Loudon Wainwright III

Charlie Poole isn't in the Country Music Hall of Fame. He generally doesn't get showered with the type of accolades that greet the Carter Family and Jimmie Rodgers, two of his more well-known country contemporaries from the first half of the 20th century. Read More

People tend to blame the latest influx of Californians, reliably traced to the latest technology boom associated with the University of Texas . Read More

Poole led a fascinating life and made wonderful music that still sounds fresh today. Read More

Four-time winner Taylor Swift might have been country music's most-honored figure at Sunday's Grammy Awards, but she was hardly the only person in the genre to have a big time. Read More

Taylor Swift and the Zac Brown Band won their first Grammy Awards on Sunday (Jan. 31) in Los Angeles, recognized in two of the night's highest-profile categories. Read More

As we prepare for the 52nd annual exercise in glitzy self-congratulation known as the Grammy Awards, broadcast Jan. 31 on CBS, it's best to think of the Grammys as recognition of success in sales and marketing rather than artistic excellence. Read More

It was a Saturday morning in 2004, and Mom and I were on the phone, catching up as we did once or twice each weekend. Read More

This story originally published January 29, 2004. Read More

As we prepare for the 52nd annual exercise in glitzy self-congratulation known as the Grammy Awards, broadcast Jan. 31 on CBS, it's best to think of the Grammys as recognition of success in sales and marketing rather than artistic excellence. Read More

R.E.M. more or less stopped being awesome around 1998 when, for the firs time since they're early 80s inception, they suffered a line up change: drummer Bill Berry quit. Read More