Email Author Rick Mason

2011 Stories by Rick Mason

• Alexander O'Neal

  published December 21, 2011

  Although Alexander O'Neal was born and raised in Mississippi, his musical hometown will always be Minneapolis, where in the 1980s he helped forge... More >>

• The Bad Plus

  published December 21, 2011

  The latest unprecedented, left-field project by locally originated jazz provocateurs the Bad Plus is a spectacular interpretation of Igor... More >>

• Mickey Hart Band

  published December 14, 2011

  Erstwhile Grateful Dead drummer Mickey Hart also has enjoyed a lengthy, thriving career in world music. In fact, he was a pioneer in exploring... More >>

• Robin & Linda Williams and Their Fine Group

  published December 14, 2011

  Veteran troubadours Robin and Linda Williams hail from Virginia's Shenandoah Valley, a hotbed of the Civil War also known as Stonewall Country.... More >>

• James Leg & Molly Gene One Whoaman Band

  published December 14, 2011

  This latest pair of deep blues nuggets to visit the Southern barbecue joint on the St. Croix should provide a fine antidote for an overdose of... More >>

• Under the Mistletoe: the Good Lovelies Christmas Show

  published December 7, 2011

  Buoyed by effervescent, close harmonies reminiscent of the Andrews Sisters, the Toronto trio of Caroline Brooks, Kerri Ough, and Sue Passmore live... More >>

• Katie McMahon's Celtic Christmas

  published December 7, 2011

  By now a staple of the local holidays, former Riverdance lead singer Katie McMahon's annual Celtic Christmas show actually spans international... More >>

• Laura Marling

  published November 30, 2011

  At 21, English neo-folk singer-songwriter Laura Marling already has inspired considerable acclaim in the U.K. thanks to a trio of startlingly... More >>

• Kinky Friedman

  published November 30, 2011

  Multi-fanged Texas rattler and jen-u-whine lone star legend Kinky Friedman writes mysteries starring himself as the crime-solving sleuth, dabbles... More >>

• Tower of Power

  published November 30, 2011

  Seriously soulful, furiously funky, and tighter than Scrooge McDuck at a misers' convention, the blazing horns of Tower of Power have been setting... More >>

• Mary Louise Knutson

  published November 23, 2011

  Although Minneapolis jazz pianist and composer Mary Louise Knutson maintains a busy schedule playing with the likes of Connie Evingson, Debbie... More >>

• Peter Ostroushko's Harvesting the Music

  published November 23, 2011

  After several years of celebrating the season with his globe-wandering but prairie-centric Heartland Holiday performances, local fiddle and... More >>

• The Gourds

  published November 16, 2011

  Together 17 years, with nine albums to their credit and a rabid cult following, the Gourds are an institution in their hometown of Austin, Texas,... More >>

• North Mississippi Allstars

  published November 16, 2011

  On the back of the Allstars' new Keys to the Kingdom it says "Produced for Jim Dickinson." The famed Memphis musician and producer, and father of... More >>

• Rosanne Cash

  published November 16, 2011

  While remaining every bit Johnny Cash's daughter, Rosanne Cash has spent her career defining a distinct legacy of her own, often straying from... More >>

• C.J. Chenier & the Red Hot Louisiana Band

  published November 16, 2011

  C.J. Chenier inherited the Louisiana Red Hot Band from the King of Zydeco, his father, Clifton Chenier, along with the high expectations that... More >>

• Lucinda Williams

  published November 9, 2011

  A lifetime of hard experience still resides in the soulful cracks and crevices of Lucinda Williams's expressive drawl. But the emotional tumult... More >>

• The Civil Wars

  published November 9, 2011

  The conflict at the core of the Civil Wars' debut, Barton Hollow, is an obsessive yearning for what's just out of reach, usually... More >>

• Pert Near Sandstone (CD-release)

  published November 9, 2011

  Given its polar clime, Minnesota wouldn't seem to be bluegrass territory. But it is, as evidenced by Pert Near Sandstone, the new-timey string... More >>

• tUnE-yArDs

  published November 9, 2011

  Merrill Garbus is an avant-pop collagist who holds together the wildly eclectic pieces of her idiosyncratic sound with her powerful, elastic... More >>

• The Blind Boys of Alabama

  published November 2, 2011

  The venerable Blind Boys have grown increasingly ecumenical as they edge toward three-quarters of a century as a group, collaborating with lots of... More >>

• Medeski, Martin & Wood

  published November 2, 2011

  Ferocious improvisers who ply a wild, uncategorizable sound that twitches, bristles, and sometimes erupts through wickedly convoluted dimensions,... More >>

• Ray Davies

  published November 2, 2011

  Kinks mastermind and master songwriter Ray Davies created one of the most enduring bodies of work of the British Invasion. His broad palette... More >>

• Shelby Lynne

  published October 26, 2011

  Although she now lives and records in the California desert, Shelby Lynne's soul and her extraordinary, soulful music are inextricably tied to the... More >>

• Herbie Hancock

  published October 26, 2011

  Keyboardist and composer Herbie Hancock is among the most influential cross-genre artists of his generation, easily stretching from serious... More >>