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Artist: David Krakauer
Clarinetist David Krakauer is an accomplished performer and composer in classical music, jazz, and klezmer-based music. After completing his master's degree at Juilliard -- where he studied under Leon Russianoff -- Krakauer studied at Sarah Lawrence College and the Paris Conservatory. While in his early 20s, he had turned away from playing jazz... [+] Read More
Artist: Double Dee & Steinski
Forefathers of all the zanier aspects of turntablism, Double Dee & Steinski created a succession of extra-legal works of studio art -- "Lesson One: The Payoff Mix," "Lesson Two: The James Brown Mix," "Lesson 3: The History of Hip-Hop" -- that quickly became DJ landmarks and some of the most valued bootlegs in rap history. Steinski, born Steve... [+] Read More
Artist: Steinski
Forefather of all the zanier aspects of turntablism, Steinski created a succession of extra-legal works of studio art -- "Lesson One: The Payoff Mix," "Lesson Two: The James Brown Mix," "Lesson 3: The History of Hip-Hop" -- that quickly became DJ landmarks and some of the most valued bootlegs in rap history. Steinski, born Steve Stein, was a DJ... [+] Read More
Artist: Paul Broadnax
Paul Broadnax began his professional career in 1946 working with baritone sax player Joe Perry, the brother of Ray Perry who was one of the top jazz violinists of the 1940's. Broadnax also had a trio in the late 1940's which entertained troops at the Roxbury, MA USO. But even before then, Broadnax was in the Special Services branch of the US... [+] Read More
Artist: Jim Newsom
Jim Newsom's musical career began when he picked up the basics from his sister's piano lesson books. He subsequently drove his parents crazy banging out rock & roll on the family's living room piano. In high school, he bought a flute for 25 dollars from a girlfriend in the marching band, and taught himself to play by listening to the recordings... [+] Read More
Artist: Briarhopper, Homer
"I Am Just What I Am" was the name of one of his popular solo recordings, but that doesn't seem to have inspired anyone to get his name right.
He was born Homer Lee Drye and used the professional name of Homer Drye until he became involved in the early '30s with the Briarhoppers, an old-time string band originally created for radio broadcasts... [+] Read More
Artist: Homer Lee Drye
"I Am Just What I Am" was the name of one of his popular solo recordings, but that doesn't seem to have inspired anyone to get his name right. He was born Homer Lee Drye and used the professional name of Homer Drye until he became involved in the early '30s with the Briarhoppers, an old-time string band originally created for radio broadcasts on... [+] Read More
Artist: Charlie Cushman
Parents who are afraid that extended exposure to television will lead children to join gangs or become serial murderers should check out the story of Charlie Cushman, whether they are fond of bluegrass or not. As a Tennessee tyke, he hunkered down on Saturday afternoons, never changing the channel from local affiliate WSM-TV and a lineup of... [+] Read More
Artist: Paul Carrol Binkley
When members of country supergroup Alabama needed a replacement guitarist for a scheduled concert that was expected to draw 70,000 fans, they knew just who to call. With Randy Owens out of commission due to illness, the band relied on Paul Carrol Binkley to play during June Jam, the show that Alabama gives yearly in its hometown of Ft. Payne,... [+] Read More
Artist: Fred Rose
"Name me a song that everybody knows/And I'll bet you it belongs to Acuff-Rose" sings Uncle Tupelo's Jeff Tweedy in his 1994 tribute "Acuff-Rose," and it's not much of an overstatement. In tandem with publishing partner Roy Acuff, composer Fred Rose contributed some of the most enduring songs in the annals of country and popular music, in the... [+] Read More
Artist: Bishop Paul S. Morton, Sr.
