agree that I should be one.”
On the face of it, that comment standing alone sounds like the epitome of arrogance.…
LIVE: Dom Flemons Wows Sold-out Caffe Lena Crowd 1/17/2020
Dom Flemons laughed so hard there were tears in his eyes. He’d just finished a stellar sold-out performance at Caffe Lena Friday night (January 17th). He was sweating…
Albert Lee Returns to The Strand Theatre Tuesday, January 21st
Eric Clapton gave him a guitar he played when he was in Cream, one of more than 40 guitars Albert Lee owns – he’s lost count. They include Don Everly’s Gibson J200 and the…
Dom Flemons to Make History Cool at Caffe Lena Friday, January 17th
There are three blues artists cutting through the clutter right now: Christone “Kingfish” Ingram is the child prodigy turned phenom currently on tour and up for several Blues…
LIVE: Lonnie Shields @ The Linda, 1/11/2020
Lonnie Shields has been walking a tight rope across the Grand Canyon of blues since he was a child and couldn’t get past the red-light blinking “On Air” to see hometown blues…
Lonnie Shields Defines Authentic Blues at The Linda January 11th
“Back in the day they used to say you’re singing the devil’s music, and God watches you,” says bluesman Lonnie Shields who plays The Linda Norris Auditorium in Albany this…
Honoring Greg: The Nippertown Legacy Continues…
Like a black cloud that precedes a tsunami, the email appeared in Nippertown contributors’ computers without a warning the day after April Fools Day.
“OK, let's do this…
Rockabilly Veteran Sleepy LaBeef Dead at 84
Another of the Sun rockabilly greats has passed. Sleepy LaBeef had a repertoire of more than 600 songs. His smile was as big as his girth, and his music was the real deal.…
LIVE: Savoy Brown Emphasizes Rock in Their Blues Rock Skyloft Show 12/20/2019
A Savoy Brown concert is as predictable as the cycles of a high-end dishwasher. Like the dishwasher that gets the highest rating in Consumer Reports, the band is very…
Best of 2019: Don Wilcock’s Favorite Musical Moments of the Year
“This was Dick Waterman’s last blues festival.”
He said it so matter-of-factly and in the third person. I looked over at him sitting in the passenger seat next to me as I…
Interview: Kim Simmonds of Savoy Brown playing Skyloft December 20th
To say Savoy Brown - appearing at Albany's Skyloft on Friday night - is a hybrid would be an understatement both in terms of where they call home and in their style. Formed…
LIVE: Jimmy Webb Takes Us Beyond “Galveston” in His Cohoes Music Hall Concert, 11/23/2019
After seeing him in concert, I better understand why and how Jimmy Webb has created million selling records for everyone from Glen Campbell to the Highwaymen (Waylon…
LIVE: Tinsley Ellis and Tommy Castro Give Blues Rock New Life @ Cohoes Music Hall, 11/20/2019
The stage to Tinsley Ellis is not where he acts out his music. It’s life itself. More essential than breathing. I took my friend Vito Ciccarelli to Cohoes Music Hall…
LIVE: Buddy Guy Makes Love to His Guitar at the Palace, 11/19/2019
Eric Clapton looked behind him on stage. He could hear Buddy Guy playing, but where was he? He turned toward the audience, and there was Buddy walking down the center of…
LIVE: Marty Stuart opens his tour Honky-tonkin’ @ The Egg, 11/16/2019
Saturday’s matinee at The Egg was Marty Stuart’s first show of a tour celebrating the 20th anniversary rerelease of The Pilgrim- Deluxe Edition on double vinyl, with a bonus…
LIVE: Johnny Morse All-Stars Puts a Sheen on Chrome, 11/15/2019
The Johnny Morse All Stars show at Chrome in Waterford on Friday, November 15, was one of those shows that make the 518 area legendary for its rock talent.
Some artists…
Jimmy “Wichita Lineman” Webb to Play Cohoes Music Hall
Tony Bennett once told me his career and reputation were all about the songs. That was more important than the artist who sings them.
“Well, good for him,” says Jimmy Webb…
Don Wilcock’s Interview Archive: Ginger Baker, 6/11/2015
Ginger Baker: I wasn’t Cream’s drummer. I was the founder of Cream.
