These are my top 10 songs and albums of 2020, and breakthrough artist, as compiled for the WFUV post, The Best of 2020 Staff Picks. Top 10 Songs Elvis Costello, “No Flag” Pearl Jam, “Dance of the Clairvoyants” Janelle Monáe, “Turntables” Nicole Atkins, “Domino” The Strokes, “Bad Decisions” Jesse Malin, […]
Eric Holland
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Marshall Crenshaw is one of my all time favorite songwriters. The singer/multi-instrumentalist is a tunesmith of the first order and an artist I continually go back to when I’m choosing songs for a radio show or an album for the living room. Listen to a recent live Q&A interview on […]
ALPHABETLAND is the first new studio album by X in 35 years featuring all four original members (and X’s first full venture since 1993’s Hey Zeus!) and it compares well with anything previously recorded by the celebrated Los Angeles quartet. Founding member, singer, and bassist John Doe chatted with me […]
Sylvan Esso are a wildly crafty and inventive musical duo made up of the golden-throated Amelia Meath and mad sonic scientist Nick Sanborn. They’ve created music that’s long on hooks and not short on style since they got together seven years ago. Along with unleashing their new album — their […]
The Go-Go’s have released their first new song in almost two decades and “Club Zero” will likely make you realize how much you missed them. If you weren’t around in the Eighties, when they helped to define the sound of that decade, it may introduce you to this band whose […]
I spoke with Josh Ritter about his new EP of rare and unreleased songs, See Here, I Have Built You A Mansion. Josh also created the cover art and is an engaging conversationalist. Hear our conversation here.
Enjoy this performance in the WFUV series “Marquee Live at Home” of Kathleen Edwards playing from her homebase in Ottawa, Canada. I interviewed her between songs in this 5-song set. The link to the interview and performances is here.
Chrissie Hynde, the coolest woman in rock, is in excellent form in this freewheeling conversation highlighted by her naming her favorite three Pretenders songs. The occasion was the release of Hate for Sale by The Pretenders, the follow-up to 2016’s Alone. It features the return of original stickman Martin Chambers […]
Steve Earle’s new album is called Ghosts of West Virginia. In this recorded interview, Steve chats with me about what inspired the songs on the album and covers some wide-ranging topics. Steve performs 4 of the songs in a WFUV Live session. The interview can be heard, and performances can […]
Iceland’s reputation for sublime beauty and natural wonders is well established as is Reykjavik’s status as a cosmopolitan city with its own unique culture and flavor. The country, with a mere 360,000 people – which is about 20,000 fewer folks than live in Lower Manhattan, has also increasingly become known […]
Photo credit: Natalia Mantini Kim Gordon’s No Home Record is a tough, sexy album and it sounds exactly like what you’d expect from her solo debut, after three decades spent in her former band, Sonic Youth. Often dissonant, occasionally menacing, and never boring, Gordon’s new album provides squalls of guitar […]
“THE BRUCE PROJECT” PREMIERES ON SEPTEMBER 23 A live music special for Bruce Springsteen’s 70th birthday This Monday the 23rd through Thursday the 26th, between 6 and 10 (but only 6-9 on Monday as explained below) in the evenings I’ll be asking listeners to become members as WFUV’s fall membership […]
Photo Credit: Gus Philippas From 1986 to 1993, the body of work created by the original Pixies — the Boston-based quartet of singer/guitarist Black Francis, drummer David Lovering, guitarist Joey Santiago and bassist/vocalist Kim Deal — was as distinctive, exciting, and influential as any rock band of that era. After years of […]
It was more than a little fun throwing back 40 and 30 years the last couple of weeks. Here’s what made it on the radio… 1979 6pm Bee Gees: Tragedy Public Image Limited: Swan Lake (Death Disco) Joan Jett: I Love Rock n Roll (w Sex Pistols) The Clash: Spanish […]
This past Thursday on WFUV, all the jocks immersed themselves and anyone listening in the world of 1969. With references to cultural tidbits from politics, film, television, popular culture, and only one mention that it was my birth year, we did a deep dive on the phenomenal music that year […]
Early in Jack White’s career, when he partnered with Meg White in The White Stripes, it would be reasonable to say that he was a disciple of Leonardo da Vinci, who is credited with the quote, “Art lives from constraints and dies from freedom.” White consistently put limitations on the duo, […]
The Tedeschi Trucks Band is a rare outfit. It’s a group steeped in rock, in blues, in soul, in jazz, in American music, and with the musicianship and spirit to immerse themselves in songs and allow the songs to go where they want to go. It’s tough keeping any band […]
In September I had a golden opportunity for a lifelong fan of ZZ Top, an invitation to talk with Billy Gibbons for about an hour in front of an audience at The Iridium. The show was taped for Speakeasy TV who distribute the show through PBS. It is airing tonight […]
Bettye Lavette put on a typically thrilling show at The Iridium last night. She highlighted songs from her most recent album Things Have Changed which is up for Best Americana (Americana?) Album Grammy later this month. She has also been nominated for Best Traditional R&B Performance (that sounds more like […]
The Revivalists, a New Orleans octet, are riding high these days. They’ve got a couple of big hits under their belt with Wish I Knew You and All My Friends and they’ve recently taken the bold musical step of adding a second drummer to their live shows. Vocalist and guitarist David […]
With ties to the Catskills as well as New York, Sister Sparrow and the Dirty Birds have built a reputation as a stomping, brass-soaked, eight-piece live band rooted in traditional rhythm and blues. The band’s new album, Gold, is released as a solo work by Sister Sparrow although The Dirty […]
2018 is now in the rear view mirror (or as us Pearl Jam fans prefer rearviewmirror) but before I say Hey Nineteen, here’s some photos and words – with the benefit of some time to digest – about a couple of my fave experiences from the latest trip around the […]
Andrew Hozier-Byrne, who records as Hozier, is friendly and unassuming in person. I met him on a Friday afternoon in September in the photograph-lined offices of Columbia Records on Madison Avenue following a busy week in which the 28-year-old Irishman performed three sold-out shows at the Beacon Theatre and also […]
Listening to Chris Cornell climb the seemingly infinite ladder of his vocal range on tracks like Loud Love and Jesus Christ Pose remains thrilling and a new release of Soundgarden A-Sides, the tasty compilation originally unleashed in 1997, offers the chance to renew your appreciation for him and them. These […]
Last Friday I had the opportunity to guest host Rita Houston’s Whole Wide World free form radio show on WFUV. As is my habit when I fill in on the WWW, I cooked up a theme that would be enjoyable to explore. Last fall, it was my pleasure to interview […]