Listeners and viewers are frequently astounded by the voice and personality of Bishop Paul S. Morton. Whether in a televised appearance with childhood friend, Aretha Franklin, or in his capacity as the senior pastor of Greater St. Stephens Full Gospel Church in New Orleans, Bishop Morton is a powerful force in the spreading of "the good news."... [+] Read More
Artist: Dr. Demento
He was born Barret Hansen, being the proud owner of a master's degree in music from UCLA under that moniker, but he's far better known to millions of radio listeners as "Doctor Demento." In 1995, he celebrated his 25th anniversary of broadcasting the greatest novelty records of all time, both new and old. In that time, he's elevated the novelty... [+] Read More
Artist: The Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians
Since their founding by a group of forward-thinking jazz musicians that included pianist/composer Muhal Richard Abrams, pianist Jodie Christian, drummer Steve McCall, and composer Phil Cohran, the AACM have been a force for innovation within the jazz community. The Chicago-based organization is a registered nonprofit organization dedicated,... [+] Read More
Artist: Bill Cosby
Although African-American comedians had long been a staple of the stand-up circuit prior to the emergence of Bill Cosby, none had come even remotely close to reaching the same heights of commercial success or universal acceptance. Before Cosby, black comics were largely relegated to the so-called "chitlin circuit" of black nightclubs and... [+] Read More
Artist: Mary Hart
Perky television personality and singer Mary Hart was born in South Dakota, later becoming the state's representative in the Miss America Pageant and finishing a runner-up. After graduating college she became an English teacher, concurrently moonlighting as the host of a local cable program. Upon relocating to Cedar Rapids, IA, Hart began... [+] Read More
Artist: Junior Brown
A singer and demon guitarist whose raucous blend of country and rock & roll helped make him a successful crossover act, Junior Brown was born in 1952 and raised in the backwoods of Kirksville, IN. He first learned to play the piano from his father, and was exposed to country through radio and TV, becoming a fan of Ernest Tubb's music and... [+] Read More
Artist: Bobby Sands
An outfit known as the Strand Roof Orchestra under the direction of bandleader Billy Fowler has been identified by swinging archaeologists as the earliest professional affiliation of Bobby Sands, a tenor and baritone saxophonist born in Brooklyn early in the 20th century. Fowler's group was active in 1927, but it is Sands' performances in the... [+] Read More
Artist: The Sound
The Sound's inability to break through to the type of '80s post-punk prominence reserved for the likes of Joy Division and Echo & the Bunnymen, the two bands the Sound fell in between sound-wise, isn't all that easy to explain away. Any deep-minded attempt to do so leaves one with a sort of abject sourness that can only be directed for, well,... [+] Read More
Artist: Funkmaster Flex
Not since the early '80s when DJs such as Grandmaster Flash and Afrika Bambaataa were acknowledged as two of rap's most popular figures had a hip-hop DJ attained such prominent status among the masses as New York's Funkmaster Flex. Throughout the 1990s he reigned over New York's mammoth rap scene, capable of making or breaking artists with his... [+] Read More
Artist: Jeannie & Jimmy Cheatham
The husband and wife duo of Jimmy and Jeannie Cheatham have been working together since the mid-'50s and married since the late '50s. Her energetic, joyful vocals and his good-natured trombone riffs and accompaniment have been featured on a succession of fine Concord albums in the '80s and '90s. But their professional affiliation began after... [+] Read More
Artist: Soupy Sales
The wildest, most innovative children's television host of the baby-boom era, comedian Soupy Sales also scored a series of hit novelty records, including "The Mouse" and "Spy with a Pie." Born Milton Supman in Franklinton, NC, on January 8, 1926, he grew up in Huntington, WV, and later earned a degree in journalism from Marshall University.... [+] Read More
Artist: Lennis Sonnier
Guitarist and vocalist Lennis Sonnier was an early member of the Hackberry Ramblers, which means one thing in Cajun terms: he's an old-timer. The Hackberry Ramblers are considered the genre's oldest existing group, founded in 1930 by fiddler Luderin Darbone. An expert in hillbilly fiddle tunes, Darbone created a hybrid that was really just Cajun... [+] Read More
Artist: Velvet Violet
"Velvet Violet brings oceans of depth that recharge a lacking distant musical genre. EXCELLENT! "-"Precious"' Vic Odan- The New Disc ReviewVelvet Violet is a Hollywood California based Gothic Rock project founded in 1994 by Los Angeles musician J. Blades. Velvet Violet made its stage debut in October 1994 as part of a Halloween show at the now... [+] Read More
Artist: Shot Jackson
One of the premier steel guitar and Dobro players of the postwar generation, Shot Jackson was a solo and session artist who also gained fame as a designer and manufacturer of musical instruments. Born Harold B. Jackson on September 4, 1920, in Wilmington, NC, he earned the nickname Buckshot -- later abbreviated to simply Shot -- while still a... [+] Read More
Artist: Leon Payne
A popular singer and multi-instrumentalist of the postwar era, Leon Payne achieved his lasting fame as a songwriter whose most successful works -- among them "Lost Highway" and "I Love You Because" -- remain among the country music canon's most enduring compositions. Payne was born blind on June 15, 1917, in Alba, TX, and until the age of 18 he... [+] Read More