Don Wilcock: So, Eric Clapton wasn’t the guy who brought rock’s first power trio together?
Ginger:…
LIVE: Vernon Reid Reimagines Jimi @ The Egg, 11/01/2019
If Jimi Hendrix had kicked his drug habit and lived another half century, what would he sound like? Vernon Reid’s Band of Gypsies Revisited Band performance at The Egg on…
Vernon Reid at The Egg Takes Hendrix into the 21st Century
“We’re not doing recreations. We’re doing explorations.”
Vernon Reid’s Band of Gypsys Revisited is celebrating the 50th anniversary of Jimi Hendrix’s Fillmore East concert…
Little Feat to Celebrate 50 Years of Being “Willin’” at Troy Music Hall Saturday, October 19th
“When (Little Feat founder and guitarist) Lowell (George) passed away, Warner Brothers signed us immediately when we got back together,” says guitarist Paul Barrere. “But at…
Rory Block’s September 28 ChurchLive Benefit – A Real Life Fantasy
Imagine a Steven King short story with a happy ending, Alice in Wonderland for adults, a Ken Burns documentary about somewhere over the rainbow where blacks and whites sit…
Rory Block and The Heavenly Echoes to Perform an All Gospel Show at ChurchLive in Chatham, September…
It has been said that the only difference between gospel and blues is that the object of the singer’s affection, the “he” or “she,” depending upon the sex of the singer, is…
Masters of The Tele Promises Guitar Lover’s Heaven
The Masters of Tele concert at Cohoes Music Hall Saturday night (September 21) is likely to go down as one of the best concerts of the year. Jim Weider, G. E. Smith, and Duke…
Blues Rocker Albert Cummings Signs with A Major Label
Provogue Records has announced that blues-rocker Albert Cummings of Williamstown, Massachusetts has just signed with the label, part of the Mascot Records Group whose artists…
Johnny Sansone Steals the Show at Chenango Blues Fest
They used to call him Jumpin’ Johnny Sansone. At 62, this former athlete who won a college scholarship based on his swimming prowess no longer jumps around on stage, but,…
Bucolic Bliss: Tab Benoit, Joe Louis Walker and Mississippi Heat at 2019 Chenango Blues Fest August…
While there are hundreds of blues festivals throughout the world, The Blues Festival Guide lists only five in New York State. The Chenango Blues Festival south of Albany in…
LIVE: Thornetta Davis – A Mid-summer Night’s Dream @ Music Haven Stage 8/4/2019
A perfect night!
A crescent moon shone down on a full house captured in a fairy tale come to life at a time when our country has become as dangerous as Vietnam a…
LIVE: Rory Block’s Blues and Gospel Fest; Spiritual Nirvana as Blues and Gospel Combine 7/26-28/2019
Both blues and gospel share an ability to bleed emotion all over the stage and pierce an audience’s collective heart. The catharsis for both the audience and the performer…
The Queen of Detroit Blues Thornetta Davis plays Schenectady’s Central Park
We love labels like "Queen of the Blues". They sell tickets and conjure images in our minds of what to expect. But Thornetta’s back story is so much more than that label…
LIVE: Feel Good Blues from Taj Mahal 7/20/2019
It’s not his eclecticism which may be unparalleled in blues that defines Taj Mahal for me. And It’s not his acumen on stringed instruments ranging from National steel guitar…
Rory Block Blues and Gospel Fest 2019 on July 26-28 Blends Genres
The Heavenly Echoes – playing the third day of Rory Block’s third annual Blues and Gospel Festival in Chatham on Sunday, July 28th – in all probability will open their set…
Taj Mahal Promises to Take Us Home at The Egg
On Saturday, July 20th, Taj Mahal celebrates the 50th anniversary of the release of his double album Giant Step/De Old Folk At Home with a special show at The Egg in Albany.…
Rockin’ Blues Survivor Jimmie Vaughan to Play Two New York State Dates
Ask Jimmie Vaughan what he thinks of what the Fabulous Thunderbirds have done since he left the band in 1990, and he chuckles. “I don’t know what they’ve done. I’m busy…