New Year’s Eve wish from The Middle 8 to you, courtesy of Dawes and this live WFUV performance. The modern “Auld Lang Syne”. Five minutes that get me every time.

Cowboy Junkies surprised me (and others) a little like this once before, when their Live! EP (1992) closed with an arrangement of “Sweet Jane” much different than the hushed recording that helped to make them famous. (That EP also features Margo…

The 888/88/8 Project: Song #001. “One in a million” is such an overused phrase. So let’s be a little more realistic. Assuming you already know how to play a guitar and want to write a song, your chance of sitting…

This playlist’s Spotify link /// M8’s Spotify home. “Baby Blue” by Badfinger. Even the verse is catchy. And appropriately for this site’s first playlist, a plenty good bridge before the solo. Produced by Todd Rundgren. “My Dixie dear …” “Baby Driver” by…

When Fastball guitarist Miles Zuniga checks in from Idaho, he’s operating on one hour’s sleep. He mentions an overnight to Boise and the unfortunate physics of trying to sleep in the rear bunk of a bus carrying a trailer over…

“I would love to be a big movie star, but you know, I want to get this music thing done first. I want to become a great musical force, then become a movie star, and then become, you know, Mother…

“Brown-Eyed Girl” and grumpiness — the two inescapable collars that fans and media have hung around Van Morrison’s neck, weighing heavy all these many years. On this, his best record in some time, Morrison has shaken off those twin shackles….

(Late 2021 note: This originally appeared in the November 2001 issue of The Record Exchange’s Music Monitor, likely the first issue with content written after 9/11.) Has one changed skyline altered your aural landscape, too? Did a bunch of songs…

(Late 2021 note: This album faced a hard life due to label issues. It’s getting revived onstage … maybe. Details currently up at TBMG’s homepage.) In the five years since their last full studio album, They Might Be Giants’ two…