Marty Jones

On April 25, 2018, Joe Vasquez, better known as Denver Joe, passed away. He was 62.

Could there be a worse name for a guy in a band?" asks John Common of his surname. "Look up 'common' in the dictionary, and here's what it says: normal, plebian, standard...having no special distinction, coarse." Ironically, none of those terms come close to describing Common. In fact, his latest...

The one thing in short supply in good roadhouse music is humor. But there's no such lack on the debut CD from local twang-bangers the Calf Branders. The boys open Good Enuff!? with their very own theme song, which pays tribute to everything from the group's infrequent rehearsals to its...

Dallas Wayne mixes country's dyed-in-denim traditions with the stupidity-free sensibility of modern, insurgent C&W. On Fan, Wayne wraps his burly baritone around a batch of old-style tunes that mention trucks and jukeboxes but never scream cliches. (Fan's intended early-2004 rollout was delayed because of eye problems that have left Wayne...

Equal parts genius, anarchist and freak of nature, Robbie Fulks is the under-heralded king of "real" country music. Georgia Hard, Fulks's latest effort, sports a mandolin-blessed tribute to highway escapism ("Where There's a Road") along with instant-classic cheater songs such as "Doin' Right (For All the Wrong Reasons)" and the...